[soft music] - NARRATOR: The term Interstate Highway usually conjures up images of concrete, asphalt, and steel, but it is the people who travel these roads and those whose lives are connected to it that give it vitality and life.

[soft music] Coming up a drive across the United States from west to east on a road that embodies America today.

[soft music] - America once saw itself as a nation of small towns, each of which were anchored by a main street, inevitably called Main Street.

[music continues] The 21st century has seen interstate highways emerge as the new main streets, stitching together a fragmented country.

[upbeat music] San Francisco has long been considered a gateway to America.

[upbeat music continues] It is also the starting point for Interstate Route 80, a 15 minute drive from San Francisco's historic Chinatown neighborhood.

[upbeat music] Chinatown is one part Chinese, one part American, and one part Disneyland, [clinks] but most of all, it is a real neighborhood where people and families live.

For generations, San Francisco Chinatown has offered many Americans an introduction to Chinese culture and cuisine, [food cart rattling] especially cuisine.

[food cart rattling] But there are lesser known aspects to Chinese cooking, like baked goods found at San Francisco's AA Bakery and Cafe.

Its modest exterior belies just how popular it is with locals and tourists alike.

[indistinct chatter] Owner Harry Chan is the not-so-secret "secret of its success and a classic American entrepreneur.

[soft music] - NARRATOR: Most Americans don't think of egg tarts as especially Chinese, but they are, introduced to China by Portuguese merchants in Macau.

Today you find them everywhere.

According to Harry Chan, his bakery is a mixture of east and west.

That's especially true with this popular custom cakes.

Special baked goods for Chinese New Year are also crowd pleasers.

- Because they do everything traditional you know, production for the Chinese New Year, for the different kinds of cakes, the buns, back to the people, the tradition and the people like it.

And also there's a gift for the New Years, when the people missing others.

That's also the basic gifts to the people.

[upbeat music] - NARRATOR: The AA bakery's fans are legion.

- It's all my favorites right here for the last two decades.

That's why I chose it.

Basically, I will be here, breakfast, maybe six days a week right here if I'm not out of the town.

So... and then we become the good friends with the owner and all the customers... But it still information center to us.

I'm usually bringing my friends here.

Everyone who doesn't know this bakery, I'm always telling, like, "You should try it on because it's like, it's so cheap and it's so good."

[upbeat music] - NARRATOR: Recently, the San Francisco Chronicle named the AA bakery one of the best Chinese bakeries in the country.

[upbeat music] Who could possibly argue with such wisdom?

[upbeat music fades] [soft instrumental music] - NARRATOR: Heading west, Interstate 80 crosses the relatively new San Francisco Oakland Bay bridge, itself an architectural statement.

You skirt the East Bay region, beginning a trek which runs a bit more than 2900 miles.

That's 4700km through 11 states.

[soft instrumental music] Eventually, you climb up into the Sierra Nevada mountain range.

Year round, the scenery can be stunning, but as this California Highway Patrol video shows, it can be treacherous.

[horses neigh] Around here, you'll find reminders of the Old West, a mythology that has engaged audiences for generations.

[crowd cheers] Real cowboys can still be found today, like at the annual Silver State Stampede.

You can experience a very different aspect of authentic cowboy culture at the Western Folklife Center in Elko, Nevada, home of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

Paul Zarzyski told a story of his boyhood, his first horse and his dad.

I dreamed of Robin Hood, Paladin, Sinbad life from those shoulders.

His jugular pulse rumbled into the ripple of my pulse, my thin wrist against his Adam's apple, a whiskered knuckle, prickly as cucumbers in our garden where I picked nightcrawlers, wet and moonlit, glistening between vines across the black soil.

I level with an array of flies, every crayon color fastened to the silk band of his tattered fedora.

The hat my mother vowed a thousand times to burn.

I learned to love the sound of words in the woods.

