State/National of Emergency

[jimLE]

i was doing a search for cities and highways that'd be primary hubs during a State/National of Emergency to no avail. Anyone have a link for such info? on account I'm wondering if my little corner of texas is a part of it or not.when it comes to the hwy's passing through it..

 

[Curmudgeon]

I would think that would be hard to predict.

It's really dependent on the nature and location of the emergency. You might do local searches to see if your city, town, county have anything like that in place.

 

[Sentry18]

I know we map out routes based on scheduled events and have some pre-planned routes based on predicted events, but even those are flexible.

 

[jimLE]

I'm thinking along the lines of a national/martial law being declared.in which the military goes out.and takes control of cities.ect ect..which cities and roads will they take over and control of?

 

[Cnsper]

I'm thinking along the lines of a national/martial law being declared.in which the military goes out.and takes control of cities.ect ect..which cities and roads will they take over and control of?

They will start with the interstates and then move on to US highways. Your local gravel county road will be last.

 

[Supervisor42]

They will start with the interstates and then move on to US highways. Your local gravel county road will be last.

Interesting tidbit on the Interstate Highway System. Created by Eisenhower, it's specifications required a perfectly straight section one mile long every five miles in order to land military cargo planes in case of national emergency. (if you pay attention when you're driving, you'll notice it).
Eisenhower noticed in WW2 that bombing just a few airstrips in a country could paralyze it's military and emergency response capability.
His idea was to populate the country with thousands of potential airstrips and make the country invulnerable.
It worked.
Interstates highways are all divided highways to accommodate the wingspan of aircraft originally, not for traffic safety.
And if you look close, you'll notice in the straight sections, the speed-limit signs are magically positioned a lot farther away from the side of road than all the other ones.
On topic:
Like in a state emergency, (in a hurricane evacuation when they change all lanes to one direction) in the event of national emergency you can expect the government to take control of some critical sections of interstates.

 

[jimLE]

i had forgotten about this.and their turning hwy 69 into I69.in which it does have long and stright sections to it.

it's specifications required a perfectly straight section one mile long every five miles in order to land military cargo planes in case of national emergency. (if you pay attention when you're driving, you'll notice it).

 

[Terri9630]

Interesting tidbit on the Interstate Highway System. Created by Eisenhower, it's specifications required a perfectly straight section one mile long every five miles in order to land military cargo planes in case of national emergency. (if you pay attention when you're driving, you'll notice it).
Eisenhower noticed in WW2 that bombing just a few airstrips in a country could paralyze it's military and emergency response capability.
His idea was to populate the country with thousands of potential airstrips and make the country invulnerable.
It worked.
Interstates highways are all divided highways to accommodate the wingspan of aircraft originally, not for traffic safety.
And if you look close, you'll notice in the straight sections, the speed-limit signs are magically positioned a lot farther away from the side of road than all the other ones.
On topic:
Like in a state emergency, (in a hurricane evacuation when they change all lanes to one direction) in the event of national emergency you can expect the government to take control of some critical sections of interstates.

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/00mayjun/onemileinfive.cfm

But I do know the following statement is false: The Eisenhower Interstate Highway System requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

False though it is, this "fact" has become a fixture of Internet Web sites with names such as "You Probably Didn't Know That ..." and "Weird Fact Heaven."

For a historian, even an unofficial one, who believes that a fact should be, by definition, factual, what is particularly frustrating is that everyone seems to know this "fact." People — including those whose eyes glaze over if I even mention Gen. Roy Stone1 or the vitally important statewide highway surveys of the mid-1930s2 — get a twinkle in their eye when I mention the Interstate Highway System. "Did you know," they say to me cheerily as I grit my teeth, "that one in every five miles ..."

When that happens, I feel like the staffer at the information desk of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum who told me the most frequently asked question she receives is, "Where's the rest room?" Like her, I try to reply patiently without rolling my eyes or groaning, and I try not to give the impression I've heard this "fact" once or twice or maybe a hundred times before.

 

[Supervisor42]

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/00mayjun/onemileinfive.cfm

But I do know the following statement is false: The Eisenhower Interstate Highway System requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.
...Like her, I try to reply patiently without rolling my eyes or groaning, and I try not to give the impression I've heard this "fact" once or twice or maybe a hundred times before.

Please excuse me, I seem to have a little Kool-Aid on my lips

It is much more likely that those specs were added after the cold war started and are not to the credit of Eisenhower. Like when all the fallout shelters were being built everywhere. I just can't find it.

 

[Terri9630]

Runways make as much sense as anything else.

 

[Supervisor42]

Runways make as much sense as anything else.

It could also just be long-living 'folk-lore' too.
But on topic: If I was the government and there was a national emergency (like fallout) and wanted people to shelter in place, the first thing I'd do is shut down the interstates.

 

[The Lazy L]

I'm thinking along the lines of a national/martial law being declared.in which the military goes out.and takes control of cities.ect ect..which cities and roads will they take over and control of?

Major cities like New York, Chicago, Los Angkes and the interstates leading to same. They lack the resources to occupy more.

 

[SheepDog]

I have my doubts that the average interstate could support a C5A or other big transport. The runways at SeaTac International are well over 3 foot thick steel reinforced concrete.
Now, I am not an engineer and I tend to overbuild everything but the doubt remains.

 

[Cnsper]

All it has to do is land once.