Did Interstates ruin travel in America?

Old Oct 6th, 2014, 03:22 PM
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Did Interstates ruin travel in America?

After World War 2, President Eisenhower started the building of Interstate Highways and as a result, travel as we know it, was forever changed in America. But was it changed for the better or not? Feel free to express an opinion either way.

If you aren't old enough yourself, speak to someone who is, about what a family road trip was like pre-Interstate vs. today. Oh yes, it sounded wonderful to think that you would be able to drive from coast to coast without even having to stop for one traffic light. But at what other cost?

Today, all kinds of people look back with nostalgia or even try to re-create those road trips on Route 66 for example. But for most, the Interstate has become the accepted way of travel or what they think of as travel. But travel in what sense?

Gone are all the things along the way that were part of a road trip. Now it is only about the destination, the getting there is just an inconvenience to be dealt with at as high a speed as we think we can get away with. In fact, isn't it just better to fly to your destination? Why take a road trip at all?

All along the interstates we find the same chain hotels/motels; the same chain restaurants; the same chain big box shopping stores. Gone are the Mom and Pop businesses which each had their own uniqueness/quirkiness/interest and ways of trying to get you to stop and visit them.

When the Interstates came along, I can recall staying with my parents in our first Holiday Inn, Howard Johnson's (who knew there could be that many flavours of ice cream?), etc. Wow, you could rely on the room being just the same every time. No more 'oops that was a bad choice for a place to stop', consistency was king. Of course, no more, 'whoa, that was a great place we stayed last night' either. When the lovely picture on the wall in your room is the same picture every time, it begins to lose its loveliness somehow, don't you think? Consistency can become bland and boring real quickly we discovered.

Yes we could get from home to Florida in 2 days instead of 4 or whatever but what about all those places along the way we no longer got to see or explore? Wasn't that part of the road trip? Was the destination more important than the getting there or was the getting there the exciting part and the destination just the lay back and relax for a bit in between portion of the whole thing?

Interstates are great ways to move goods from A to B, that was in fact the REAL reason for building them. Never mind what wool was pulled over the public's eyes to explain paying for them out of the public's pocket rather than the businessmen's pockets. If you don't believe that, just count the number of tractor trailers on the Interstates. But really, for someone going on a road trip to ' See the USA, in a Chevrolet' (can you hear the tune or are you too young?), something wonderful died with the birth of the Interstate.

You can drive the I-90 from Boston,MA to Seattle,WA (or vice versa) 3,101.77 miles without one traffic light. Or the I-40 from Willmington, NC to Barstow, CA, 2,555.10 miles, again without one traffic light. But also without seeing or doing ONE single thing on any mile along the way that will really differentiate it from any other mile along the way.

And that folks is what I don't call progress. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.
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Old Oct 6th, 2014, 03:35 PM
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The interstate system was built while I was on active duty, so it made frequent transfers a little easier to swallow...you are given only so many days to report to your new assignment, and anything that speeds up the trip means more days to find a new place to live before reporting in. Exploration never entered into it.

Now, if I want to drive to California in a hurry, I take the freeway; if I want to smell the sea breezes I drive down the coast. I am happy to have the choice.
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Old Oct 6th, 2014, 03:36 PM
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The one thing I remember and miss most.

On a road trip with my parents when I was around 8 and my Brother was only 5, I can remember road signs advertising a 'petting zoo' adjacent to a gas station that was coming up in about 50 miles. Every 10 miles or so would be another sign reminding you. My Brother clamored for our Father to stop so he could see the animals and so we stopped.

That is just one example of just how inventive some small businesses were at trying to get you to stop. Free 'alligator parks' or 'snake dens' etc. were common. But what made this one unique and unforgettable was the donkey at that petting zoo. It could talk! Yes, talk!

Now I know you don't believe me but how do you really know? You were never there?

Well, as we walked around and came to the donkey, this donkey, said, 'hi, boys, what's your names?' My Brother nearly wet his pants and I have to admit I was (age 8) a little surprised myself.

We had a nice little conversation with that donkey and when our parents caught up to us we tried to tell them the donkey could talk. They wouldn't believe us and you know what?

That guy in the fake hollow tree who was talking through a speaker hidden in the donkey's collar refused to say one more word to us.

