This article is part of
a series aboutDwight D. Eisenhower
Early Life
Military Career

World War II
Supreme Allied Commander in Europe
D-Day
Operation Overlord
Surrender of Germany
VE-Day
Crusade in Europe

President of the United States
Presidency

First Term
Draft movement
1952 Campaign
Election
1st Inauguration
Korean War
Atoms for Peace
Cold War
New Look
Domino theory
Interstate Highway System

Second Term
1956 campaign
Election
2nd Inauguration
Eisenhower Doctrine
Sputnik crisis
Missile gap
NDEA
NASA
DARPA
Civil Rights Act of 1957
Little Rock Nine
U-2 incident
Farewell Address

Post-Presidency
Legacy
Presidential library and museum
Tributes and memorials

 vt
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. The system is named for President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who championed its formation. Construction was authorized by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, and the original portion was completed 35 years later, although some urban routes were cancelled and never built. The network has since been extended. In 2016, it had a total length of 48,181 miles (77,540km).[1] As of 2016, about one-quarter of all vehicle miles driven in the country use the Interstate system.[3] In 2006, the cost of construction was estimated at about $425billion[4] (equivalent to $521billion in 2018[5]).
History
Planning

The United States government's efforts to construct a national network of highways began on an ad hoc basis with the passage of the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916, which provided for $75 million over a five-year period for matching funds to the states for the construction and improvement of highways.[6] The nation's revenue needs associated with World War I prevented any significant implementation of this policy, which expired in 1921.
In December 1918, E. J. Mehren, a civil engineer and the editor of Engineering News-Record, presented his "A Suggested National Highway Policy and Plan"[7] during a gathering of the State Highway Officials and Highway Industries Association at the Congress Hotel in Chicago.[8] In the plan, Mehren proposed a 50,000-mile (80,000km) system, consisting of five east–west routes and 10 north–south routes. The system would include two percent of all roads and would pass through every state at a cost of $25,000 per mile ($16,000/km), providing commercial as well as military transport benefits.[7]
As the landmark 1916 law expired, new legislation was passed—the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 (Phipps Act). This new road construction initiative once again provided for federal matching funds for road construction and improvement, $75 million allocated annually.[9] Moreover, this new legislation for the first time sought to target these funds to the construction of a national road grid of interconnected "primary highways", setting up cooperation among the various state highway planning boards.[9]
The Bureau of Public Roads asked the Army to provide a list of roads that it considered necessary for national defense.[10] In 1922, General John J. Pershing, former head of the American Expeditionary Force in Europe during the war, complied by submitting a detailed network of 20,000 miles (32,000km) of interconnected primary highways—the so-called Pershing Map.[11]

A boom in road construction followed throughout the decade of the 1920s, with such projects as the New York parkway system constructed as part of a new national highway system. As automobile traffic increased, planners saw a need for such an interconnected national system to supplement the existing, largely non-freeway, United States Numbered Highways system. By the late 1930s, planning had expanded to a system of new superhighways.
In 1938, President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave Thomas MacDonald, chief at the Bureau of Public Roads, a hand-drawn map of the United States marked with eight superhighway corridors for study.[12] In 1939, Bureau of Public Roads Division of Information chief Herbert S. Fairbank wrote a report called Toll Roads and Free Roads, "the first formal description of what became the interstate highway system" and, in 1944, the similarly themed Interregional Highways.[13]
The Interstate Highway System gained a champion in President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was influenced by his experiences as a young Army officer crossing the country in the 1919 Army Convoy on the Lincoln Highway, the first road across America. Eisenhower gained an appreciation of the Reichsautobahn system, the first "national" implementation of modern Germany's Autobahn network, as a necessary component of a national defense system while he was serving as Supreme Commander Of Allied Forces in Europe during World War II.[14] He recognized that the proposed system would also provide key ground transport routes for military supplies and troop deployments in case of an emergency or foreign invasion.
The publication in 1955 of the General Location of National System of Interstate Highways, informally known as the Yellow Book, mapped out what became the Interstate Highway System.[15] Assisting in the planning was Charles Erwin Wilson, who was still head of General Motors when President Eisenhower selected him as Secretary of Defense in January 1953.
Construction

The Interstate Highway System was authorized on June 29, 1956 by the Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956,[16] popularly known as the National Interstate and Defense Highways Act of 1956.
Three states have claimed the title of first Interstate Highway. Missouri claims that the first three contracts under the new program were signed in Missouri on August 2, 1956. The first contract signed was for upgrading a section of US Route 66 to what is now designated Interstate 44. On August 13, 1956, Missouri awarded the first contract based on new Interstate Highway funding; this work began on US 40 (now I-70) in St. Charles County.[17]
Kansas claims that it was the first to start paving after the act was signed. Preliminary construction had taken place before the act was signed, and paving started September 26, 1956. The state marked its portion of I-70 as the first project in the United States completed under the provisions of the new Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.[17]
The Pennsylvania Turnpike could also be considered one of the first Interstate Highways. On October 1, 1940, 162 miles (261km) of the highway now designated I‑70 and I‑76 opened between Irwin and Carlisle. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania refers to the turnpike as the Granddaddy of the Pikes.[17]
Milestones in the construction of the Interstate Highway System include:
October 17, 1974: Nebraska becomes the first state to complete all of its mainline interstate highways with the dedication of its final piece of I-80.[18]
October 12, 1979: The final section of the Canada to Mexico freeway Interstate 5 is dedicated near Stockton, California. Representatives of the two neighboring nations attended the dedication to commemorate the first contiguous freeway connecting the North American countries.[19]
August 22, 1986: The final section of the coast-to-coast I-80 (San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey) is dedicated on the western edge of Salt Lake City, Utah, making I-80 the world's first contiguous freeway to span from the Atlantic to Pacific Ocean and, at the time, the longest contiguous freeway in the world. The section spanned from Redwood Road to just west of the Salt Lake City International Airport. At the dedication it was noted that coincidentally this was only 50 miles (80km) from Promontory Summit, where a similar feat was accomplished 120years prior, the laying of the golden spike of the United States' First Transcontinental Railroad.[20][21][22]
August 10, 1990: The final section of coast-to-coast I-10 (Santa Monica, California, to Jacksonville, Florida) is dedicated, the Papago Freeway Tunnel under downtown Phoenix, Arizona. Completion of this section was delayed due to a freeway revolt that forced the cancellation of an originally planned elevated routing.[23]
September 12, 1991: I-90 becomes the final coast-to-coast Interstate Highway (Seattle, Washington to Boston, Massachusetts) to be completed with the dedication of an elevated viaduct bypassing Wallace, Idaho. This section was delayed after residents forced the cancellation of the originally planned at-grade alignment that would have demolished much of downtown Wallace. The residents accomplished this feat by arranging for most of the downtown area to be declared a historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places; this succeeded in blocking the path of the original alignment. After the dedication residents held a mock funeral celebrating the removal of the last stoplight on a transcontinental Interstate Highway.[23][24]
October 14, 1992: The original Interstate Highway System is proclaimed to be complete with the opening of I-70 through Glenwood Canyon in Colorado. This section is considered an engineering marvel with a 12-mile (19km) span featuring 40bridges and numerous tunnels and is one of the most expensive rural highways per mile built in the United States.[25][26] Although this was claimed the final section of Interstate Highway to open, at the time this section was dedicated there were still missing interchanges elsewhere in the system, making some Interstate Highways not contiguous.
The initial cost estimate for the system was $25billion over 12years; it ended up costing $114billion (adjusted for inflation, $425billion in 2006 dollars[4]) and took 35years.[27]
1992–present
Discontinuities

The system was proclaimed complete in 1992, but two of the original interstates—I-95 and I-70—were not continuous: both of these discontinuities were due to local opposition, which blocked efforts to build the necessary connections to fully complete the system. I-95 was made a continuous freeway in 2018, [28] and thus I-70 remains the only original interstate with a discontinuity.
I-95 was discontinuous in New Jersey because of the cancellation of the Somerset Freeway. This situation was remedied when the construction of the Pennsylvania Turnpike/Interstate 95 Interchange Project started in 2010[29] and partially opened on September 22, 2018, which was already enough to fill the gap.[28]
However, I-70 remains discontinuous in Pennsylvania, because of the lack of a direct interchange with the Pennsylvania Turnpike at the eastern end of the concurrency near Breezewood. Traveling in either direction, I-70 traffic must exit the freeway and use a short stretch of US-30 (which includes a number of roadside services) to rejoin I-70. The interchange was not originally built because of a legacy federal funding rule, since relaxed, which restricted the use of federal funds to improve roads financed with tolls.[30] Solutions have been proposed to eliminate the discontinuity, but they have been blocked by local opposition, fearing a loss of business.[31]
Expansion

The Interstate Highway System has been expanded numerous times. The expansions have both created new designations and extended existing designations. For example, I-49, added to the system in the 1980s as a freeway in Louisiana, was designated as an expansion corridor, and FHWA approved the expanded route north from Lafayette, to Kansas City, Missouri. The freeway exists today as separate completed segments, with segments under construction or in the planning phase between them.[32]
In 1966, the FHWA designated the entire Interstate Highway System as part of the larger Pan-American Highway System,[33] and at least two proposed Interstate expansions were initiated to help trade with Canada and Mexico spurred by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Long-term plans for I-69, which currently exists in several separate completed segments (the largest of which are in Indiana and Texas), is to have the highway route extend from Tamaulipas, Mexico to Ontario, Canada. The planned I-11 will then bridge the Interstate gap between Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada, and thus form part of the CANAMEX Corridor (along with I-19, and portions of I-10 and I-15) between Sonora, Mexico and Alberta, Canada.
Urban Interstates abandoned because of local opposition

