The textbook offered the Interstate Highway System as an example of a program that may be perceived as a success or a failure. Explain how the highway system may be perceived in these lights.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Highway engineers probably regard the Interstate Highway System as a great success. Many miles of highways have been built in a relatively short period, and they have saved many lives and many millions of gallons of gasoline--assuming that Americans would have driven the same number of miles if the superhighways had not been built. The mayor of a large city or members of the Department of Energy, however, may regard the program as a colossal failure. They realize that building highways in urban areas has facilitated urban sprawl and the flight of the middle class to the suburbs, which has reduced the tax base of the cities and caused social and economic problems there (and raised the costs of urban programs), while the surrounding suburbs grew affluent. The rapid automobile transportation that the highways promised encouraged people to move to the suburbs and consequently to consume millions of gallons of gasoline each year in commuting.