Dad said, 'donkey's can't talk boys' and my 5 year old Brother knew better. Grown ups don't always know everything. I'll never forget that talking donkey and my Brother and I can still laugh when we recall it. That's part of what a road trip was all about.
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Old Oct 6th, 2014, 03:43 PM
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I think you have a point when it comes to the very specific form of leisure travel that is the road trip. But the majority of people going from point A to point B, then and now, were/are not road trippers. They are people for whom the destination IS more important than the getting there. So perhaps interstates are to the greater good; nothing, after all, is ever to the universal good, is it?
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Old Oct 6th, 2014, 03:58 PM
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I'm happy to have a choice too.

When I was a kid (in the 70s and 80s), we took secondary roads on some of our trips and the interstate on others. Usually it was some combination, depending on the situation. When we had a week to get to Colorado, sure, took secondary roads and stopped everywhere. When my dad only managed to get 4 days off at Christmas and we were making the 500 mile trek to spend the holiday with my grandparents, you can bet that we were all glad to have the interstate. All the nostalgia in the world for secondary highways doesn't replace getting to spend Christmas with our family.

As an adult, it is pretty much the same. If we want a true road trip, we take secondary highways. If we just want to get from Point A to Point B, then interstates it is. And sometimes we do fly rather than driving. It just depends on the situation.
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Old Oct 6th, 2014, 03:58 PM
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Oh, good heavens NO!
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Old Oct 6th, 2014, 04:23 PM
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Don;t know about cross country but my mom told me about the Sunday afternoon drives (after the big lunch) into the country from NYC on the new "parkways" - designed for beauty, following the route of local rivers and streams with a lot of pretty landscaping along the way - stopping for dinner at a roadhouse and returning late in the evening. Several of them ar still in use in Westcester, CT and LI - although now widened and on some the low stone bridges removed (but we still get trucks suck under them sometimes when they ignore the passenger cars only signs.
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Old Oct 6th, 2014, 04:47 PM
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First time to Fl the interstate stopped in Ga. We got to go through all the beach towns, drove on Daytona Beach, stopped at Johnny Weissmuller's place in Titusville and saw all the neat shops along US1 and A1A. It was so fun and not at all boring.
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Old Oct 6th, 2014, 04:58 PM
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Actually the interstates were built for "national defense" (LOL), but were in reality, of course, a gigantic giveaway to the automobile and oil industries. (So what else is new?) But Amtrak doesn't deserve a nickel of government subsidies . . .

I don't mind the chain motels -- prefer them in fact -- but hate the chain restaurants. I can usually find a local joint within a few miles of my lodging. The desk clerks are often happy to recommend them.

When I take a local trip I often use the side roads, but when I have only a short time to cover the miles, as in my last 2,300 mile trip, I pretty much stick to the highway. I did detour for the 100 miles of the Skyline Drive, and that counted as an activity, not mere mileage!
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Old Oct 6th, 2014, 05:38 PM
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There were freeways in Southern California long before there was an interstate highway system.

I remember the days of travel when there were no interstate highways and I would not go back TO those days for any amount of money.

You can always GET OFF the interstate but if it isn't there it's a bit difficult to use it.

And, of course, we don't want to see anything like public transportation such as Europe has to really succeed in the US. Giving money to something like Amtrak doesn't help people because people who really matter have cars, right?
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Old Oct 6th, 2014, 08:05 PM
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Get off the Interstate. That's what we do. We have driven untold thousands of miles on backroads in the great USA from Washington to Florida, from California to New Hampshire, and from Louisiana to Illinois.

There is a lot more out there than Route 66. Check it out.

HTtY
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Old Oct 6th, 2014, 08:45 PM
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Please note, the point of the post is not whether Interstates have a valid use or not. The point raised or question asked, is how have they impacted leisure travel. I thought I had made that clear but if not, let me try again.

Has the Interstate changed the typical 2 week family vacation undertaken by car in a good way or a bad way?

Referring to my 'talking donkey' example, how many talking donkeys(or equivalent) have your kids come across when travelling by Interstate and you pull in to gas up? There used to be thousands of such things along the roads.

Has leisure travelled been changed such that instead of the actual 'travel' part of the vacation being part of the vacation experience, it has simply become that boring waste of time until you get to the destination?
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Old Oct 6th, 2014, 11:43 PM
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It is like everything else, you chose how you do something.

The interstate system was also designed to have planes make emergency landings.

