Motor Coach Industries -- the largest designer and manufacturer of intercity buses in the United States and Canada -- has joined the Celebrate the Interstate 50th Anniversary Convoy as a sponsor, the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) announced today.
NFL broadcaster John Madden, a celebrity spokesperson for MCI, will lend his famous cruiser for the kickoff in San Francisco June 16. Carrying convoy participants from coast to coast will be an MCI J4500 coach with a patriotic decal and a wheelchair lift-equipped MCI Commuter Coach.
"We're proud to be a sponsor of AASHTO's celebration," said Tom Sorrells, MCI president and chief executive officer. "MCI has been making coaches since 1933, and the birth of the Interstate ushered in a golden age of motor coach travel.
"This event provides an opportunity to spread the word that motor coaches continue to offer an environmentally friendly, economical way to get from point to point."
As AASHTO's member state DOTs from coast to coast roll out events to commemorate the Interstate's 50th throughout the year 2006, the states along the I-80 corridor will host a convoy that will hark back to the early experiences of the man most responsible for the creation of the Interstate System, former President Dwight D. Eisenhower.
As a young Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Army, Eisenhower joined a military convoy that took more than two months to cross the United States along the old "Lincoln Highway," which occupies roughly the same corridor as I-80. Eisenhower's 1919 convoy crawled from Washington, D.C. to San Francisco, destroying bridges and encountering travel obstacles all along the way.
The difficulty of the experience led the young Eisenhower to believe the U.S. needed an improved highway system. Those views were reinforced during World War II, when, as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe, Ike saw the autobahns of Germany and recognized the military, as well as civilian, utility of such a system of superhighways.
When he became president, getting an Interstate system built became Eisenhower's domestic-policy focus. He signed the bill starting up the construction on June 29, 1956.
AASHTO's convoy will feature 20 trucks, buses, recreational vehicles and cars. It will stop daily for public events sponsored by the state departments of transportation as it crosses the country. Plans include a 1950's-themed public rock-and-roll party, two giant tailgate parties, events at antique auto museums, and stops at the Eisenhower farm at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania and at the Eisenhower Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas, which will be reached by a breakaway group from the main convoy.
Personalities joining the convoy are slated to include former President Eisenhower's great-grandson, Merrill Eisenhower Atwater; "Commissioner of Tailgating" Joe Cahn; author and road historian Dan McNichol; Bob Lee, owner of Country Coach, a builder of luxury recreational vehicles; RVing expert Dave Humphries; and at least two governors.
Before, during, and after the convoy, AASHTO officials stand ready to share the rich history of the Interstate system -- not to mention the innovative work being done today to keep it working for America, and the cutting-edge plans to keep it the nation's safest, most efficient, most universally accessible means of transportation. For more information about the Interstate anniversary visit www.Interstate50th.org, and for a look at MCI's history, visit www.MCIcoach.com.
Celebrate the Interstate!
