8. Interstate Highway System (1956); Dwight Eisenhower.
Ike signed into law the act that established the 41,000-mile Interstate Highway System with federal security in mind, but in the process he made “See the USA in your Chevrolet” a practical reality. The act authorized funding for the development and construction of what’s known as the "greatest public works project since the pyramids." An unfortunate casualty of the nation's network of high-speed highways was fabled Route 66, the so-called “mother road” that led from Chicago to Los Angeles, along with any number of down-home roadside attractions and businesses across virtually all 48 states.