Wisconsin History Day By Day

Related Web Sites:
Building the Interstate (Federal Highway Administration)

Wisconsin's Interstate

America on the Move


Read More About It

"Divided Highways" by Tom Lewis

"State to End Its I-Road 4 Years Early" Wisconsin State Journal, 10/26/1969


Vocabulary:

symbolic
segment


Interesting Fact:

Interstate 90 is the longest Interstate Highway, traveling over 3,000 miles across the U.S. A portion of this highway goes through Wisconsin, from Beloit to La Crosse.


Study Questions:

  • How many miles of Interstate highway are currently in Wisconsin?
  • What was the cost of constructing the initial phase (ending in 1969) of Wisconsin Interstate highways?
  • How did the Interstate highway affect businesses in local communities along the route?


    U.S. historical events that occurred on November 24:

    1963: Jack Ruby shoots and kills Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas.
    1971: Hijacker D.B. Cooper parachutes from a Northwest Airlines flight over Washington state, never to be found.



    • November 24

    November 24, 1959: A 15-mile stretch of the Interstate highway opens for travelers between Beloit and Janesville. Gov. Gaylord Nelson cut symbolic ribbons at both cities, opening the first stretch of Interstate 90 in Wisconsin. Wisconsin's first Interstate segment was completed on Sept. 4, 1958, when seven miles of Interstate 94 opened between Goerke's Corners (Highway 18) and Highway SS in Waukesha County.

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