NAPA joins national leaders to celebrate 70 years of the Interstate Highway System
NAPA leaders joined transportation officials, lawmakers, and industry partners June 29 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Interstate Highway System, a landmark achievement made possible through bold federal investment, strong public-private partnerships, and generations of asphalt pavement innovation.
Hosted by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) at the Library of Congress, the intimate gathering brought together many of the nation’s transportation leaders, including FHWA Administrator Sean McMaster, House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee (T&I) Chairman Sam Graves (R-MO), Ranking Member Rick Larsen (D-WA), state DOT leaders, and industry executives. NAPA President and CEO Audrey Copeland, Board Chair Jay Lemon, Immediate Past Chair Pat Nelson, and Vice President of Government Affairs Nile Elam represented the asphalt pavement industry at the celebration.
“The Interstate Highway System didn’t happen by accident,” Copeland said. “It was the result of bold federal leadership, sustained investment, and an asphalt pavement industry ready to build. Seventy years later, that same partnership remains essential. If we want the next generation of Americans to inherit a transportation network as transformative as the last, Congress must renew its commitment through a robust, multi-year surface transportation reauthorization.”
For Lemon, President of Haskell Lemon, the celebration also carried personal significance. His grandparents founded the Oklahoma-based company nearly a decade before President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the legislation creating the Interstate Highway System, and his father, Larry Lemon, a past NAPA Chairman, attended the Interstate System’s 50th anniversary celebration.
“Our family, like so many others across the asphalt pavement industry, has dedicated itself to building and maintaining the roads that connect our great nation,” Lemon said. “It’s remarkable to celebrate 70 years of a system that has transformed communities, commerce, and countless lives. That landmark legislation became the catalyst for generations of investment, innovation, and opportunity, allowing our industry to help build America for the past seven decades—and, with renewed federal partnership, for many more to come.”
A highlight of the event was the unveiling of FHWA’s new Freedom 250 highway sign, commemorating both the Interstate System’s 70th anniversary and America’s 250th birthday and recognizing one of the nation’s greatest infrastructure achievements that has strengthened our country for generations.
Building on 70 years of progress
While the celebration honored decades of progress, speakers repeatedly emphasized that the Interstate System’s success story is still being written. Maintaining and modernizing America’s highways will require the same long-term federal commitment that built them in the first place.
For NAPA, that next chapter begins with Congress passing a robust, multi-year surface transportation reauthorization before current law expires on September 30. The bipartisan BUILD America 250 Act, approved by the T&I Committee in May, would provide the long-term certainty needed to continue rebuilding and modernizing America’s highways while supporting jobs, economic growth, and safer roads.
(Related: Read NAPA’s BUILD America 250 Act summary)
Graves and Larsen, the bipartisan leaders behind the legislation, underscored that message during the celebration.
“I can’t think of a better way to celebrate the 70th anniversary than to pass the BUILD America 250 Act,” Graves said to applause, before highlighting the bipartisan and historic nature of the bill. “We need to get that bill passed and we need to get it done right away.”
“You can’t have a big league economy with a little league infrastructure,” Larson added.
As America celebrates monumental anniversaries, the event served as a reminder that transformative infrastructure has always required bold vision and sustained partnership—and that our work is not over.
