Are Roads to Blame for Rural Depopulation?
The McDonalds story makes me wonder whether roads are to blame for the devastation we saw in Kansas (and Nebraska) towns and even in a tourist destination like Hannibal, Missouri. Beautfiful houses are vacant, crumbling. The sidewalks are cracked and grass grows high in them, because no one walks on them anymore. Once roads like 36 were the routes we took to travel across the country. Parts of 36 track the pony express route, an enterprise whose fame has long outlasted its existence of only 18 months between April 1860 and October 1861. But once we had the Interstate system, that was the only way to go. Here is the way the former FHWA Administrator describes the system: At the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), we are committed to providing a safe, modern, and efficient transportation system to serve the American people. The National Highway System (NHS) is the centerpiece of that effort. As the cornerstone of tomorrow’s highway network, NHS will function as the backbone of our nat
