Partisanship and Permanence
How Congress Contested the Origins of the Interstate Highway System and the Future of American Infrastructure
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 22130989 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Teal Arcadi (0000-0002-7703-5725, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 53-77 |
| Publication date | 2022-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Modern American History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2397-1851 • E-ISSN: 2515-0456 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/mah.2022.4 |
| OpenAlex | W4220789355 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 7 |
In the mid-1950s, the Eisenhower administration and Congress erupted in a sharp partisan debate over how to pay for the novel National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, slated to become the most expensive and expansive public works project in United States history. Republicans advocated for interest-bearing bonded debt borrowed from banks, while Democrats preferred to avoid debt service costs and apply a direct tax-and-pave approach to the enormous state building project. The chosen fiduciary practices promised to be as permanent as the physical infrastructure they paid to construct and maintain. Consequently, the fraught episode saw the two parties contest not only transportation infrastructure and the capital supply upon which it depended, but indeed the very nature and future of American political economy. When the tax-and-pave approach prevailed, it saved taxpayers interest costs, but came with its own perilous consequences as it set near-limitless development in motion
CONTEST · Debt · Debt service coverage ratio · Economics · Economy · Expansive · External debt · Fiduciary · Political science · American Environmental and Regional History · Law · Public Administration · Finance
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,33 |
| Citation span | 2023 - 2023 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |