Editing Interstate Highway System (section)

===Other uses===
As one of the components of the [[National Highway System (United States)|National Highway System]], Interstate Highways improve the mobility of military troops to and from airports, seaports, rail terminals, and other military bases. Interstate Highways also connect to other roads that are a part of the [[Strategic Highway Network]], a system of roads identified as critical to the [[US Department of Defense]].<ref name="slater_1996">{{cite magazine |url = https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/spring-1996/national-highway-system-commitment-americas-future |title = The National Highway System: A Commitment to America's Future |magazine = Public Roads |last = Slater |first = Rodney E. |date = Spring 1996 |volume = 59 |issue = 4 |access-date = January 10, 2008 |issn = 0033-3735 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141216112008/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/96spring/p96sp2.cfm |archive-date = December 16, 2014 |url-status = live }}</ref>

The system has also been used to facilitate evacuations in the face of hurricanes and other natural disasters. An option for maximizing traffic throughput on a highway is to reverse the flow of traffic on one side of a divider so that all lanes become outbound lanes. This procedure, known as [[contraflow lane reversal]], has been employed several times for hurricane evacuations. After public outcry regarding the inefficiency of evacuating from southern Louisiana prior to [[Hurricane Georges]]' landfall in September 1998, government officials looked towards contraflow to improve evacuation times. In [[Savannah, Georgia]], and [[Charleston, South Carolina]], in 1999, lanes of [[Interstate 16 in Georgia|I-16]] and [[Interstate 26 in South Carolina|I-26]] were used in a contraflow configuration in anticipation of [[Hurricane Floyd]] with mixed results.<ref name="onewayout">{{cite magazine |url = http://www.asce.org/files/pdf/hurricane/Evacuation_and_Shelters/One_Way_Out~Contraflow_Freeway_Operation_for_Hurricane_Evacuation.pdf |title = "One-Way-Out": Contraflow Freeway Operation for Hurricane Evacuation |last = Wolshon |first = Brian |magazine = Natural Hazards Review |volume = 2 |issue = 3 |pages = 105–112 |date = August 2001 |access-date = January 10, 2008 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20081006200038/http://www.asce.org/files/pdf/hurricane/Evacuation_and_Shelters/One_Way_Out~Contraflow_Freeway_Operation_for_Hurricane_Evacuation.pdf |archive-date = October 6, 2008 |doi = 10.1061/(ASCE)1527-6988(2001)2:3(105) }}</ref>

In 2004, contraflow was employed ahead of [[Hurricane Charley]] in the [[Tampa, Florida]] area and on the [[Gulf Coast of the United States|Gulf Coast]] before the landfall of [[Hurricane Ivan]];<ref name="contraflow_ivan">{{cite web |url = http://www.floridaits.com/PDFs/TWO60-Contraflow/060330-Experiences-V2.pdf |title = Contraflow Implementation Experiences in the Southern Coastal States |publisher = [[Florida Department of Transportation]] |access-date = September 27, 2007 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20071025045623/http://www.floridaits.com/PDFs/TWO60-Contraflow/060330-Experiences-V2.pdf |archive-date = October 25, 2007 |first = Tahira |last = Faquir |url-status = usurped |date = March 30, 2006 }}</ref> however, evacuation times there were no better than previous evacuation operations. Engineers began to apply lessons learned from the analysis of prior contraflow operations, including limiting exits, removing troopers (to keep traffic flowing instead of having drivers stop for directions), and improving the dissemination of public information. As a result, the 2005 evacuation of New Orleans, Louisiana, prior to [[Hurricane Katrina]] ran much more smoothly.<ref name="roadsandbridges_contraflow">{{cite web |url = https://www.roadsbridges.com/contra-productive |work = Roads & Bridges |date = December 2006b |access-date = January 10, 2008 |last = McNichol |first = Dan |title = Contra Productive |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110715191558/http://www.roadsbridges.com/popup_app/index.cfm?fuseaction=showArticle&appDirectory=rb&articleID=7519&forPrint=yes |archive-date = July 15, 2011 }}</ref>

According to [[urban legend]], early regulations required that one out of every five miles of the Interstate Highway System must be built straight and flat, so as to be usable by aircraft during times of war. There is no evidence of this rule being included in any Interstate legislation.<ref>{{cite web |first = Barbara |last = Mikkelson |date = April 1, 2011 |url = http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/airstrip.asp |title = Interstate Highways as Airstrips |publisher = Snopes |access-date = March 15, 2017 |archive-url = https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20051201041356/http://www.snopes.com/autos/law/airstrip.asp |archive-date = December 1, 2005 |url-status = live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url = https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/mayjune-2000/one-mile-five-debunking-myth |title = One Mile in Five: Debunking the Myth |last = Weingroff |first = Richard F. |date = May–June 2000 |magazine = Public Roads |volume = 63 |issue = 6 |access-date = December 14, 2010 |issn = 0033-3735 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20101212070757/http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/00mayjun/onemileinfive.cfm |archive-date = December 12, 2010 |url-status = live }}</ref> It is also [[List of common misconceptions|commonly believed]] the Interstate Highway System was built for the sole purpose of evacuating cities in the event of [[nuclear warfare]]. While military motivations were present, the primary motivations were civilian.<ref>{{cite web |author = Federal Highway Administration |date= June 30, 2023 |title = Interstate Highway System: The Myths |url = https://highways.dot.gov/highway-history/interstate-system/50th-anniversary/interstate-highway-system-myths#question2 |url-status = live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20240429041854/https://highways.dot.gov/highway-history/interstate-system/50th-anniversary/interstate-highway-system-myths#question2 |archive-date = April 29, 2024 |access-date = June 24, 2024 |publisher = Federal Highway Administration }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last = Laskow |first = Sarah |date = August 24, 2015 |title = Eisenhower and History's Worst Cross-Country Road Trip |url = https://slate.com/human-interest/2015/08/in-1919-eisenhower-took-a-disastrous-road-trip-that-led-to-his-support-of-the-modern-paved-highway.html |access-date = June 24, 2024 |work = [[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] }}</ref>