Historical Highway Tidbits

As bad as traffic can be these days, imagine what it would be like if there were no freeway or highway systems. Freeways and highways benefit both urban and rural areas by lifting the heavy thru-traffic off of the local roads and decreasing the burden on the local people and infrastructure. Here is some interesting information, some might call it trivia, related to freeways and highways from around the world.

The first national freeway system was the Autobahn in Germany.

Connecticut’s Merritt Parkway was the first controlled access highway in the United States.

On October 1, 1940 the Pennsylvania Turnpike opened, it was the first long distance rural freeway in America.

California opened its first freeway on December 30, 1940. It was the Arroyo Seco Parkway, now known as the Pasadena Freeway.

In 1939, the world’s first long distance intercity freeway was completed connecting Toronto and Hamilton in Canada.

Stop signs, traffic lights, driveways, delivery and agricultural vehicles, and more can all be avoided because of the addition of limited access freeways to our national transportation system.

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