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FRIDAY February 13, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels January 19, 2004 The final transportation plan The '60s in Ashland brought about the latest connection to urban centers By Lance K. Pugh Tidings Correspondent The Palo Alto professor, driving his SUV outfitted with GPS, smiled widely as he flowed down the "Old Siskiyou Highway." Near the Siskiyou summit to what he knew to be Klamath Junction, he could either head east to Klamath Falls or west to Ashland. He had personally programmed his software to follow the historically accurate route. So his confidence was unshakable, but his timing was�somewhat distorted. The Klamath Junction now sits under the mud and waters of Emigrant Lake. So, in an overall sense, what went wrong? President Dwight Eisenhower was clearly to blame. From ruts to roads The wagon/stagecoach toll road over the Siskiyous, used since the 1850s, gave way in importance to the railroad when the Golden Spike was driven in Ashland on the Dec. 17 1887, connecting Ashland to the balance of a nation-wide railroad system. Railroad passenger traffic declined dramatically in 1926 as a faster route through Klamath Falls was opened. Ashland was kept viable by an increasing flow of automotive traffic, fueled by Henry Ford's mass production, which increased the pressure for more and better-maintained roads. In 1926 the US Highway System was created and the former wagon/stagecoach trail, as improved, became designated US-99, which reached Klamath Junction at the bottom of the grade from the Siskiyou Summit. By 1948 the current route of I-5 was adopted and upgraded to Interstate Standards in 1965. Lt. Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower accompanied the Army's first transcontinental motor convoy from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco in 1919, giving the future president an idea of a system of cross-continental highways that eventually led to the concept of the National Defense Highway System. During World War II, Gen. Eisenhower saw the benefits Germany enjoyed because of the autobahn network, as well as the many advantages these superior roads gave the Allies as they rolled into Germany. President Eisenhower established the Highway Trust Fund to create a funding mechanism that enabled the United States to build a national road network similar to the German Autobahn. The passage of the Interstate Highway Act in 1956 led to the completion of I-5 in Southern Oregon a decade later, widening a capillary into an artery, allowing free-flowing tourism and commerce to surge between California and Oregon. In 1956, President Eisenhower signed legislation establishing the National Defense Highway System (about 41,000 miles of roads), designed to move military equipment and personnel efficiently. Just as the Roman roads defined the distance between railroad rails by the ruts of chariot wheels, our Interstate Highways were built to accommodate the rapid deployment of the military. Another purpose was to allow for mass evacuation of cities in the event of a nuclear attack, which might have worked with a couple of weeks notice. The Interstate system was designed so that one mile in every five must be straight, usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies. When the system specifications for the then National Defense Highway System were being devised, it was determined that at-grade intersections, both with railways and other roadways, were not compatible with the desired goal of smooth, high-speed passage. Access only by interchanges with ramps and acceleration/deceleration lanes allowed vehicles to enter and leave the highway with minimal effect on the through traffic stream. By 1966 automotive traffic flowed unfettered on I-5, allowing Ashland, situated equal distance between San Francisco and Portland, to enjoy urban access at a vacation distance. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Site Search: A new improved archive search is coming! Look for it in mid-February! .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - ODOT Road Cams