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Way back in the 1990’s I served as a liaison for Russian government officials visiting the US.
One of the first questions was....”who is responsible for the interstate system of roads?”. My answer was brief and to the point..”why you were.”.
Not sure about the ICBM part. The part I heard was that it was to move troops across the nation in a short period of time.
BTW...for the Canadians....We built the Alaskan Highway for you in WWII. Not sure how you guys missed us funding a highway system for you during the Cold War.
No one missed it, it's a well known story, at least here in BC. There are some nuances though that you left out. First off, it wasn't the Cold War. It was the Second World War.
10,000 or 11,000 thousand US soldiers. built the highway, with 16,000 Canadian and American volunteers.
The US invested $147.8 million into the project, Canada paid the US $108 million, for infrastructure like telephone systems, building and air strips.
It was called the Alcan Highway and was a gravel road, some I believe still dirt.
In April of 1946, the Canadian army took over the Canadian portion running through the Yukon and BC.
Thousands of Canadian soldiers took over when the Americans left. They formed the NorthWest Highway System and brought the highway up to civilian driving standards.
Opened to civilian traffic in 1948, even though the widening and upgrading took a total of 17 years.
Also, you didn't build the highway for us, you built it, and we LET you because the US needed a road connection to Alaska fearing Japanese invasion after Pearl Harbour.. It's what allies do.
I don't know if your comment was meant to sound smug, but it kind of does.
This is not to denigrate the US soldiers who did an astounding job of putting a road through to Alaska, but to point out, that the highway you drive today, is because of BOTH countries contributing. Otherwise, you would still be driving a less wide, unpaved roadway.
BTW...for the Canadians....We built the Alaskan Highway for you in WWII. Not sure how you guys missed us funding a highway system for you during the Cold War.
You must have missed reading the above from my post.
We built the highway...you built the infrastructure for phones etc. Though I must say it was rather a **** poor job given the poor state of communications along the Canadian portion.
Those were NOT American volunteers unless you call the US military a “volunteer” organization in WWII. The entire graduating class from my Forestry school in the US, was sent north to build the highway. The US military thought it was better to have Foresters build the road north than conventional civil engineers.
The entire highway is paved now. Well there was a LONG stretch in the Yukon that was quite a way behind on maintenance.
No problem. Hey, that’s what neighbors are for. There is no way that Canada could afford to build the Alaska Highway. We were boat in the same both during WWII and the Cold War.
I don’t think there are ANY American’s that are opposed to helping defend Canada from the rest of the world.
You must have missed reading the above from my post.
We built the highway...you built the infrastructure for phones etc. Though I must say it was rather a **** poor job given the poor state of communications along the Canadian portion.
Those were NOT American volunteers unless you call the US military a “volunteer” organization in WWII. The entire graduating class from my Forestry school in the US, was sent north to build the highway. The US military thought it was better to have Foresters build the road north than conventional civil engineers.
The entire highway is paved now. Well there was a LONG stretch in the Yukon that was quite a way behind on maintenance.
No problem. Hey, that’s what neighbors are for. There is no way that Canada could afford to build the Alaska Highway. We were boat in the same both during WWII and the Cold War.
I don’t think there are ANY American’s that are opposed to helping defend Canada from the rest of the world.
Missed your Second World War comment.
However you missed my comment about who built the road. Read it again.
You must have missed reading the above from my post.
We built the highway...you built the infrastructure for phones etc. Though I must say it was rather a **** poor job given the poor state of communications along the Canadian portion.
Those were NOT American volunteers unless you call the US military a “volunteer” organization in WWII. The entire graduating class from my Forestry school in the US, was sent north to build the highway. The US military thought it was better to have Foresters build the road north than conventional civil engineers.
The entire highway is paved now. Well there was a LONG stretch in the Yukon that was quite a way behind on maintenance.
No problem. Hey, that’s what neighbors are for. There is no way that Canada could afford to build the Alaska Highway. We were boat in the same both during WWII and the Cold War.
I don’t think there are ANY American’s that are opposed to helping defend Canada from the rest of the world.
Haar, this from the country that declared WWII wasn't their war for two full years of sitting it out while the air war over Britain was won without them.
This from the country that couldn't give a rats patoot about Canada and shows it daily. Building that highway was deemed necessary for movement of resources and defence of Alaska or you would not have built it. Stop making it sound like you're the breadbasket of altruism whereas Canada is concerned. That wasn't flying then and given recent Trumpnuttery won't fly now.
If it comes to aiding in our defence it will come with the knowledge you're only doing so because any threat to Canada would get to your doorstep in the next hour or two anyway. You would do nothing for Canada if given any choice in the matter. That's been proven numerous times.
Canada has put feet on the ground all over the U.S during any number of your natural disasters and what thanks have we ever gotten for that...zip, nada...we get declared a security risk by your idiot leader to illegally advantage a "wholly manufactured" trade dispute in his favour.
Would you like to talk about the Gordy Howe Bridge now? You're welcome.
Not that all the US cities have them, but I didn't see anything like these in Canada
I sincerely hope to god we never do! You also wont see anything like this in Canada that would be a natural occurrence should a bunch of those stacked overpasses actually become necessary across the entire country:
fyi Arthur Erickson, the definitive Canadian architect that designed a people friendly DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES project, stated in one of his first speeches in the early sixties, that CANADA didn't want to follow the "AMERICAN MODEL" of freeways, toll roads, and expressways, especially through cities, as it CREATED unfriendly and nightmare issues that we'd have to face in the FUTURE.
he was right.
visit Europe.
ride a train. drink their milk, like right off the farm. eat REAL cheese. not "cheese food". do it different. just do it.
.... BTW...for the Canadians....We built the Alaskan Highway for you in WWII. Not sure how you guys missed us funding a highway system for you during the Cold War.
I sure hope that's not what they were teaching kids in the history classes in your schools because that is incorrect information.
America didn't build anything for Canada and it didn't fund any manner of highway system for Canada.
America built the Alcan Hwy for America's own military purposes, it did not build it for Canada. America wanted to build it because America wanted to transport American military equipment from the lower 48 into Alaska during WW2 so that America could defend Alaska.
Canada allowed it. Canada didn't need it or want it but America wanted it desperately and Canada's government recognized America's need to defend Alaska's coastline. So Canada gave America permission to transport military equipment on Canadian roads through Canada and for their military troops and their American Army Corp of Engineers to start building a connecting road that started at Dawson Creek in northern BC and would go through to Delta Junction in Alaska.
Canada also provided funding, resources, equipment, Canadian military troops and volunteer civilian manpower to the enterprise too. And Canada finished the job that the American Military and Army Corp of Engineers started but never finished.
I assume the reasons are similar to the reasons Australia lacks similar roads. Very low population densities with a correspondingly low population base to pay for such roads, a necessity to pass through extremely remote areas where speaking for here, drivers still often wave to each other when they pass. I ncreasingly cheap airfares. Also, particularly for Sydney, Melbourne, and Vancouver, extremely expensive property prices which make the cost of acquiring property to construct infrastructure even more expensive.
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