Political opposition from residents canceled many freeway projects around the United States, including:
I-40 in Memphis, Tennessee was rerouted and part of the original I-40 is still in use as the eastern half of Sam Cooper Boulevard.[34]
I-66 in the District of Columbia was abandoned in 1977.
I-69 was to continue past its terminus at Interstate 465 to intersect with Interstate 70 and Interstate 65 at the north split, northeast of downtown Indianapolis. Though local opposition led to the cancellation of this project in 1981, bridges and ramps for the connection into the "north split" remain visible.
I-70 in Baltimore was supposed to run from the Baltimore Beltway (Interstate 695), which surrounds the city to terminate at I-95, the East Coast thoroughfare that runs through Maryland and Baltimore on a diagonal course, northeast to southwest; the connection was cancelled on the mid-1970s due to its routing through Gwynns Falls-Leakin Park, a wilderness urban park reserve following the Gwynns Falls stream through West Baltimore. This included the cancellation of I-170, partially built and in use as U.S. Route 40, and nicknamed the Highway to Nowhere.
I-78 in New York City was canceled along with portions with I-278, I-478, and I-878. I-878 was supposed to be part of I-78, and I-478 and I-278 were to be spur routes.
I-80 in San Francisco was originally planned to travel past the city's Civic Center along the Panhandle Freeway into Golden Gate Park and terminate at the original alignment of I-280/SR 1. The city canceled this and several other freeways in 1958. Similarly, more than 20 years later, Sacramento canceled plans to upgrade I-80 to Interstate Standards and rerouted the freeway on what was then I-880 that traveled north of Downtown Sacramento.
I-83, southern extension of the Jones Falls Expressway (southern I-83) in Baltimore was supposed run along the waterfront of the Patapsco River / Baltimore Harbor to connect to I-95, bisecting historic neighborhoods of Fells Point and Canton, but the connection was never built.
I-95 through the District of Columbia into Maryland was abandoned in 1977. Instead it was rerouted to I-495 (Capital Beltway). The completed section is now I-395.
I-95 was originally planned to run up the Southwest Expressway and meet I-93, where the two highways would travel along the Central Artery through downtown Boston, but was rerouted onto the Route 128 beltway due to widespread opposition. This revolt also included the cancellation of the Inner Belt, connecting I-93 to I-90 and a cancelled section of the Northwest Expressway which would have carried Route 3 inside the Route 128 beltway, meeting with Route 2 in Cambridge.
Standards

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) has defined a set of standards that all new Interstates must meet unless a waiver from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is obtained. One almost absolute standard is the controlled access nature of the roads. With few exceptions, traffic lights (and cross traffic in general) are limited to toll booths and ramp meters (metered flow control for lane merging during rush hour).
Speed limits

Being freeways, Interstate Highways usually have the highest speed limits in a given area. Speed limits are determined by individual states. From 1974 to 1986, the maximum speed limit on any highway in the United States was 55 miles per hour (90km/h), in accordance with federal law.[35]
Typically, lower limits are established in Northeastern and coastal states, while higher speed limits are established in inland states west of the Mississippi River.[36] For example, the maximum speed limit is 75mph (120km/h) in northern Maine, varies between 50 and 70mph (80 and 115km/h)[37] from southern Maine to New Jersey, and is 50mph (80km/h) in New York City and the District of Columbia.[36] Currently, rural speed limits elsewhere generally range from 65 to 80 miles per hour (105 to 130km/h). Several portions of various highways such as I-10 and I-20 in rural western Texas, I-80 in Nevada between Fernley and Winnemuca (except around Lovelock) and portions of I-15, I-70, I-80, and I-84 in Utah have a speed limit of 80mph (130km/h). Other interstate highways in Idaho, Montana, South Dakota and Wyoming also have the same high speed limits.
In some areas, speed limits on Interstates can be significantly lower in areas where they traverse significantly hazardous areas. The maximum speed limit on I-90 is 50mph (80km/h) in downtown Cleveland because of two sharp curves with a suggested limit of 35mph (55km/h) in a heavily congested area; I-70 through Wheeling, West Virginia, has a maximum speed limit of 45mph (70km/h) through the Wheeling Tunnel and most of downtown Wheeling; and I-68 has a maximum speed limit of 40mph (65km/h) through Cumberland, Maryland, because of multiple hazards including sharp curves and narrow lanes through the city. In some locations, low speed limits are the result of lawsuits and resident demands; after holding up the completion of I-35E in St. Paul, Minnesota, for nearly 30years in the courts, residents along the stretch of the freeway from the southern city limit to downtown successfully lobbied for a 45mph (70km/h) speed limit in addition to a prohibition on any vehicle weighing more than 9,000 pounds (4,100kg) gross vehicle weight. I-93 in Franconia Notch State Park in northern New Hampshire has a speed limit of 45mph (70km/h) because it is a parkway that consists of only one lane per side of the highway. On the other hand, Interstates 15, 80 and 84 in Utah have speed limits as high as 70mph (115km/h) within the Salt Lake City, Cedar City, and St. George areas, and I-25 in New Mexico within the Santa Fe and Las Vegas areas along with I-20 in Texas along Odessa and Midland and I-29 in North Dakota along the Grand Forks area have higher speed limits of 75mph (120km/h).
Other uses
As one of the components of the National Highway System, Interstate Highways improve the mobility of military troops to and from airports, seaports, rail terminals, and other military bases. Interstate Highways also connect to other roads that are a part of the Strategic Highway Network, a system of roads identified as critical to the U.S. Department of Defense.[38]
The system has also been used to facilitate evacuations in the face of hurricanes and other natural disasters. An option for maximizing traffic throughput on a highway is to reverse the flow of traffic on one side of a divider so that all lanes become outbound lanes. This procedure, known as contraflow lane reversal, has been employed several times for hurricane evacuations. After public outcry regarding the inefficiency of evacuating from southern Louisiana prior to Hurricane Georges' landfall in September 1998, government officials looked towards contraflow to improve evacuation times. In Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, in 1999, lanes of I-16 and I-26 were used in a contraflow configuration in anticipation of Hurricane Floyd with mixed results.[39]
In 2004 contraflow was employed ahead of Hurricane Charley in the Tampa, Florida area and on the Gulf Coast before the landfall of Hurricane Ivan;[40] however, evacuation times there were no better than previous evacuation operations. Engineers began to apply lessons learned from the analysis of prior contraflow operations, including limiting exits, removing troopers (to keep traffic flowing instead of having drivers stop for directions), and improving the dissemination of public information. As a result, the 2005 evacuation of New Orleans, Louisiana, prior to Hurricane Katrina ran much more smoothly.[41]
According to urban legend, early regulations required that one out of every five miles of the Interstate Highway System must be built straight and flat, so as to be usable by aircraft during times of war. There is no evidence of this rule being included in any Interstate legislation.[42][43]
Numbering system
Primary (one- and two-digit) Interstates

The numbering scheme for the Interstate Highway System was developed in 1957 by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO). The association's present numbering policy dates back to August 10, 1973.[44] Within the continental United States, primary Interstates—also called main line Interstates or two-digit Interstates—are assigned numbers less than 100.[44]
While numerous exceptions do exist, there is a general scheme for numbering Interstates. Primary Interstates are assigned one- or two-digit numbers, while shorter routes (such as spurs, loops, and short connecting roads) are assigned three-digit numbers where the last two digits match the parent route (thus, I-294 is a loop that connects at both ends to I-94, while I-787 is a short spur route attached to I-87). In the numbering scheme for the primary routes, east–west highways are assigned even numbers and north–south highways are assigned odd numbers. Odd route numbers increase from west to east, and even-numbered routes increase from south to north (to avoid confusion with the U.S. Highways, which increase from east to west and north to south).[45] This numbering system usually holds true even if the local direction of the route does not match the compass directions. Numbers divisible by five are intended to be major arteries among the primary routes, carrying traffic long distances.[46][47] Primary north–south Interstates increase in number from I-5 between Canada and Mexico along the West Coast to I‑95 between Canada and Miami, Florida along the East Coast. Major west–east arterial Interstates increase in number from I-10 between Santa Monica, California, and Jacksonville, Florida, to I-90 between Seattle, Washington, and Boston, Massachusetts, with two exceptions. There are no I-50 and I-60, as routes with those numbers would likely pass through states that currently have U.S. Highways with the same numbers, which is generally disallowed under highway administration guidelines.[44][48]
Several two-digit numbers are shared between road segments at opposite ends of the country for various reasons. Some such highways are incomplete Interstates (such as I-69 and I-74) and some just happen to share route designations (such as I-76, I-84, I‑86, I-87, and I-88). Some of these were due to a change in the numbering system as a result of a new policy adopted in 1973. Previously, letter-suffixed numbers were used for long spurs off primary routes; for example, western I‑84 was I‑80N, as it went north from I‑80. The new policy stated, "No new divided numbers (such as I-35W and I-35E, etc.) shall be adopted." The new policy also recommended that existing divided numbers be eliminated as quickly as possible; however, an I-35W and I-35E still exist in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex in Texas, and an I-35W and I-35E that run through Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, still exist.[44] Additionally, due to Congressional requirements, three sections of I-69 in southern Texas will be divided into I-69W, I-69E, and I-69C (for Central).[49]
AASHTO policy allows dual numbering to provide continuity between major control points.[44] This is referred to as a concurrency or overlap. For example, I‑75 and I‑85 share the same roadway in Atlanta; this 7.4-mile (11.9km) section, called the Downtown Connector, is labeled both I‑75 and I‑85. Concurrencies between Interstate and U.S. Route numbers are also allowed in accordance with AASHTO policy, as long as the length of the concurrency is reasonable.[44] In rare instances, two highway designations sharing the same roadway are signed as traveling in opposite directions; one such wrong-way concurrency is found between Wytheville and Fort Chiswell, Virginia, where I‑81 north and I‑77 south are equivalent (with that section of road traveling almost due east), as are I‑81 south and I‑77 north.
Auxiliary (three-digit) Interstates

