The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, also called the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act, was signed into law by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. The Act provided 24.8 billion federal dollars for a 41,000-mile national system of interstate and defense highways to be built over 13 years. See this Department of Transportation article for more information about the history of federal highways and this U.S. Senate page on the passage of the Federal-Aid Highway Act for more history about the legislation itself.
See also: 23 U.S. Code Chapter 1 - Federal-Aid Highways
[Last updated in July of 2024 by the Wex Definitions Team]