The following editorial recently appeared in the Chicago Tribune:

The nation’s interstate highway system is 50 years old. Like baby boomers of a certain age, it’s showing serious signs of wear. But what a half-century it has been. The ribbons of road transformed America and fulfilled President Dwight Eisenhower’s dream.

Eisenhower saw an economic and defense rationale for building the interstate system. He envisioned the U.S. military might be rumbling along the interstates the way Allied troops had with ease on Germany’s autobahns as they marched toward Berlin in World War II. He thought the interstates might be needed to evacuate people if the Cold War turned nuclear hot. And Eisenhower realized that the interstate highway system could boost U.S. growth, reduce traffic congestion and make the roads safer.

The system eventually grew to 62 routes covering nearly 47,000 miles.

A couple of generations of American drivers have swerved on and off the interstates with casual familiarity, perhaps never imagining what life was like before them. The red-white-blue “I” placards designating interstates now are taken for granted – two-digit even numbers for east-west routes; two-digit odd numbers for north-south routes; three-digit odd numbers for urban spurs and three-digit even numbers for beltways. Drivers can get to and through any state in the Lower 48 via the interstate.

If drivers focus on the interstate system at all today, it’s probably to vent about miles of crumbling concrete that seem forever under repair. Some days, getting off an interstate is refreshing. Some days, the narrow, winding country roads can be a blessed relief.

But it wasn’t always like that. The interstates were once considered exciting and modern, a new experience. They made it possible to travel long distances by car in much shorter time. They made the road trip to distant destinations a summer staple for many families. Families would load up the station wagon and head out.

We recall one family road trip back when the highway system was still a work in progress. The American Automobile Association’s “TripTik” said a certain stretch of I-80 in Wyoming would be completed by August 1962. So the American Dad in charge insisted that the loaded station wagon would go down that road. And so that wagon went, even when it became clear that the gravel-covered road it was on might one day be I-80, but wasn’t there yet.

The children of the 1950s and 1960s in the back seats of the station wagons are the adults behind the wheel now, with kids of their own and summer vacations to plan. If you find yourself on an interstate this summer, pause to think about Dwight Eisenhower and one of the great marvels of American engineering – even if the kids are whining in back.