Auxiliary Interstate Highways are circumferential, radial, or spur highways that principally serve urban areas. These types of Interstate Highways are given three-digit route numbers, which consist of a single digit prefixed to the two-digit number of its parent Interstate Highway. Spur routes deviate from their parent and do not return; these are given an odd first digit. Circumferential and radial loop routes return to the parent, and are given an even first digit. Unlike primary Interstates, three-digit Interstates are signed as either east–west or north–south, depending on the general orientation of the route, without regard to the route number. For instance, I-190 in Massachusetts is labeled north–south, while I-195 in New Jersey is labeled east–west. Some looped Interstate routes use inner–outer directions instead of compass directions, when the use of compass directions would create ambiguity. Due to the large number of these routes, auxiliary route numbers may be repeated in different states along the mainline.[50] Some auxiliary highways do not follow these guidelines, however.
Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico

The Interstate Highway System also extends to Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico, even though they have no direct land connections to any other states or territories. However, their residents still pay federal fuel and tire taxes.
The Interstates in Hawaii, all located on the most populous island of Oahu, carry the prefix H. There are three one-digit routes in the state (H-1, H-2, and H-3) and one auxiliary route (H-201). These Interstates connect several military and naval bases together, as well as the important cities and towns spread across Oahu, and especially the metropolis of Honolulu.
Both Alaska and Puerto Rico also have public highways that receive 90percent of their funding from the Interstate Highway program. The Interstates of Alaska and Puerto Rico are numbered sequentially in order of funding without regard to the rules on odd and even numbers. They also carry the prefixes A and PR, respectively. However, these highways are signed according to their local designations, not their Interstate Highway numbers. Furthermore, these routes were neither planned according to nor constructed to the official Interstate Highway standards.[51]
Mile markers and exit numbers
On one- or two-digit Interstates, the mile marker numbering almost always begins at the southern or western state line. If an Interstate originates within a state, the numbering begins from the location where the road begins in the south or west. Exceptions exist for Interstate Highways that used segments of roadway that were built prior to Interstate Highway standards being formalized and were grandfathered into the system.
Three-digit Interstates with an even first number that form a complete circumferential (circle) bypass around a city feature mile markers that are numbered in a clockwise direction, beginning just west of an Interstate that bisects the circumferential route near a south polar location. In other words, mile marker1 on I-465, a 53-mile (85km) route around Indianapolis, is just west of its junction with I-65 on the south side of Indianapolis (on the south leg of I-465), and mile marker53 is just east of this same junction. An exception is I-495 in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area, with mileposts increasing counterclockwise because part of that road is also part of I-95.
The exit numbers of interchanges are either sequential or distance-based so that the exit number is the same as the nearest mile marker. Under the latter system, a single mile with multiple exits may be assigned letter suffixes, for example on I‑890 in New York.[52]
Business routes

AASHTO defines a category of special routes separate from primary and auxiliary Interstate designations. These routes do not have to comply to Interstate construction or limited-access standards but are routes that may be identified and approved by the association. The same route marking policy applies to both US Numbered Highways and Interstate Highways; however, business route designations are sometimes used for Interstate Highways.[53] Known as Business Loops and Business Spurs, these routes principally travel through the corporate limits of a city, passing through the central business district when the regular route is directed around the city. They also use a green shield instead of the red and blue shield.[53]
Financing

Interstate highways and their rights of way are owned by the state in which they were built. The last federally owned portion of the Interstate System was the Woodrow Wilson Bridge on the Washington DC Capital Beltway. The new bridge was completed in 2009 and is collectively owned by Virginia and Maryland.[54] Maintenance is generally the responsibility of the state department of transportation. However, there are some segments of Interstate owned and maintained by local authorities.
About 70percent of the construction and maintenance costs of Interstate Highways in the United States have been paid through user fees, primarily the fuel taxes collected by the federal, state, and local governments. To a much lesser extent they have been paid for by tolls collected on toll highways and bridges. The Highway Trust Fund, established by the Highway Revenue Act in 1956, prescribed a three-cent-per-gallon fuel tax, soon increased to 4.5cents per gallon. Since 1993 the tax has remained at 18.4cents per gallon.[55]
The rest of the costs of these highways are borne by general fund receipts, bond issues, designated property taxes, and other taxes. The federal contribution comes overwhelmingly from motor vehicle and fuel taxes (93.5percent in 2007), as does about 60percent of the state contribution. However, any local government contributions are overwhelmingly from sources besides user fees.[56] The portion of the user fees spent on highways themselves covers about 57percent of their costs, with about one-sixth of the user fees being sent to other programs, including the mass transit systems in large cities. Some large sections of Interstate Highways that were planned or constructed before 1956 are still operated as toll roads. Others have had their construction bonds paid off and they have become toll-free, such as in Connecticut (I‑95), Maryland (I‑95), Virginia (I‑95), and Kentucky (I‑65).
As American suburbs have expanded, the costs incurred in maintaining freeway infrastructure have also grown, leaving little in the way of funds for new Interstate construction.[57] This has led to the proliferation of toll roads (turnpikes) as the new method of building limited-access highways in suburban areas. Some Interstates are privately maintained (for example, the VMS company maintains I‑35 in Texas)[58] to meet rising costs of maintenance and allow state departments of transportation to focus on serving the fastest-growing regions in their states.
Parts of the Interstate System might have to be tolled in the future to meet maintenance and expansion demands, as has been done with adding toll HOV/HOT lanes in cities such as Atlanta, Dallas, and Los Angeles. Although part of the tolling is an effect of the SAFETEA‑LU act, which has put an emphasis on toll roads as a means to reduce congestion,[59][60] present federal law does not allow for a state to change a freeway section to a tolled section for all traffic.
Toll Interstate Highways

About 2,900 miles (4,700km) of toll roads are included in the Interstate Highway System.[61] While federal legislation initially banned the collection of tolls on Interstates, many of the toll roads on the system were either completed or under construction when the Interstate Highway System was established. Since these highways provided logical connections to other parts of the system, they were designated as Interstate highways. Congress also decided that it was too costly to either build toll-free Interstates parallel to these toll roads, or directly repay all the bondholders who financed these facilities and remove the tolls. Thus, these toll roads were grandfathered into the Interstate Highway System.[62]
Toll roads designated as Interstate highways (such as the Massachusetts Turnpike) were typically allowed to continue collecting tolls, but are generally ineligible to receive federal funds for maintenance and improvements. Some toll roads that did receive federal funds to finance emergency repairs (notably the Connecticut Turnpike (I-95) following the Mianus River Bridge collapse) were required to remove tolls as soon as the highway's construction bonds were paid off. In addition, these toll facilities were grandfathered from Interstate Highway standards. A notable example is the western approach to the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia, where I-676 has a surface street section through a historic area.
Policies on toll facilities and Interstate Highways have since changed. The Federal Highway Administration has allowed some states to collect tolls on existing Interstate Highways, while a recent extension of I-376 included a section of Pennsylvania Route 60 that was tolled by the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission before receiving Interstate designation. Also, newer toll facilities (like the tolled section of I-376, which was built in the early 1990s) must conform to Interstate standards. A new addition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices in 2009 requires a black-on-yellow "Toll" sign to be placed above the Interstate trailblazer on Interstate Highways that collect tolls.[63]
Legislation passed in 2005 known as SAFETEA-LU, encouraged states to construct new Interstate Highways through "innovative financing" methods. SAFETEA-LU facilitated states to pursue innovative financing by easing the restrictions on building interstates as toll roads, either through state agencies or through public–private partnerships. However, SAFETEA-LU left in place a prohibition of installing tolls on existing toll-free Interstates, and states wishing to toll such routes to finance upgrades and repairs must first seek approval from Congress.
Chargeable and non-chargeable Interstate routes
Interstate Highways financed with federal funds are known as "chargeable" Interstate routes, and are considered part of the 42,000-mile (68,000km) network of highways. Federal laws also allow "non-chargeable" Interstate routes, highways funded similarly to state and U.S. Highways to be signed as Interstates, if they both meet the Interstate Highway standards and are logical additions or connections to the system.[64][65] These additions fall under two categories: routes that already meet Interstate standards, and routes not yet upgraded to Interstate standards. Only routes that meet Interstate standards may be signed as Interstates once their proposed number is approved.[51]
Signage
Interstate shield

