Jun 26, 1956: Congress approves Federal Highway Act

[Selatius]

5. I'm sure Congress at the time would've reconsidered if they saw how expensive gasoline became.

The United States of 2012 is built around the 1956 assumption that gasoline would remain cheap.

They should've passed the bill but with the provision that the United States also continued to fund and expand the heavy and light rail network of the country and that the routes that are chosen for interstates also be wide enough for possible bullet train route addition. Then, maybe the United States wouldn't be the wealthiest nation without a major mass transit network connecting its cities.