On this date in history
July 12, 1954:
On this day in 1954, President Eisenhower planned to reveal his plan at the Governors’ Conference on Lake George in New York, for the previously funded Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1954. This act authorized funds for the Federal-aid Highway program through 1956 with an additional 175 million dollars per year for the Interstate system. Unfortunately because of a death in his family, President Eisenhower could not attend. Stepping in was Vice President Richard Nixon who addressed the Governors with the President’s “grand plan for a properly articulated system that solves the problems of speedy, safe, transcontinental traffic, intercity communication, access highways, farm to market movement, metropolitan area congestion, and parking.” The costs of this plan would combine both federal and state efforts.