I have been browsing the Internet Archive of Ephemeral films and come across some interesting newsreel film shot about the them new Freeways. This first is a 22 minute documentary about the New Jersey Turnpike after its opening in 1952. Apparently the film is available to purchase from Periscope Films in HD but they uploaded the lower res version to the Archive.
The northern part of the mainline turnpike, along with the entirety of its extensions and spurs, is part of the Interstate Highway System, designated as Interstate 95 (I-95) between exit 6 and its northern end. Construction of the mainline from conceptualization to completion took 23 months, from 1950 to 1952. It was officially opened to traffic in November 1951, between its southern terminus and exit 10.
The Turnpike has 12-foot-wide (3.7 m) lanes, 10-foot-wide (3.0 m) shoulders, 13 rest areas named after notable residents of New Jersey, and unusual exit signage that was considered the pinnacle of highway building in the 1950s. The Interstate Highway System took some of its design guidelines by copying the Turnpike's design guidelines. To some degree, the Turnpike is considered iconic in pop culture, having been referenced in music, film and television.
One of a group of films made by General Motors for the purposes of driver's education. the "We Drivers" series dates back to at least the 1940s. This particular film shows the freeways of Houston, Texas in the late 1960s or early 1970s. The film uses the relatively new technology of the traffic helicopter to provide a new perspective on highway safety, showing how maneuvers in traffic on the beltways can cause accidents.
This 1948 black and white film was presented by The Highway Transportation Industries of America and produced by RKO Pathe, Inc. It is narrated by radio actor Dwight Weist and violinist Herman Fuchs supervised the music. The film opens with headlights on a dark street, and a spotlight on a “Horizons Unlimited” sign (:09-:32). A bird’s eye view is seen of an interstate with a tunnel (:58). The viewer passes a Howard Johnson’s (1:08).
This documentary, produced by the Portland Cement Association, describes the construction and utility of The Pennsylvania Turnpike, completed October, 1940, was a landmark construction project completed in that served as the grandfather of the interstate highway system. The planning process began in the 1920s as automobiles rose in popularity. After the onset of the Great Depression in the 1930s and President Franklin Roosevelt’s establishment of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in order to employ the homeless, the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission was established to create the highway.
The NJTP and its older sibling the PATP are both examples of the early thinking of the eastern states wanting to be connected by a series of access controlled toll roads. This was all thought of prior to Eisenhower signing the Interstate legislation in 1956 or so? It's interesting that most of I-95 north of Washington DC has been or still is a toll road showing this thinking continued despite the Interstate system being created. Likewise I-90 east of Chicago is virtually all toll road through to Boston.
Meanwhile California built the West coast's first freeway also in 1940 - albeit they called it a Parkway like the Moses era motor roads in New York. It's of course the Arroyo Seco Parkway, originally part of US-66 and now CA-110.
Bryn Terminally cynical, unimpressed, and nearly Middle Age already. She said life was like a motorway; dull, grey, and long.
Bryn666 wrote: ↑Sat Jun 30, 2018 22:18
The NJTP and its older sibling the PATP are both examples of the early thinking of the eastern states wanting to be connected by a series of access controlled toll roads. This was all thought of prior to Eisenhower signing the Interstate legislation in 1956 or so? It's interesting that most of I-95 north of Washington DC has been or still is a toll road showing this thinking continued despite the Interstate system being created. Likewise I-90 east of Chicago is virtually all toll road through to Boston.
Meanwhile California built the West coast's first freeway also in 1940 - albeit they called it a Parkway like the Moses era motor roads in New York. It's of course the Arroyo Seco Parkway, originally part of US-66 and now CA-110.
I-44 through Oklahoma is also tolled as is I-35 - the Kansas Turnpike. In some states they have invented a new twist on managed motorways, if you pay for a toll pass you can use the Express Lanes.
