The Interstate Highway System, signed into law in 1956 under the shadow of nuclear threat, restructured American territory under the logic of defense, mobility, and rapid evacuation. Framed as national security infrastructure, it enabled suburban sprawl, displaced urban neighborhoods, and reorganized regional economies around car dependence and logistics. Its construction fractured ecological systems while accelerating land consumption and uneven development. This project examines how the anticipation of war produces long-term spatial and social consequences, where military strategy becomes everyday landscape. It traces how industry and defense planning quietly shape urban form, revealing indirect but lasting impacts on communities, economies, and ecologies.