- NARRATOR: The music of Ryan and Hoss Fritz not only captures memories of the past, but the reality of the nature of the wild horses that still can be found near Reno.

♪ The old bronco mare ♪ never chose this life.

♪ She'd rather be free and wild.

♪ ♪ So, you could work her hard and still be fair.

♪ ♪ You treat her right, the old bronco mare.

♪♪ - NARRATOR: Cowboys aren't all boys, and they tell the stories of people who changed the West, but not always for the better.

♪ The Big Man arrived, with a big, big knife.

♪ ♪ He cut down the trees and built us this life.

♪ ♪ The Big Man put a new name on this town ♪♪ ♪ And everything else a thousand miles around.

♪ ♪ The Big Man brought us pigs and sheep ♪ ♪ and pestilence and plague in his own bedsheets.

♪♪ ♪ The big man turned the dust to mud, ♪ ♪ With wave upon wave of crimson blood.

♪ ♪ And when the river of blood ran dry ♪ ♪ The big man held his sword up to the sky ♪♪ ♪ And he said, You all belong to me, ♪♪ ♪ You are not people, And you are not free.

♪♪ [song fades] - NARRATOR: At the end of the day, a cowboy's last conversation is with his horse.

- Say, but you caught that yearling, slick Do you like roping as much as you claim to?

Maybe we should enter us a jackpot and there'd be something to aim to.

Yeah, but I don't see the boss allowing me to take you past them hillsides.

You know nothing of trailering.

I don't reckon you ever will.

I'd hear these old cowboy stories that cowboys that worked for my dad on his ranch And they were constantly entertaining themselves with their stories of guys they knew or outfits they'd been on.

Every once in a while, one of them would recite a poem.

Their rhymes were very impactful on me.

It was They brought these stories to life for me, and I wanted to be able to do it just like these cowboys.

I did do it.

So I started memorizing poetry, from the time I was about ten, maybe.

I didn't really start to write until I figured I had my own stories, and once I had them, it's been nonstop since.

You see, you and I were a dying breed.

Ain't many left like us these days.

Well, I see you ate up the last of your grain.

Come on, pard, you go out and graze.

Thanks for the chat.

I've enjoyed it.

I suppose I best get on inside and get me some supper started.

I'll catch you later, pard.

Thanks for the ride.

[soft music] NARRATOR: While Reno, Nevada is sometimes thought of as Las Vegas's smaller cousin.

It has a whole lot to offer beyond gambling.

That includes links to the area's fabled past.

125 years ago, if you were traveling the route followed by Interstate 80, you would probably have been riding a horse.

While there are lots of area dude ranches and western riding schools, for something different, Meadow View Farms in Reno teaches English style riding.

They emphasize skills far different from what cowboys use.

[soft music] - So we start everyone from basics of someone who's never been around horses, how to work safely around the horses, how to lead them, brush them, that kind of thing all the way up through international competition.

So we teach every step along the way.

We have riders that have been here since they were four years old starting their first lesson, and now they're in their 20s, 30s and still riding.

So I think anyone in this sport that has been in it for a while, I think they'll say the longer you ride, the less you know.

I think it's definitely a lifelong learning sport for both the horse and the rider.

You can always improve, you can always get better.

And because it's trying to communicate with an animal and a human, I think you're always working to make that better and smoother and more consistent.

- NARRATOR: For many, horseback riding is something they started at an early age.

- I started writing when I was eight.

My family moved from upstate New York to Maryland right at that time, and I was devastated about the move to leave my friends, And so, I was always obsessed with horses, and I always called it a bribe.

They said once we got to Maryland, I could start horseback riding lessons.

And so that was that was the beginning.

- One of my best friends she's not here right now, but her name is Brynn.

So she's the one who got me into this barn.

Sarah and Lynn, they're so, like, beyond overqualified.

They do course designing.

They've been training for a long time, so it's really just like a great fit overall.