Interstate Highways are signed by a number placed on a trademarked[66] red, white, and blue sign. The colors red, white, and blue were chosen because they are the colors of the American flag. In the original design, the name of the state was displayed above the highway number, but in many states, this area is now left blank, allowing for the printing of larger and more-legible digits. The sign usually measures 36 inches (91cm) high, and is 36 inches (91cm) wide for two-digit Interstates or 45 inches (110cm) for three-digit Interstates.[67]
Interstate business loops and spurs use a special shield in which the red and blue are replaced with green, the word "BUSINESS" appears instead of "INTERSTATE", and the word "SPUR" or "LOOP" usually appears above the number.[67] The green shield is employed to mark the main route through a city's central business district, which intersects the associated Interstate highway at one (spur) or both (loop) ends of the business route. The route usually traverses the main thoroughfare(s) of the city's downtown area or other major business district.[68] A city may have more than one Interstate-derived business route, depending on the number of Interstates passing through a city and the number of significant business districts therein.[69]
Over time, the design of the Interstate shield has changed. In 1957 the Interstate shield designed by Texas Highway Department employee Richard Oliver was introduced, the winner of a contest that included 100entries;[70][71] at the time, the shield color was a dark navy blue and only 17 inches (43cm) wide.[72] The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) standards revised the shield in the 1961,[73] 1971,[74] and 1978[75] editions.
Exit numbering

The majority of Interstates have exit numbers. All traffic signs and lane markings on the Interstates are supposed to be designed in compliance with the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD). There are, however, many local and regional variations in signage.
For many years, California was the only state that did not use an exit numbering system. It was granted an exemption in the 1950s due to having an already largely completed and signed highway system; placing exit number signage across the state was deemed too expensive. To control costs, California began to incorporate exit numbers on its freeways in 2002—Interstate, U.S., and state routes alike. Caltrans commonly installs exit number signage only when a freeway or interchange is built, reconstructed, retrofitted, or repaired, and it is usually tacked onto the top-right corner of an already existing sign. Newer signs along the freeways follow this practice as well. Most exits along California's Interstates now have exit number signage, particularly in rural areas. California, however, still does not use mileposts, although a few exist for experiments or for special purposes.[76]
Exit numbers correspond to Interstate mileage markers in most states. On I‑19 in Arizona, however, length is measured in kilometers instead of miles because, at the time of construction, a push for the United States to change to a metric system of measurement had gained enough traction that it was mistakenly assumed that all highway measurements would eventually be changed to metric;  proximity to metric-using Mexico may also have been a factor, as I‑19 indirectly connects I‑10 to the Mexican Federal Highway system via surface streets in Nogales. Mileage count increases from west to east on most even-numbered Interstates; on odd-numbered Interstates mileage count increases from south to north. Some highways, including the New York State Thruway, use sequential exit-numbering schemes. Exits on the New York State Thruway count up from Yonkers traveling north, and then west from Albany.
As of November2010, the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority has redone the mileage markers to be uniform with the rest of the state on I‑90 (Jane Addams Memorial/Northwest Tollway) and the I‑94 section of the Tri‑State Tollway, which previously had matched the I‑294 section starting in the south at I‑80/I‑94/IL Route 394. The tollway also added exit number tabs to the exits.
Many northeastern states label exit numbers sequentially, regardless of how many miles have passed between exits. States in which Interstate exits are still numbered sequentially are Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont; as such, five of the main Interstate highways that remain completely within these states (87, 88, 89, 91, and 93) have interchanges numbered sequentially along their entire routes. Maine, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia, and Florida followed this system for a number of years, but since converted to mileage-based exit numbers. Georgia renumbered in 2000, while Maine did so in 2004. The Pennsylvania Turnpike uses both mile marker numbers and sequential numbers. Mile marker numbers are used for signage, while sequential numbers are used for numbering interchanges internally. The New Jersey Turnpike, including the portions that are signed as I‑95 and I‑78, also has sequential numbering, but other Interstates within New Jersey use mile markers.
I‑87 in New York State is numbered in three sections. The first section makes up the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx, with interchanges numbered sequentially from 1 to 14. The second section of I‑87 is a part of the New York State Thruway that starts in Yonkers (exit1) and continues north to Albany (exit24); at Albany, the Thruway turns west and becomes I‑90 for exits25 to 61. From Albany north to the Canadian border, the exits on I‑87 are numbered sequentially from 1 to 44 along the Adirondack Northway. This often leads to confusion as there is more than one exit on I‑87 with the same number. For example, exit4 on Thruway section of I‑87 connects with the Cross County Parkway in Yonkers, but exit4 on the Northway is the exit for the Albany airport. These two exits share a number but are located 150 miles (240km) apart.
Sign locations
There are four common signage methods on Interstates:
Locating a sign on the ground to the side of the highway, mostly the right, and is used to denote exits, as well as rest areas, motorist services such as gas and lodging, recreational sites, and freeway names
Attaching the sign to an overpass
Mounting on full gantries that bridge the entire width of the highway and often show two or more signs
Mounting on half-gantries that are located on one side of the highway, like a ground-mounted sign
Statistics
Volume
Heaviest traveled: 374,000vehicles per day: I-405 in Los Angeles, California (2008 estimate[77]).
Elevation
Highest: 11,158 feet (3,401m): I-70 in the Eisenhower Tunnel at the Continental Divide in the Colorado Rocky Mountains.[78]
Lowest (land): −52 feet (−16m): I-8 at the New River near Seeley, California.[78]
Lowest (underwater): −103 feet (−31m): I-95 in the Fort McHenry Tunnel under the Baltimore Inner Harbor.[79]
Length
Longest (east–west): 3,020.54 miles (4,861.09km): I-90 from Boston, Massachusetts, to Seattle, Washington.[80][81]
Longest (north–south): 1,919mi (3,088km): I-95 from the Canadian border near Houlton, Maine, to Miami, Florida, not counting the gap in New Jersey since completed in 2018.[80] [28]
Shortest (two-digit): 1.69mi (2.72km): I-69W in Laredo, Texas.[82]
Longest segment between state lines: 881mi (1,418km): I-10 in Texas from the New Mexico state line near El Paso to the Louisiana state line near Orange, Texas.[83]
Shortest segment between state lines: 453ft (138m): Interstate 95/I-495 (Capital Beltway) on the Woodrow Wilson Bridge across the Potomac River where they briefly cross the southernmost tip of the District of Columbia between its borders with Maryland and Virginia.[81]
Longest concurrency: 278.4mi (448.0km): I-80 and I-90; Gary, Indiana, to Elyria, Ohio.[84]

States
Most states served by an Interstate: 15states plus the District of Columbia: I-95 through Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, DC, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.[80]
Most Interstates in a state: 32 routes: New York, totaling 1,750.66mi (2,817.41km)[85]
Most Interstate mileage in a state: 3,233.45mi (5,203.73km): Texas, in 17 different routes.[80]
See also

Highway systems by country
List of controlled-access highway systems
Non-motorized access on freeways
Notes

Footnotes

Works cited

Further reading

, Federal Highway Administration (FHWA)
, FHWA
, FHWA
, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum
, NOW on PBS
, AASHTO

What was the first interstate highway built in the U.S.?


