On its page commemorating the 50th anniversary of President Eisenhower signing the Federal Aid Highway Act, the Federal Highway Administration offers a “Then and Now” chart showing how much America has changed since 1956. It’s a little corny, but in 1956 Chuck Berry was a chart-topper, hula hoops were the new craze, and Cold War tensions were very high. The point is the country has changed a lot since then.
But not when it comes to transportation policy. Many states are still firmly entrenched in the Eisenhower era, building highways like it’s 1956. Are any of them implementing transportation systems for the 21st Century?
There are some forward-looking state transportation policies out there, in fact, and Transportation for America has released a report outlining 12 innovations that may finally make “now” look a lot different than “then” [PDF].
Here are five things that some states are starting to get right: