The first moving assembly line for the mass production of automobiles was installed by Henry Ford on Dec. 1, 1913. This innovation enabled cars to be built in a fraction of the amount of time it previously took—reducing it from 12 hours to one hour and 33 minutes.
While vehicles were beginning to be mass-produced, Henry Ford put his support behind the National Highways Association. The NHA developed a plan for a 48,000-mile network of roads. This network of roads would be built, owned, and maintained by the national government and connect cities and towns across the country. This evolved into the Interstate Highway System. For Ford, both the vehicle and the infrastructure had to evolve together to unlock the full potential of mobility options.
Designing and building vehicles and roads was only part of the process. Cities had to account for mixed-use transportation, including pedestrians, horses and buggies, cars, bicyclists, and trolleys. Movement at different speeds and mobility types required communication, coordination, added planning, and collaboration among city planners, carmakers, government officials, and consumers. The result was transportation innovation that laid the foundation for the next century of growth across the U.S.
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