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Stephen Schwartz@atomicanalyst.bsky.social |
Fun Fact: the minimum clearance required by law for interstate highway overpasses was determined by the height of ICBM transport vehicles like this one, seen here squeezing an (unarmed) Atlas ICBM under an overpass in Benson, Arizona, en route to the Atlantic Missile Range, on December 1, 1956.
8 replies 23 reposts 94 likes
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ballerinaX
@ballerinax.bsky.social
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Will federal judges understand stuff like this going forward ?
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Sean Eric Fagan
@kithrup.bsky.social
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That's neat!
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Stephen Schwartz
@atomicanalyst.bsky.social
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On July 1, 1960, Rep. Gordon H. Scherer (R-Ohio), ranking Republican on the House Subcommittee on Roads, entered into the record a Cincinnati Enquirer article defending the costly highway effort and explaining a 16-foot clearance was driven by the need to move Atlas ICBMs from California to Florida:
2 replies 0 reposts 8 likes
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Maximum Mary
@maximummary.bsky.social
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Also, at some point Federal Highways learned that the military was building all their equipment to meet the 12 (14?)-foot clearances in Europe. Big but quiet fight to move US to same standard. Those extra feet add enormously to construction costs. Military won the battle.
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Dave Kearn
@davekearnjr.bsky.social
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That is certainly… suboptimal…
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Jay Schiavone
@jaytingle.bsky.social
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Indeed, Eisenhower used national security and military preparedness as a pretext to build the Interstate Highway System. The actual goal was to bolster the automotive industry, and to allow commercial development to occur in areas not served by navigable waterways or railroads.
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partwave∴
@partickle.bsky.social
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o.0
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Kevin
@kja.bsky.social
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It looks like these big boys could've easily been dropped 2-3' with a longer trailer - wheels behind the missile, nose behind the truck. It would create issues with turn radius, so they might've been constrained by one single curve somewhere on a mountain highway out west. Like this:
0 replies 0 reposts 0 likes