Maya civilization
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In archaeology, the classic Maya collapse is the decline of the Classic Maya civilization and the abandonment of Maya cities in the southern Maya lowlands of Mesoamerica between the 8th and 9thcenturies, at the end of the Classic Maya Period. The Preclassic Maya experienced a similar collapse in the 2nd century.
The Classic Period of Mesoamerican chronology is generally defined as the period from 250 to 900 CE, the last century of which is referred to as the Terminal Classic.[1] The Classic Maya collapse is one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in archaeology. Urban centers of the southern lowlands, among them Palenque, Copán, Tikal, and Calakmul, went into decline during the 8th and 9thcenturies and were abandoned shortly thereafter. Archaeologically, this decline is indicated by the cessation of monumental inscriptions[2] and the reduction of large-scale architectural construction at the primary urban centers of the Classic Period.
Although termed a collapse, it did not mark the end of the Maya civilization but rather a shift away from the Southern Lowlands as a power center; the Northern Yucatán in particular prospered afterwards, although with very different artistic and architectural styles, and with much less use of monumental hieroglyphic writing. In the Post-Classic Period following the collapse, the state of Chichén Itzá built an empire that briefly united much of the Maya region,[2] and centers such as Mayapán and Uxmal flourished, as did the Highland states of the K'iche' and Kaqchikel Maya. Independent Maya civilization continued until 1697 when the Spanish conquered Nojpetén, the last independent city-state. Millions of Maya people still inhabit the Yucatán peninsula today.[3]
Because parts of Maya civilization unambiguously continued, a number of scholars strongly dislike the term collapse.[4] Regarding the proposed collapse, E. W. Andrews IV went as far as to say, "in my belief no such thing happened."[5]
Progression of the decline
The Maya often recorded dates on monuments they built. Few dated monuments were being built circa 500 – around ten per year in 514, for example. The number steadily increased to twenty per year by 672 and forty by around 750. After this, the number of dated monuments begins to falter relatively quickly, collapsing back to ten by 800 and to zero by 900. Likewise, recorded lists of kings complement this analysis. Altar Q at Copán shows a reign of kings from 426 to 763. One last king not recorded on Altar Q was Ukit Took, "Patron of Flint", who was probably a usurper. The dynasty is believed to have collapsed entirely shortly thereafter. In Quirigua, twenty miles north of Copán, the last king Jade Sky began his rule between 895 and 900, and throughout the Maya area all kingdoms similarly fell around that time.[6]
A third piece of evidence of the progression of Maya decline, gathered by Ann Corinne Freter, Nancy Gonlin, and David Webster, uses a technique called obsidian hydration. The technique allowed them to map the spread and growth of settlements in the Copán Valley and estimate their populations. Between 400 and 450, the population was estimated at a peak of twenty-eight thousand, between 750 and 800 – larger than London at the time. Population then began to steadily decline. By 900 the population had fallen to fifteen thousand, and by 1200 the population was again less than 1000.
Theories
Over 80 different theories or variations of theories attempting to explain the Classic Maya collapse have been identified.[7] From climate change to deforestation to lack of action by Maya kings, there is no universally accepted collapse theory, although drought is gaining momentum as the leading explanation.[8]
Foreign invasion
The archaeological evidence of the Toltec intrusion into  Seibal, Peten, suggests to some the theory of foreign invasion. The latest hypothesis states that the southern lowlands were invaded by a non-Maya group whose homelands were probably in the gulf coast lowlands. This invasion began in the 9thcentury and set off, within 100years, a group of events that destroyed the Classic Maya. It is believed that this invasion was somehow influenced by the Toltec people of central Mexico. However, most Mayanists do not believe that foreign invasion was the main cause of the Classic Maya collapse; they postulate that no military defeat can explain or be the cause of the protracted and complex Classic collapse process. Teotihuacan influence across the Maya region may have involved some form of military invasion; however, it is generally noted that significant Teotihuacan-Maya interactions date from at least the Early Classic period, well before the episodes of Late Classic collapse.[9]
The foreign invasion theory does not answer the question of where the inhabitants went. David Webster believed that the population should have increased because of the lack of elite power. Further, it is not understood why the governmental institutions were not remade following the revolts, which happened under similar circumstances in places like China. A study by anthropologist Elliot M. Abrams came to the conclusion that buildings, specifically in Copan, did not require an extensive amount of time and workers to construct.[10] However, this theory was developed during a period when the archaeological evidence showed that there were fewer Maya people than there are now known to have been.[11] Revolutions, peasant revolts, and social turmoil change circumstances, and are often followed by foreign wars, but they run their course. There are no documented revolutions that caused wholesale abandonment of entire regions.
Collapse of trade routes
It has been hypothesized that the decline of the Maya is related to the collapse of their intricate trade systems, especially those connected to the central Mexican city of Teotihuacán. Preceding improved knowledge of the chronology of Mesoamerica, Teotihuacan was believed to have fallen during 700–750, forcing the "restructuring of economic relations throughout highland Mesoamerica and the Gulf Coast".[12]  This remaking of relationships between civilizations would have then given the collapse of the Classic Maya a slightly later date. However, after knowing more about the events and the periods when they occurred, it is believed that the strongest Teotihuacan influence was during the 4th and 5thcenturies. In addition, the civilization of Teotihuacan started to lose its power, and maybe abandoned the city, during 600–650. This differs greatly from the previous belief that Teotihuacano power decreased during 700–750.[13] But since the new decline date of 600–650 has been accepted, the Maya civilizations are now thought to have lived on and prospered “for another century and more”[14] than what was previously believed. Rather than the decline of Teotihuacan directly preceding the collapse of the Maya, their decline is now seen as contributing “to the 6th-century ‘hiatus’”.[14]
Epidemic diseases
The disease theory is also a contender as a factor in the Classic Maya collapse. Widespread disease could explain some rapid depopulation, both directly through the spread of infection itself and indirectly as an inhibition to recovery over the long run. According to Dunn (1968) and Shimkin (1973), infectious diseases spread by parasites are common in tropical rainforest regions, such as the Maya lowlands. Shimkin specifically suggests that the Maya may have encountered endemic infections related to American trypanosomiasis, Ascaris, and some enteropathogens that cause acute diarrheal illness. Furthermore, some experts believe that, through development of their civilization (that is, development of agriculture and settlements), the Maya could have created a "disturbed environment", in which parasitic and pathogen-carrying insects often thrive.[15] Among the pathogens listed above, it is thought that those that cause the acute diarrheal illnesses would have been the most devastating to the Maya population, because such illness would have struck a victim at an early age, thereby hampering nutritional health and the natural growth and development of a child. This would have made them more susceptible to other diseases later in life,  and would have been exacerbated by an increasing dependence on carbohydrate-rich crops.[16] Such ideas as this could explain the role of disease as at least a possible partial reason for the Classic Maya Collapse.[17]
Drought theory
The drought theory holds that rapid climate change in the form of severe drought (a megadrought) brought about the Classic Maya collapse. Paleoclimatologists have discovered abundant evidence that prolonged droughts hit the Yucatán Peninsula and Petén Basin areas during the Terminal Classic. Large droughts likely caused a decline in agricultural fertility due to regular seasonal drought drying up surface waters,[18] as well as causing thin tropical soils to erode when deprived of vegetation and forest cover.[19]
Climatic factors were first implicated in the collapse as early as 1931 by Mayanists Thomas Gann and J. E. S. Thompson.[20] In 1995, Hodell, Curtis and Brenner published a paleoclimate record from Lake Chichancanab on the Yucatán Peninsula that showed an intense, protracted drought occurred in the 9th century AD and coincided with the Classic Maya collapse.[21] In The Great Maya Droughts, Richardson Gill gathered and analyzed an array of climatic, historical, hydrologic, tree ring, volcanic, geologic, and archeological research, and suggested that a prolonged series of droughts likely caused the Classic Maya collapse.[22] The drought theory provides a comprehensive explanation, because non-environmental and cultural factors (excessive warfare, foreign invasion, peasant revolt, less trade, etc.) can all be explained by the effects of prolonged drought on Classic Maya civilization.[23]
According to Gill in The Great Maya Droughts:

[Studies of] Yucatecan lake sediment cores ... provide unambiguous evidence for a severe 200-year drought from AD800 to 1000 ... the most severe in the last 7,000years ... precisely at the time of the Maya Collapse.[24]

The role of drought in the collapse of Classic Maya civilisation is has remained controversial, however, largely because the majority of paleoclimate records only provide qualitative data, for example whether conditions were simply "wetter" or "drier". The lack of quantitative data makes it difficult to predict how climatic changes would have affected human populations and the environment in which they lived. In 2012, a study attempted to quantify the drought using four detailed paleoclimate records of the drought event.[25] Semi-quantitative rainfall estimates were achieved by correlating oxygen isotopes measurements in carbonate cave formations (speleothems) with modern seasonal rainfall amounts recorded in the nearby city of Mérida, northern Yucatán, which were then extrapolated back to the time of the Terminal Classic Period. The authors suggest that modest rainfall reductions, amounting to only 25 to 40 percent of annual rainfall, may have been the tipping point to the Maya collapse.[26][27] Although this analysis referred to the estimated decrease in rainfall as "modest", subsequent studies suggest that the same data could represent a 20 to 65 percent decrease in rainfall.[28]
A study published in the journal Science in 2018 provides the most robust estimate of the magnitude of rainfall reduction to date.[29] Evans and co-authors developed a method to measure the different isotopes of water trapped in the hydrate mineral, gypsum, a mineral that forms in lakes of the Yucatán Peninsula during times of drought when the water level is lowered. When gypsum forms, water molecules are incorporated directly into its crystalline structure, and this water records the different isotopes that were present in the ancient lake water at the time of its formation.[30] The “fossil water” inside the crystals allowed Evans and his co-authors to analyze the properties of the lake water during each drought period.[31][32] Based on these measurements, the researchers found that annual precipitation decreased between 41 and 54 percent during the period of the Maya civilisation's collapse, with periods of up to 70 percent rainfall reduction during peak drought conditions, and that relative humidity declined by 2 to 7 percent compared to today. This quantitative climate data can be used to better predict how these drought conditions may have affected agriculture, including yields of the Maya’s staple crops, such as maize.[30]
Critics of the drought theory question the spatial patters of drought and its relation to the timing of the degradation of Maya city-states. Archaeological research demonstrates that while many regions of the Maya Lowlands were indeed abandoned during the eighth to eleventh centuries CE, others regions only experienced minor disruption, or even flourished .[33][28] Although the spatial patterns of societal collapse are complex, population centers continued in many coastal regions and in the northern Yucatán Peninsula, including as Chichen Itza, Uxmal, and Coba, whereas most states in the central regions collapsed and landscapes were depopulated. The reasons for this spatial heterogeneity in societal disintegration are largely unknown, but researches have hypothesised that central regions may have been more affected because of a very deep water table (which would have exacerbated the effects of drought), or that the longevity of the northern regions was likely facilitated by access to the coast, and thus trade routes.[28]
Other critics of the megadrought theory, including David Webster, note that much of the evidence of drought comes from the northern Yucatán and not the southern part of the peninsula, where Classic Maya civilization flourished. Webster states that if water sources were to have dried up, then several city-states would have moved to other water sources. That Gill suggests that all water in the region would have dried up and destroyed Maya civilization is a stretch, according to Webster,[34] although Webster does not have a precise competing theory explaining the Classic Maya Collapse. Since publication, further records from the more southerly states have strengthened the argument of a synchronous drought occurring across the Yucatán Peninsula.[28]
Climatic changes are, with increasing frequency, found to be major drivers in the rise and fall of civilizations all over the world.[35] Professors Harvey Weiss of Yale University and Raymond S. Bradley of the University of Massachusetts have written, "Many lines of evidence now point to climate forcing as the primary agent in repeated social collapse."[36]  In a separate publication, Weiss illustrates an emerging understanding of scientists:

