The Interstate Highway

America is a huge country –  3,000 miles (4,827 kilometers) across the country from the east coast to the west coast.  America is crossed by a complex system of highways which enables Americans to drive just about anywhere they wish to go.  And these are special highways – they are always at least four lanes wide with a dividing median between the sets of lanes.  Most other roads do not connect with the Interstate highways because they are constructed as “limited access” highways.  To get on an Interstate highway, there is an entrance lane that allows you to accelerate to the speed of the highway traffic.

In the countryside, the highways look like this –  notice the wide median (the grassy divider between lanes).  The Interstates are built for speed – trucks and automobiles travel at 70 miles per hour (113 kilometers per hour).  The motorbike that is so common in Việt Nam is unheard of in America, and only large motorcycles are allowed on Interstate highways.

In the city, the Interstate highway takes on a different persona – they get bigger, and are built almost in layers.  While still built for high speed travel, they often get clogged with too many cars, though you would not know it by this picture.  If I took a picture at this same spot at 8:00 AM, my car would be stopped in the traffic of too many other cars trying to be on the roadway at the same time.

All those vehicles require fuel  - and almost every exit off the Interstate highway has at least one place to refuel.  (Remember – not all roads connect to an Interstate road)  Because all those vehicles have drivers who get hungry, almost every exit also has places to eat. This place combines a restaurant with a gasoline station.

America’s lifeblood is carried by the Interstate highway system.  Families use it to drive their automobiles on vacations and to visit families and friends.  Business uses the Interstate system too.  Huge amounts of goods and merchandise are transported around the country on the big trucks known as “18 wheelers.”  They are also named “tractor-trailers” because the front part of the truck is the engine and drive wheels designed to tow a trailer behind.  There are large trucks in Việt Nam, but nothing like these behemoths.

The Interstate highway system is another manifestation of America’s culture of the automobile.

Comments

[Easy Rider]

After building of all these Super highways, the motorcycle community that rides for pleasure must spend hours looking for small 2 lane back roads to ride. What a shame that the small town roads and restaurants are disappearing. Superhighways and McDonalds might not be what we NEED.

[m3dave]

The same comment made by 'easy rider' also holds true for the sports car community. Up in North Texas a neighbor (and avid motorcyclist) and his motorcycle buddies have joined his son (another M3 owner) and I for some curvy 2 lane back road fun. We avoid the interstates and chain restaurants.

That said the interstates are the way to go to cover a lot of miles quickly. I had a client in Abilene, Tx a while back and would drive there and back. We were often doing 90 MPH + (145 KMPH) on the wide open, well maintained Texas interstate. This is quite safe in a well maintained sports car with an attentive driver - after all German cars are built and engineered for the speed unlimited autobahn. The problem comes in when some inexperienced minivan or pickup truck driver tries to keep up with us at those speeds. Many sports car owners have a device called a 'Valentine 1' that detects police speed radar a long way off and allows one to take appropriate countermeasures (slow down) before one is in effective radar detection range. That said, Texas state troopers are more understanding than most about higher speeds in a capable vehicle - many are avid sports car fans themselves - we have several in our local BMW club. They will privately tell you they hate driving their state issued Ford Crown Victoria cars and long for the days when Texas troopers drove Ford Mustangs or Chevy Camaros