Congress passed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 to fund an interstate highway system. Although this act was not part of the New Deal, it was connected to the suburban growth that resulted from many New Deal policies. This act turned a jumble of unconnected local roads into a national transportation network that stretched from coast to coast, creating the interstate highway system that exists today.

Under this act, the federal government agreed to pay 90 percent of the states’ costs for new roadways as long as they built them through every major city to connect the emerging suburbs to downtown centers, where commuters worked and shopped. Determining exactly where to build new highways, however, was left to state and local policymakers and planners.

Take Notes

Watch the video to learn more about the impact that the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 had on Black communities and why those communities were disproportionately and negatively affected. Then answer the following questions.