Freightliner Trucks Donates Tractor To 50Th Anniversary Celebration Of The Interstate Highway System
Freightliner Trucks announced that one of its heavy-duty tractors took part in a convoy traveling across America in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the United States Interstate Highway System.
Freightliner’s Run Smart Century Class S/T tractor drove the entire 14-day journey across the country from June 16-29, 2006 in celebration of this special event.
The Freightliner Run Smart Century Class S/T tractor as part of the 50th Anniversary convoy
The 50th anniversary convoy began in San Francisco traveled 3,250 miles, ending on the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. with a ceremony and an outdoor picnic.
Freightliner Trucks, American Association of Highway Transportation Officials (AASHTO) and Highway Watch officials were in attendance, as was U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta.
June 29, 2006 was an historic milestone as it marked the 50th anniversary of the day President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act, leading to the construction of the Interstate Highway System we rely upon today, one of the biggest engineering projects ever undertaken in the U.S.
“The trucking industry hauls nearly 70% of all freight moved across America,” said Jonathan Randall, director of product marketing, Freightliner Trucks. “More than 80% of our communities depend solely on our industry for delivery of their goods and products, and it’s the Interstate Highway System that makes this possible.”
In 1919, Eisenhower, then a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army, accompanied a military convoy from Washington D.C. to San Francisco. Due to rough, muddy road conditions and bridgeless river crossings, the onerous journey took 62 days, clocking 58 miles per day at about 6 miles per hour.
This journey convinced Eisenhower the nation needed a much better road system, and his conviction was reinforced during World War II when his Allied troops made use of the well-developed German Autobahn system to quickly move soldiers throughout the country to help defeat the German army.
The commemorative convoy retraced, in reverse, the route of the 1919 First Transcontinental Motor Train, which approximately followed route I-80 across the nation. The convoy traveled through thirteen states, stopped in eighteen towns (including Abilene, Kansas, Eisenhower’s birthplace) and ended at the Zero Mile Marker on the Ellipse, where the 1919 convoy departed to the West.
The Interstate Highway System is comprised of 46,508 miles of superhighways connecting major cities, smaller towns and great expanses of open landscape across the United States. More notably, the Interstate Highway System has connected Americans to each other, putting them within only a few days’ drive of each other, and has redefined the relationship between urban and rural America.
Freightliner Trucks is a division of Freightliner LLC, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, and imanufacturer of heavy-duty trucks in North America. Freightliner LLC produces and markets Class 3-8 trucks and is a company of DaimlerChrysler, the world’s largest commercial vehicle manufacturer. To download images associated with this press release, please visit: http://www.freightliner.com/download/2006_press_releases/06_06_runsmart. asp On the Internet: “Freightliner Trucks, as the number one North American truck manufacturer, is proud to participate in this special event,” Randall added. “As the most visible name on the road, our trucks have traversed every mile of these roads and our customers will continue bringing necessary goods and services to people across the United States.”