Interstate freeways are a staple of life in the United States.

Built with funds authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, the current system is 46,876 miles long. Locally, we know and use Interstate 90, which runs 3,082 miles from Seattle to Boston. The last stoplight on I-90 was in Wallace at the corner of Seventh and Bank streets until the freeway was completed there in 1991. A funeral was held for the stoplight by the city that September, complete with an “ornate casket, and a horse-drawn hearse and funeral procession through town,” according to an article in the Chicago Tribune.

Highways serve as a route of travel for pleasure and commerce. Isn’t it nice to get in your car and drive to work, go to the store, or take a Sunday afternoon drive? My grandfather, who was born in 1880 and served in the mounted Cavalry in World War I, told me that he lived in one of the greatest moments in history, from the horse and buggy days to sending a man to the moon. He said life was so much easier with the emergence of automobiles and paved highways to travel.

Dwight David Eisenhower (1890-1969), our 34th president, earned the title “Father of the Interstate System” by working with Congress to reach compromises that made approval of the act possible. As commander of Allied Forces in World War II, he saw firsthand the German Autobahn, a well-engineered highway system that served as a model for his vision for a highway system in the United States. He envisioned a system, not only to enhance commerce, but to provide a transportation corridor to move troops. Yep, it follows our Constitution to “provide for the common defence,” and those of you who have been deployed know how important it is for road marches to have a “Main Supply Route.”

Most people don’t know about military road marches. Moving troops and equipment from place to place takes planning. Even in your daily commute, you plan the shortest and quickest way to get to work, right? Then the inevitable happens: traffic lanes are blocked due to an accident and you are late to work ... again. Well, sometimes the best laid plans go awry. Mostly though, your plans are successful. Planning a successful route presupposes uninterrupted travel, so, an MSR is planned in every scenario of war, and practiced through maneuvers, locating bottlenecks while traveling.

Having personal experience while being deployed in Korea and Iraq, I learned firsthand about MSRs and their relevance to strategic planning. Ships, aircraft, and ground troops all have one thing in common: routes of travel. The back roads of Korea in the winter probably top the list of limitations of travel. Mud and snow dominate, and if you ask a Korean War vet, or WW II grunt, you will get a firsthand account of how an MSR plays in a battle scenario.

When planning a road march moving from one objective to another, the march order usually has Infantry and Armor (tanks) leading the way to clear the path, followed by the supply trains. Usually the main engineer assets (heavy equipment, bridging and construction equipment, breaching tools) are somewhere in the middle of the train. A savvy commander will attach a platoon of Engineers to the lead elements in case of a blockage or impassable roadway. Even the most capable tanks can get stuck in the mud, not to mention the multi-wheeled vehicles that can get buried in an instant when confronted with soft road surface. In mountainous areas, travel is severely restricted. Afghanistan certainly has that challenge, as are the “soft” roadbeds in Korea winding through steep valleys, making way for an easy enemy ambush. Iraq has similar challenges too. The desert is mostly flat, so even though the road surface is pretty good, an IED can disrupt travel. Vehicles can [usually] circumvent the crater, but are in a very vulnerable position for ambush, which is a common battle plan for the insurgents.

So, back to Eisenhower’s highway system. As part of the National Highway System, the Interstate Highway system was developed during the Cold War to provide unabated movement of troops and equipment to and from military bases, rail and sea terminals, and airports. It is also part of the Strategic Highway Network, which is a system of roads critical to the U.S. Department of Defense.

The focus of the Interstate System today is much different than the original plan. Still available as a Main Supply Route, the purpose of an MSR is now commerce and personal travel. Except in Seattle and Los Angeles, that is. As you drive in those cities, you usually get stuck in a lane and cannot get to where you are going without going to the next exit and backtracking on a surface street. Looks like we are back where we started before the Eisenhower Interstate Highway System was built. Maybe my grandfather was more mobile riding his horse.

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Jack Evensizer is a resident of Dalton Gardens.