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Eisenhower great-grandson to join convoy
celebrating 50th anniversary of interstates

Jennifer Gavin
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In 1919, then-Lt. Col. Dwight David Eisenhower set out on a cross-country military convoy that would someday reshape American life – through the creation of the Interstate Highway System. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of that system, the former president’s great-grandson, Merrill Eisenhower Atwater, will retrace the journey –this time along Interstate 80.

“My grandfather is remembered for many things, but the Interstate System was a real priority for his presidency,” Atwater said. “There’s a quotation from him that explains how he felt about priorities. It goes, ‘We succeed only as we identify in life, or in war, or in anything else, a single overriding objective, and make all other considerations bend to that one objective.”

The commemorative trip is organized by the state departments of transportation to
emphasize the importance of the 47,000-mile Interstate system – an engineering milestone that many people take for granted.

“Trucks use the Interstate to deliver almost everything we use. People use the Interstate
to get to work, to vacation, to see America. But they never give it a second thought,” said John Horsley, Executive Director of the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials, which represents the state transportation departments in Washington.

“We want to honor this amazing achievement, but also to make people aware that it’s time to think about the future, and what will be needed for the next 50 years. We are delighted to have Merrill Atwater with us as a tribute to his great-grandfather’s vision, and as a symbol of a new generation the Interstate system must serve.”

The Celebrate the Interstate Convoy will depart from San Francisco on June 16, from the
exact point where the 1919 convoy over the famed Lincoln Highway arrived after an arduous 60-day journey.

With 19 stops along I-80 for public events, parades and symposia, the 20-vehicle caravan will arrive at the zero milepost in Washington D.C. on June 29. That date will be the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Federal-aid Highway Act of 1956 by President Eisenhower.

Atwater will keep a journal of the convoy, to be placed in the Eisenhower Library in
Abilene, Kansas, alongside the journal his great-grandfather kept in 1919. He will also file a daily Internet blog of his observations.