Below is an eight-minute film entitled “Magic Highway USA,” produced by Disney in 1958.

With a tone that is positively gooey with industrial-era optimism, this video clip explores the endless possibilities for personal mobility via future “roads.”

The hopes of the era offer a lot of insight into how our current highway system was conceived;  It’s also quite poignant when one considers how little we have really achieved in the 50 years which have passed.