8. The Interstate Highway System of the United States
Place: USA
Complete Expense: $27.2 billion*
Completed Year: 1955
The 10 transcontinental routes that make up the 47,622-mile Interstate Highway System vary in length from 17.6 to 3085.3 miles. When it was first implemented in 1955, the construction was only expected to take ten years. Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 into law in June of that year. The act’s original authorized amount, $25 billion, was intended to fund more than forty thousand kilometers.
The American Interstate Highway System, ©Shutterstock/RRoschetzky Photography
The original Interstate Highway System was completed in 35 years, and $114 billion was spent during that time—barely more than the $25 billion and 12 years that were projected to be needed for completion. In the future, there are plans to improve land routes by connecting Sonora, Mexico, to Alberta, Canada, and Tamaulipas, Mexico, to Ontario, Canada, by an extension of the Interstate Highway.
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