Within the past five years new tools and new data for archaeologists, climatologists, and historians have brought us to the edge of a new era in the study of global and hemispheric climate change and its cultural impacts. The climate of the Holocene, previously assumed static, now displays a surprising dynamism, which has affected the agricultural bases of pre-industrial societies. The list of Holocene climate alterations and their socio-economic effects has rapidly become too complex for brief summary.[37]

A number of causal mechanisms for droughts in the Maya area have been proposed, but there is no consensus among researchers regarding a single causal mechanism. Instead, it is likely that multiple mechanisms were involved,[28] including solar variability,[38] shifts in the position of the Intertropical Convergence Zone,[39] changes in tropical cyclone frequency[25] and deforestation.
The Maya are often perceived as having lived in a rainforest, but technically, they lived in a seasonal desert without access to stable sources of drinking water.[40] The exceptional accomplishments of the Maya are even more remarkable because of their engineered response to the fundamental environmental difficulty of relying upon rainwater rather than permanent sources of water. “The Maya succeeded in creating a civilization in a seasonal desert by creating a system of water storage and management which was totally dependent on consistent rainfall.”[41] The constant need for water kept the Maya on the edge of survival. “Given this precarious balance of wet and dry conditions, even a slight shift in the distribution of annual precipitation can have serious consequences.”[18] Water and civilization were vitally connected in ancient Mesoamerica. Archaeologist and specialist in pre-industrial land and water usage practices Vernon Scarborough believes water management and access were critical to the development of Maya civilization.[42]
Systemic ecological collapse model
Some ecological theories of Maya decline focus on the worsening agricultural and resource conditions in the late Classic period. It was originally thought that the majority of Maya agriculture was dependent on a simple slash-and-burn system. Based on this method, the hypothesis of soil exhaustion was advanced by Orator F. Cook in 1921. Similar soil exhaustion assumptions are associated with erosion, intensive agricultural, and savanna grass competition.
More recent investigations have shown a complicated variety of intensive agricultural techniques utilized by the Maya, explaining the high population of the Classic Maya polities. Modern archaeologists now comprehend the sophisticated intensive and productive agricultural techniques of the ancient Maya, and several of the Maya agricultural methods have not yet been reproduced. Intensive agricultural methods were developed and utilized by all the Mesoamerican cultures to boost their food production and give them a competitive advantage over less skillful peoples.[43] These intensive agricultural methods included canals, terracing, raised fields, ridged fields, chinampas, the use of human feces as fertilizer, seasonal swamps or bajos, using muck from the bajos to create fertile fields, dikes, dams, irrigation, water reservoirs, several types of water storage systems, hydraulic systems, swamp reclamation, swidden systems, and other agricultural techniques that have not yet been fully understood.[44] Systemic ecological collapse is said to be evidenced by deforestation, siltation, and the decline of biological diversity.
In addition to mountainous terrain, Mesoamericans successfully exploited the very problematic tropical rainforest for 1,500years.[45] The agricultural techniques utilized by the Maya were entirely dependent upon ample supplies of water, lending credit to the drought theory of collapse. The Maya thrived in territory that would be uninhabitable to most peoples. Their success over two millennia in this environment was "amazing."[46]
Other explanations
Anthropologist Joseph Tainter wrote extensively about the collapse of the Southern Lowland Maya in his 1988 study The Collapse of Complex Societies. His theory about Maya collapse encompasses some of the above explanations, but focuses specifically on the development of and the declining marginal returns from the increasing social complexity of the competing Maya city-states.[47] Psychologist Julian Jaynes suggested that the collapse was due to a failure in the social control systems of religion and political authority, due to increasing socioeconomic complexity that overwhelmed the power of traditional rituals and the king's authority to compel obedience.[48]
See also
Societal collapse, the collapse of a complex human society
Bronze Age collapse, a similar collapse in the ancient Middle East
Notes

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 Comicsportalvt

A comic book or comicbook,[1] also called comic magazine or simply comic, is a publication that consists of comic art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by brief descriptive prose and written narrative, usually dialog contained in word balloons emblematic of the comics art form. Although comics has some origins in 18th century Japan, comic books were first popularized in the United States and the United Kingdom during the 1930s. The first modern comic book, Famous Funnies, was released in the U.S. in 1933 and was a reprinting of earlier newspaper humor comic strips, which had established many of the story-telling devices used in comics.[2] The term comic book derives from American comic books once being a compilation of comic strips of a humorous tone; however, this practice was replaced by featuring stories of all genres, usually not humorous in tone.
The largest comic book market is Japan. By 1995, the manga market in Japan was valued at ¥586.4 billion ($6–7 billion),[3] with annual sales of 1.9billion manga books/magazines in Japan (equivalent to 15issues per person).[4] The comic book market in the United States and Canada was valued at $1.09 billion in 2016.[5] As of 2017, the largest comic book publisher in the United States is manga distributor Viz Media, followed by DC Comics and Marvel Comics.[6] Another major comic book market is France, where Franco-Belgian comics and Japanese manga each represent 40% of the market, followed by American comics at 10% market share.[7]
Structure
Comic books are reliant on their organization and appearance. Authors largely focus on the frame of the page, size, orientation, and panel positions. These characteristic aspects of comic books are necessary in conveying the content and messages of the author. The key elements of comic books include panels, balloons (speech bubbles), text (lines), and characters. Balloons are usually convex spatial containers of information that are related to a character using a tail element. The tail has an origin, path, tip, and pointed direction. Key tasks in the creation of comic books are writing, drawing, and coloring.

American comic books

Comics as a print medium have existed in America since the printing of The Adventures of Mr. Obadiah Oldbuck in 1842 in hardcover,[8] making it the first known American prototype comic book. Proto-comics periodicals began appearing early in the 20th century, with historians generally citing Dell Publishing's 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics as the first true American comic book; Goulart, for example, calls it "the cornerstone for one of the most lucrative branches of magazine publishing".[9] The introduction of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman in 1938 turned comic books into a major industry[10] and ushered the Golden Age of Comics. The Golden Age originated the archetype of the superhero. According to historian Michael A. Amundson, appealing comic-book characters helped ease young readers' fear of nuclear war and neutralize anxiety about the questions posed by atomic power.[11]
Historians generally divide the timeline of the American comic book into eras. The Golden Age of Comic Books began in the 1930s; which is generally considered the beginning of the comic book that we know today.[12] The Silver Age of comic books is generally considered to date from the first successful revival of the then-dormant superhero form, with the debut of the Flash in Showcase  #4 (Oct. 1956).[13][14] The Silver Age lasted through the late 1960s or early 1970s, during which time Marvel Comics revolutionized the medium with such naturalistic superheroes as Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four and Lee and Steve Ditko's Spider-Man. The demarcation between the Silver Age and the following era, the Bronze Age of Comic Books, is less well-defined, with the Bronze Age running from the very early 1970s through the mid-1980s.[15] The Modern Age of Comic Books runs from the mid-1980s to the present day.[16]
A notable event in the history of the American comic book came with psychiatrist Fredric Wertham's criticisms of the medium in his book Seduction of the Innocent (1954), which prompted the American Senate Subcommittee on Juvenile Delinquency to investigate comic books. In response to attention from the government and from the media, the U.S. comic book industry set up the Comics Magazine Association of America.[17] The CMAA instilled the Comics Code Authority in 1954 and drafted the self-censorship Comics Code that year, which required all comic books to go through a process of approval. It was not until the 1970s that comic books could be published without passing through the inspection of the CMAA.[18] The Code was made formally defunct in November 2011.
Underground comic books

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a surge of creativity emerged in what became known as underground comix. Published and distributed independently of the established comics industry, most of such comics reflected the youth counterculture and drug culture of the time. Many had an uninhibited, often irreverent style; their frank depictions of nudity, sex, profanity, and politics had no parallel outside their precursors, the pornographic and even more obscure "Tijuana bibles". Underground comics were almost never sold at newsstands, but rather in such youth-oriented outlets as head shops and record stores, as well as by mail order.
Frank Stack's The Adventures of Jesus, published under the name Foolbert Sturgeon,[19][20] has been credited as the first underground comic;[19][20] while R. Crumb and the crew of cartoonists who worked on Zap Comix popularized the form.
Alternative comics

The rise of comic book specialty stores in the late 1970s created/paralleled a dedicated market for "independent" or "alternative comics" in the U.S. The first such comics included the anthology series Star Reach, published by comic book writer Mike Friedrich from 1974 to 1979, and Harvey Pekar's American Splendor, which continued sporadic publication into the 21st century and which Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini adapted into a 2003 film. Some independent comics continued in the tradition of underground comics. While their content generally remained less explicit, others resembled the output of mainstream publishers in format and genre, but were published by smaller artist-owned companies or by single artists. A few (notably RAW) represented experimental attempts to bring comics closer to the status of fine art.
During the 1970s the "small press" culture grew and diversified. By the 1980s, several independent publishers - such as Pacific, Eclipse, First, Comico, and Fantagraphics - had started releasing a wide range of styles and formats—from color-superhero, detective, and science-fiction comic books to black-and-white magazine-format stories of Latin American magical realism.
A number of small publishers in the 1990s changed the format and distribution of their comics to more closely resemble non-comics publishing. The "minicomics" form, an extremely informal version of self-publishing, arose in the 1980s and became increasingly popular among artists in the 1990s,[21] despite reaching an even more limited audience than the small press.
Small publishers regularly releasing titles include Avatar Comics, Hyperwerks, Raytoons, and Terminal Press, buoyed by such advances in printing technology as digital print-on-demand.
Graphic novels

