By 1940s, cities were still the major feature of human
ecology in the U.S. This was to change dramatically
by the 1950s' housing and highway policies.
Congress passed the Transportation Act of 1940. This act was one of the first attempts to approach transportation in a comprehensive way. It was an attempt to coordinate the interconnectedness of rail, water, and motor ways on the national level. The involved agencies, however, were not able to put most of the Act’s intentions into practice due to inexperience, bureaucratic division, and the anticipation of WW II. The intention to create a balanced and more integrated transportation system did not remerge until the 1960s.
1941: The Office of Defense Transportation was set up. Highly organized and unified military agencies had an easier time in approaching the transportation matter in a comprehensive way than the national government, who had to constantly shuttle among its own agencies, states, and local authorities. The defense perspective was to be crucial in shaping the transportation structure of the nation up until now. 1944: The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1944 passed. It recommended a $20 billion budget to construct a 40,000-mile interstate highway system. Although a fraction of this amount actually was spent on highways due to the stress that the WW II put on the budget, this act became a prototype for the 1956 Interstate Highway Act.
Interestingly, during the WW II, the motor vehicle was drastically declined and there shortages of gasoline and other oil by products such as tires. Consequently, the demand for urban mass transportation modes increased dramatically. Buses in cities took a huge junk of this mass transit demand, partly signaling to success of GM and Yellow Coach Bus Company in replacing city trolley systems.
1949: Federal Housing Act of 1949 passed. The results of this act became a crucial component in the creation of mass built suburbs.