ABSTRACT
Transportation is the lifeline of the economic system. It represents the essential means by which activities are linked and thus made possible. Nevertheless, transport does not simply follow activities: its potentialities facilitate and limit the development and spread of activities. In 1956, the Interstate Highway Act, also known as the National Interstate and Defense Highway Act, established the Interstate Highway System in the United States. Over 40,000 miles of highways were built under the act. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962 mandated the approval of any highway project funded by the Act, in an urban area of 50,000 or more population, based on a continuing, comprehensive urban transportation planning process that is carried out cooperatively by states and local governments – the so-called 3C planning process. The 1970s saw continued federal promotion of transportation planning. Environmental factors would now have to be considered when making transportation decisions.