In 1964, Richard Kyle coined the term "graphic novel". Precursors of the form existed by the 1920s, which saw a revival of the medieval woodcut tradition by Belgian Frans Masereel,[22] American Lynd Ward and others, including Stan Lee.
In 1950, St. John Publications produced the digest-sized, adult-oriented "picture novel" It Rhymes with Lust, a 128-page digest by pseudonymous writer "Drake Waller" (Arnold Drake and Leslie Waller), penciler Matt Baker and inker Ray Osrin, touted as "an original full-length novel" on its cover. In 1971, writer-artist Gil Kane and collaborators devised the paperback "comics novel" Blackmark. Will Eisner popularized the term "graphic novel" when he used it on the cover of the paperback edition of his work A Contract with God, and Other Tenement Stories in 1978.
Digital comics

Market size
In 2017, the comic book market size for North America was just over $1 billion with digital sales being flat, book stores having a 1 percent decline, and comic book stores having a 10 percent decline over 2016.[23]
Comic book collecting

The 1970s saw the advent of specialty comic book stores. Initially, comic books were marketed by publishers to children because comic books were perceived as children's entertainment. However, with increasing recognition of comics as an art form and the growing pop culture presence of comic book conventions, they are now embraced by many adults.[17]
Comic book collectors are often lifelong enthusiasts of the comic book stories, and they usually focus on particular heroes and attempt to assemble the entire run of a title.  Comics are published with a sequential number. The first issue of a long-running comic book series is commonly the rarest and most desirable to collectors. The first appearance of a specific character, however, might be in a pre-existing title.  For example, Spider-Man's first appearance was in Amazing Fantasy #15.  New characters were often introduced this way, and did not receive their own titles until there was a proven audience for the hero. As a result, comics that feature the first appearance of an important character will sometimes be even harder to find than the number 1 issue of a character's own title.
Some rare comic books include copies of the unreleased Motion Picture Funnies Weekly #1 from 1939. Eight copies, plus one without a cover, emerged in the estate of the deceased publisher in 1974. The "Pay Copy" of this book sold for $43,125 in a 2005 Heritage auction.[24]
The most valuable American comics have combined rarity and quality with the first appearances of popular and enduring characters. Four comic books have sold for over US$1 million as of December2010, including two examples of Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman,[25][26] both sold privately through online dealer ComicConnect.com in 2010, and Detective Comics #27, the first appearance of Batman, via public auction.
Updating the above price obtained for Action Comics #1, the first appearance of Superman, the highest sale on record for this book is $3.2 million, for a 9.0 copy.[27]
Misprints, promotional comic-dealer incentive printings, and issues with extremely low distribution also generally have scarcity value. The rarest modern comic books include the original press run of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen #5, which DC executive Paul Levitz recalled and pulped due to the appearance of a vintage Victorian era advertisement for "Marvel Douche", which the publisher considered offensive;[28] only 100 copies exist, most of which have been CGC graded. (See Recalled comics for more pulped, recalled, and erroneous comics.)
In 2000, a company named Comics Guaranty (CGC) began to "slab" comics, encasing them in a thick plastic and giving them a numeric grade. As of 2014, there are two companies that provide third party grading of comic book condition. Because condition is so important to the value of rare comics, the idea of grading by a company that does not buy or sell comics seems like a good one. However, there is some controversy about whether this grading service is worth the high cost, and whether it is a positive development for collectors, or if it primarily services speculators who wish to make a quick profit trading in comics as one might trade in stocks or fine art. Comic grading has created valuation standards that online price guides such as  and GPAnalysis have used to report on real-time market values.
The original artwork pages from comic books are also collected, and these are perhaps the rarest of all comic book collector's items, as there is only one unique page of artwork for each page that was printed and published.  These were created by a writer, who created the story; a pencil artist, who laid out the sequential panels on the page; an ink artist, who went over the pencil with pen and black ink; a letterer, who provided the dialogue and narration of the story by hand lettering each word; and finally a colorist, who added color as the last step before the finished pages went to the printer.
When the original pages of artwork are returned by the printer, they are typically given back to the artists, who sometimes sell them at comic book conventions, or in galleries and art shows related to comic book art.  The original pages of the first appearances of such legendary characters as Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman and Spider-man are considered priceless.
Asian comics
Japanese manga

The first comic books in Japan appeared during the 18th century in the form of woodblock-printed booklets containing short stories drawn from folk tales, legends, and historical accounts, told in a simple visual-verbal idiom. Known as "red books"(赤本,akahon), "black books"(黒本,kurobon), and "blue books"(青本,aohon), these were written primarily for less literate readers. However, with the publication in 1775 of Koikawa Harumachi's comic book Master Flashgold's Splendiferous Dream(金々先生栄花の夢,Kinkin sensei eiga no yume), an evolved form of comic book originated, which required greater literacy and cultural sophistication. This was known as the kibyōshi(黄表紙, lit. yellow cover). Published in thousands of copies, the kibyōshi may have been the earliest fully realized comic book for adults in world literary history. Approximately 2,000 titles remain extant.
Modern comic books in Japan developed from a mixture of these earlier comic books and of woodblock prints ukiyo-e(浮世絵) with Western styles of drawing. They took their current form shortly after World War II. They are usually published in black-and-white, except for the covers, which are usually printed in four colors, although occasionally, the first few pages may also be printed in full color. The term manga means "random (or whimsical) pictures", and first came into common usage in the late 18th century with the publication of such works as Santō Kyōden's picturebook Shiji no yukikai(四時交加) (1798) and Aikawa Minwa's Comic Sketches of a Hundred Women (1798). During the Meiji period, the term Akahon was also common.
Western artists were brought over to teach their students such concepts as line, form, and color; these were things which had not been regarded as conceptually important in ukiyo-e, as the idea behind the picture was of paramount importance. Manga at this time was referred to as Ponchi-e (Punch-picture) and, like its British counterpart Punch magazine, mainly depicted humor and political satire in short one- or four-picture format.
Dr. Osamu Tezuka (1928–1989) further developed this form. Seeing an animated war propaganda film titled Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors(桃太郎　海の神兵,Momotarō Umi no Shinpei) inspired Tezuka to become a comic artist. He introduced episodic storytelling and character development in comic format, in which each story is part of larger story arc. The only text in Tezuka's comics was the characters' dialogue and this further lent his comics a cinematic quality. Inspired by the work of Walt Disney, Tezuka also adopted a style of drawing facial features in which a character's eyes, nose, and mouth are drawn in an extremely exaggerated manner. This style created immediately recognizable expressions using very few lines, and the simplicity of this style allowed Tezuka to be prolific. Tezuka's work generated new interest in the ukiyo-e tradition, in which the image is a representation of an idea, rather than a depiction of reality.
Though a close equivalent to the American comic book, manga has historically held a more important place in Japanese culture than comics have in American culture. Japanese society shows a wide respect for manga, both as an art form and as a form of popular literature. Many manga become television shows or short films. As with its American counterpart, some manga has been criticized for its sexuality and violence, although in the absence of official or even industry restrictions on content, artists have freely created manga for every age group and for every topic.
Manga magazines—also known as "anthologies"—often run several series concurrently, with approximately 20 to 40 pages allocated to each series per issue. These magazines range from 200 to more than 850 pages each. Manga magazines also contain one-shot comics and a variety of four-panel yonkoma (equivalent to comic strips). Manga series may continue for many years if they are successful, with stories often collected and reprinted in book-sized volumes called tankōbon(単行本, lit. stand-alone book), the equivalent of the American trade paperbacks. These volumes use higher-quality paper and are useful to readers who want to be brought up to date with a series, or to readers who find the cost of the weekly or monthly publications to be prohibitive. Deluxe versions are printed as commemorative or collectible editions.
Dōjinshi

Dōjinshi(同人誌, fan magazine), fan-made Japanese comics, operate in a far larger market in Japan than the American "underground comics" market; the largest dōjinshi fair, Comiket, attracts 500,000 visitors twice a year.[29]
Korean manhwa

Korean manhwa have quickly gained popularity outside Korea in recent times as a result of the Korean Wave. The manhwa industry has suffered through two crashes and strict censorship since its early beginnings as a result of the Japanese occupation of the peninsula which stunt the growth of the industry but has now started to flourish thanks in part to the internet and new ways to read manhwa whether on computers or through smartphones. In the past manhwa would be marketed as manga outside the country in order to make sure they would sell well but now that is no longer needed since more people are now more knowledgeable about the industry and Korean culture.
Webtoons

Webtoons have become popular in South Korea as a new way to read comics. Thanks in part to different censorship rules, color and unique visual effects, and optimization for easier reading on smartphones and computers. More manhwaga have made the switch from traditional print manhwa to online webtoons thanks to better pay and more freedom than traditional print manhwa. The webtoon format has also expanded to other countries outside of Korea like China, Japan, Southeast Asia, and Western countries. Major webtoon distributors include Lezhin, Naver, and Kakao.
Chinese manhua

