新四级难点考前冲刺：快速阅读制胜完全攻略_大学英语阅读

新四级难点考前冲刺：快速阅读制胜完全攻略

　　It would take another war before the federal government would act on a national higway system. During World War II, tremendous increase in trucks and new roads wree required. The war demonstrated how critical highways were to the defense effort. Thirteen per cent of defense plants received all their supplies by truck, and almost all other plants shipped more than half of their products by vehicle. The war also revealed that local control of highways had led to a confusing vareity of design standards. Even federal and state highways did not follow basic standards. Some states allowed trucks up to 36,000 pounds,while others restricted anything over 7,000 pounds. A goverment study recommended a national highway systerm of 33,920 miles,and congress passed the Federcal-Aid Highway Act of 1944,which called for strict,centrally controlled desert criterra.

　　The interstate highway system was finally launched in 1956 and has been hailed as one of the greatest public works projects of the century .To bulid its 44,000-mile web of highways,bridge.and tunnels hundreds of unique engineering designs and solutions had to be worked out.Consider the many geographic ,features of the country:mountains,steep grades,wetlands,rivers,desorts and plains.Variables included the slope of the land,the ability of the pavement to support the load.Innovative, designs of roadways,tunnels,bridges,overpasses,and interchanges that could run through or bypass urban areas soon began to weave their way across the country ,forever altering the face of American .