And the interstate highway system contributed greatly to the post WWII econony which gave us more free time.
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Old Oct 7th, 2014, 04:26 AM
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Its all about choices. You can take I-40 or you can take a multitude of other roads. You can stop, go around or spend days in small towns and off the beaten path places. I have done both, several times. Has it changed travel-of course. It has provided yet another way to travel.
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Old Oct 7th, 2014, 04:30 AM
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Sorry - those Sunday afternoon drives on "parkways" in NY and CT were in the late 1920s/early 1930s when these parkways (not interstates as they are today - but limited access divided two-way highways) were built.
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Old Oct 7th, 2014, 04:35 AM
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Did Interstates ruin travel in America?

Not in my opinion, no.

Actually the interstates were built for "national defense" (LOL), but were in reality, of course, a gigantic giveaway to the automobile and oil industries.

Actually, the Federal government's "subsidy" to the interstate system is overwhelmingly (as in well over 90%) funded by gas taxes, which basically function as a user fee.

But Amtrak doesn't deserve a nickel of government subsidies

And yet, they have received at least $14bn in subsidies since 1972, including $1.5bn last year.

Amtrak doesn't receive support because the vast majority of the US is not suited to passenger rail service. The distances are too vast and the population densities too low outside of the Northeast Corridor. The resulting inconvenience means that virtually nobody rides Amtrak (a situation unlikely to change, even with a tripling of service) and is why Amtrak makes virtually no contributions to reducing congestion or pollution, or increasing access to transit for low-income people. Indeed, all of those needs could be much better served by improving bus services at a fraction of the cost of offering rail services.
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Old Oct 7th, 2014, 04:39 AM
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Don;t know about cross country but my mom told me about the Sunday afternoon drives (after the big lunch) into the country from NYC on the new "parkways" - designed for beauty, following the route of local rivers and streams with a lot of pretty landscaping along the way - stopping for dinner at a roadhouse and returning late in the evening. Several of them ar still in use in Westcester, CT and LI - although now widened and on some the low stone bridges removed (but we still get trucks suck under them sometimes when they ignore the passenger cars only signs.

According to many, the low bridges were designed intentionally to prevent buses from using the parkways, so that the poor and minorities couldn't get out of the city. Segregation through infrastructure.
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Old Oct 7th, 2014, 04:46 AM
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Memories of the 1950's, mainly traveling pre-interstate from Ohio to Florida every year.

Look for a roadside motel -- never a chain. We'd pay up to a maximum of $20 -- usually about $12 or $14. My parents would share one double bed, my brother and I would share the other one. And we'd get a roll away for my sister. Yep, 5 in one room. Dad was always upset when they'd actually charge an extra $1 or $2 for the roll away.

Look for a local restaurant near the motel for dinner. My brother would get out of the car and go look inside. We usually avoided places with tablecloths, because that meant they'd be very expensive. And if they had booths rather than all tables, we'd assume it was more "affordable". None ever had a menu posted, so we hit a few surprises. Like the place in Kentucky that had a very generic name and yet served all Greek food. It was wonderful!

Lunch was nearly always a picnic along the way. We'd start with a cooler for the first two days (re-filled with ice at the first motel. I loved my milk from a waxed paper Dixie cup. But sometimes on the third day (Ohio to Florida was always three days) we'd actually go to BarBQ place or something like that.

Restrooms along the road were easy. There were always plenty of pull offs with lots of trees.

Loved counting the "See Rock City" signs on barn sides and roofs, and also on bird houses up on poles all the way from Ohio until we passed near Chattanooga. Meanwhile, we'd also count the Burma Shave signs and count how many different state license plates we saw.

Each trip we'd always make one side trip to see something -- caverns, the Lost Sea in Tennessee, and yes -- Rock City at Lookout Mountain.

Interstates may be faster, but honestly -- those were some pretty great memories and much, much more an adventurous way of travel.
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Old Oct 7th, 2014, 04:49 AM
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We'd pay up to a maximum of $20

Given that is around $175 in current dollars, and most roadside motels are in the sub-$100 range today (often much, much lower in rural areas), it would seem things have dramatically improved on that count.
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Old Oct 7th, 2014, 05:19 AM
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Yes. Our first trip to Florida was 1957 and we went every year after that for many years. As I said we'd usually pay about $12 to $14 for the 5 of us along the highway. Those roadside motels usually had 20 rooms or less -- all on one floor. But I remember in the early 60's we started seeing larger motels -- chains. Those were $6 or $ 8.88 (the beginnings of Super 8 and Motel 6?). So it was interesting that the motels actually became nicer and cheaper!

The $20 figure was more like when we got to the beach in Florida! That was a big splurge!
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