European comics

Franco-Belgian comics

France and Belgium have a long tradition in comics and comic books, called BDs (an abbreviation of bande dessinées) in French and strips in Dutch. Belgian comic books originally written in Dutch show the influence of the Francophone "Franco-Belgian" comics, but have their own distinct style.
The name bande dessinée derives from the original description of the art form as drawn strips (the phrase literally translates as "the drawn strip"), analogous to the sequence of images in a film strip. As in its English equivalent, the word "bande" can be applied to both film and comics. Significantly, the French-language term contains no indication of subject-matter, unlike the American terms "comics" and "funnies", which imply an art form not to be taken seriously. The distinction of comics as le neuvième art (literally, "the ninth art") is prevalent in French scholarship on the form, as is the concept of comics criticism and scholarship itself. Relative to the respective size of their populations, the innumerable authors in France and Belgium publish a high volume of comic books. In North America, the more serious Franco-Belgian comics are often seen as equivalent to graphic novels, but whether they are long or short, bound or in magazine format, in Europe there is no need for a more sophisticated term, as the art's name does not itself imply something frivolous.
In France, authors control the publication of most comics. The author works within a self-appointed time-frame, and it is common for readers to wait six months or as long as two years between installments. Most books first appear in print as a hardcover book, typically with 48, 56, or 64 pages.
British comics

Although Ally Sloper's Half Holiday (1884) was aimed at an adult market, publishers quickly targeted a younger demographic, which has led to most publications being for children and has created an association in the public's mind of comics as somewhat juvenile. The Guardian refers to Ally Sloper as "one of the world's first iconic cartoon characters", and "as famous in Victorian Britain as Dennis the Menace would be a century later."[31] British comics in the early 20th century typically evolved from illustrated penny dreadfuls of the Victorian era (featuring Sweeney Todd, Dick Turpin and Varney the Vampire).[32] First published in the 1830s, penny dreadfuls were "Britain's first taste of mass-produced popular culture for the young."[33]

The two most popular British comic books, The Beano and The Dandy, were first published by DC Thomson in the 1930s. By 1950 the weekly circulation of both reached two million.[34][35] Explaining the enormous popularity of comics in British popular culture during this period, Anita O'Brien, director curator at London's Cartoon Museum, states:  "When comics like the Beano and Dandy were invented back in the 1930s - and through really to the 1950s and 60s - these comics were almost the only entertainment available to children."[34] The "world's naughtiest schoolboy", Dennis the Menace was created in the 1950s, which saw sales for The Beano soar.[36] He features in the cover of The Beano, with the BBC referring to him as the "definitive naughty boy of the comic world."[36]
In 1954, Tiger comics introduced Roy of the Rovers, the hugely popular football based strip recounting the life of Roy Race and the team he played for, Melchester Rovers. The stock media phrase "real 'Roy of the Rovers' stuff" is often used by football writers, commentators and fans when describing displays of great skill, or surprising results that go against the odds, in reference to the dramatic storylines that were the strip's trademark.[37] Other comic books such as Eagle, Valiant, Warrior, Viz and 2000 AD also flourished. Some comics, such as Judge Dredd and other 2000 AD titles, have been published in a tabloid form. Underground comics and "small press" titles have also appeared in the UK, notably Oz and Escape Magazine.
The content of Action, another title aimed at children and launched in the mid-1970s, became the subject of discussion in the House of Commons. Although on a smaller scale than similar investigations in the U.S., such concerns led to a moderation of content published within British comics. Such moderation never became formalized to the extent of promulgating a code, nor did it last long. The UK has also established a healthy market in the reprinting and repackaging of material, notably material originating in the U.S. The lack of reliable supplies of American comic books led to a variety of black-and-white reprints, including Marvel's monster comics of the 1950s, Fawcett's Captain Marvel, and other characters such as Sheena, Mandrake the Magician, and the Phantom. Several reprint companies became involved in repackaging American material for the British market, notably the importer and distributor Thorpe & Porter. Marvel Comics established a UK office in 1972. DC Comics and Dark Horse Comics also opened offices in the 1990s. The repackaging of European material has occurred less frequently, although The Adventures of Tintin and Asterix serials have been successfully translated and repackaged in softcover books.
In the 1980s, a resurgence of British writers and artists gained prominence in mainstream comic books, which was dubbed the "British Invasion" in comic book history.[38] These writers and artists brought with them their own mature themes and philosophy such as anarchy, controversy and politics common in British media. These elements would pave the way for mature and "darker and edgier" comic books and jump start the Modern Age of Comics.[39] Writers included Alan Moore, famous for his V for Vendetta, From Hell, Watchmen, Marvelman, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen;[40] Neil Gaiman with The Sandman mythos and Books of Magic; Warren Ellis, creator of Transmetropolitan and Planetary; and others such as Mark Millar, creator of Wanted and Kick-Ass. The comic book series Hellblazer, which is largely set in Britain and starring the magician John Constantine, paved the way for British writers such as Jamie Delano.[41]
At Christmas time, publishers repackage and commission material for comic annuals, printed and bound as hardcover A4-size books; "Rupert" supplies a famous example of the British comic annual. DC Thomson also repackages The Broons and Oor Wullie strips in softcover A4-size books for the holiday season.
On 19 March 2012, the British postal service, the Royal Mail, released a set of stamps depicting British comic-book characters and series.[42] The collection featured The Beano, The Dandy, Eagle, The Topper, Roy of the Rovers, Bunty, Buster, Valiant, Twinkle and 2000 AD.[42]
Spanish comics
It has been stated that the 13th century Cantigas de Santa María could be considered as the first Spanish "comic", although comic books (also known in Spain as historietas or tebeos)  made their debut around 1857. The magazine TBO was influential in popularizing the medium. After the Spanish Civil War the Franco regime imposed strict censorship in all media: superhero comics were forbidden and as a result, comic heroes were based on historical fiction (in 1944 the medieval hero El Guerrero del Antifaz was created by Manuel Gago and another popular medieval hero, Capitán Trueno, was created in 1956 by Víctor Mora and Miguel Ambrosio Zaragoza). Two publishing houses — Editorial Bruguera and Editorial Valenciana — dominated the Spanish comics market during its golden age (1950-1970). The most popular comics showed a recognizable style of slapstick humor (influenced by Franco-Belgian authors such as Franquin): Escobar's Carpanta and Zipi y Zape, Vázquez's Las hermanas Gilda and Anacleto, Ibáñez's Mortadelo y Filemón and 13. Rue del Percebe or Jan's Superlópez. After the end of the Francoist period, there was an increased interest in adult comics with magazines such as Totem, El Jueves, 1984, and El Víbora, and works such as Paracuellos by Carlos Giménez.
Spanish artists have traditionally worked in other markets finding great success, either in the American (e.g., Eisner Award winners Sergio Aragonés, Salvador Larroca, Gabriel Hernández Walta, Marcos Martín or David Aja), the British (e.g., Carlos Ezquerra, co-creator of Judge Dredd) or the Franco-Belgian one (e.g., Fauve d'Or winner Julio Ribera or Blacksad authors Juan Díaz Canales and Juanjo Guarnido).
Italian comics

In Italy, comics (known in Italian as fumetti) made their debut as humor strips at the end of the 19th century, and later evolved into adventure stories. After World War II, however, artists like Hugo Pratt and Guido Crepax exposed Italian comics to an international audience. Popular comic books such as Diabolik or the Bonelli line—namely Tex Willer or Dylan Dog—remain best-sellers.[43]
Mainstream comics are usually published on a monthly basis, in a black-and-white digest size format, with approximately 100 to 132 pages. Collections of classic material for the most famous characters, usually with more than 200 pages, are also common. Author comics are published in the French BD format, with an example being Pratt's Corto Maltese.
Italian cartoonists show the influence of comics from other countries, including France, Belgium, Spain, and Argentina. Italy is also famous for being one of the foremost producers of Walt Disney comic stories outside the U.S. Donald Duck's superhero alter ego, Paperinik, known in English as Superduck, was created in Italy.
Czech comics

Čtyřlístek (in English translated as Lucky Four or Four-Leaf Clover) is one of the most well-known comics for children published in the Czech Republic.
Distribution
Distribution has historically been a problem for the comic book industry with many mainstream retailers declining to carry extensive stocks of the most interesting and popular comics. The smartphone and the tablet have turned out to be an ideal medium for online distribution.[44]
Digital distribution
On November 13, 2007, Marvel Comics launched Marvel Digital Comics Unlimited, a subscription service allowing readers to read many comics from Marvel's history online. The service also includes periodic release new comics not available elsewhere. With the release of Avenging Spider-Man #1, Marvel also became the first publisher to provide free digital copies as part of the print copy of the comic book.[45]
With the growing popularity of smartphones and tablets, many major publishers have begun releasing titles in digital form. The most popular platform is comiXology. Some platforms, such as Graphicly, have shut down.
Comic collections in libraries
Many libraries have extensive collections of comics in the form of graphic novels. This is a convenient way for many in the public to become familiar with the medium.[46]
Guinness World Record
The largest comic book ever published was on the 5th of August 2018 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. It is named Turma da Mônica — O Maior Gibi do Mundo! by Panini Comics Brasil and Mauricio de Sousa Editora, and it measures at 69.9cm by 99.8cm (2ft 3.51 in by 3ft 3.29 in).[47]
The Japanese manga author Eiichiro Oda has made comic book history by attaining a Guinness World Record title for having the "Most copies published for the same comic book series by a single author". His widely popular comic titled One Piece was first serialised in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine (Shueisha) in Japan, back in December 1997. In the space of less than two decades, the series has accumulated an incredibly loyal following and has gone on to sell an incredible 320,866,000 units, with a substantial 77 volumes of the comic book released over that period.[48]
See also

Cartoon
Comic book archive
Comic book therapy
Comics studies
Comics vocabulary
Comparison of image viewers
Digital comics
List of best-selling comic series
List of best-selling manga
Webcomic

Further reading

 at the University of Missouri