- NARRATOR: Horseback riding also attracts former riders, often picking up where they left off years before.

- I saw at a feed store this goes back 15, 16 years ago.

There was a flier for a local horse show, hunter jumper show, which is a discipline that I do, and I thought, I'm going to go check that out and just see if it's the same as it was when I was a kid.

That day I went to that horse show and just watched and kind of got the bug again.

And I'm like, well, maybe I want to start taking lessons.

- NARRATOR: Of course, the real stars are the horses themselves.

Each with their own personality, like Andy.

- I think he's turning 12 in July.

I've had him for around two years now.

He's very high maintenance.

That's one thing, he is, but he's really he describes himself as brave when we did the horse communicator.

He's really great at jumping and you know there's never an issue for going over the jumps, like some horses have issues in stop or like spin out of them.

But Andy, he's just so honest and he tries his best, so he jumps everything.

[upbeat music] - NARRATOR: It's not a long drive from I-80 to Meadow View Farms and travelers are always welcome.

- We're always welcoming more people.

The more people that fall in love with horses, the better for us.

You know, we love horses and they're such a huge part of our lives and such special animals, and we feel really lucky to be involved with them.

So we're always excited to help other people get to know horses and fall in love with the sport as well.

[somber music] - NARRATOR: Given the long distances many travel along Route 80, it is easy to understand that the journey itself can be considered something of an achievement, especially during the winter months.

[somber music continues] - NARRATOR: The West has more than its share of ghost towns, once thriving communities that for any number of reasons withered and died.

But if you are looking for ghosts, you don't have to wander around the countryside.

You can go to the undeniably urban Salt Lake City, Utah, where the interstate highway travels in the shadow of mountains.

[music and chatter] - NARRATOR: For more than a decade Grimm Ghost Tours has been telling the story of Utah's state capitol through its historic buildings and the spirits that some believe still inhabit the city.

- You know, a lot of people don't necessarily automatically think, you know, Salt Lake City ghosts, but when you actually look at the stories, the the history there, the buildings, the spaces, there are so many different ghost stories.

- NARRATOR: It said the historic Rio Grande railway station was the site of a terrible tragedy when an arriving train killed a young woman on the railroad tracks.

- It is belief that this young woman's ghost is the most prominent ghost here at the Rio Grande.

They call her, "The Purple Lady," because she's seen most often wearing her purple dress that she died in on that fateful day.

[somber music continues] She can be most often encountered on the second floor in the women's restroom, which is right there.

[soft music] - NARRATOR: The guides to Salt Lake City's Shadow World are themselves characters, with their own perspective on the stories they are telling.

- Each of our tour guides actually create their own.

They create their own character, their own guide.

We work with them, but we I think that it's easier for them to really be able to create that personality that they want to share with our customers.

- TOUR GUIDE: It's believed that that lake monster use - So I've been with Grimm Ghost Tours for almost ten years now, and I started out as a tour guide, and then I just became fascinated with the stories in the history.

So I started doing a lot of research for the company and I became their in-house historian researcher.

So that we make sure that we're telling factual stories, factual history, not just spreading Folklore is good.

People like folklore, and it's important part of communities, but we we want to make sure that if we're telling folklore, what's the truth behind the folklore?

Where did it stem from?

And so I do that so that we can be as honest to our customers as possible.

- NARRATOR: The historic Salt Lake City County building is said to be another haunted landmark built with massive sandstone blocks.

During construction of its upper floors, Some of those blocks came hurtling down.

- And the workers up there called out a warning to everyone below, and everyone heard it, except for two little boys who were too busy playing and not paying attention.

Those two little boys can still be seen to this day playing around nothing has stopped them.

And even inside the building If you go in these doors and go to the left, there's an elevator that was the first elevator installed and it is their favorite elevator to play on.

- It has been like really cool.

I love seeing all the pictures and hearing all the stories.

I love hearing the history, not just like the ghost stories and the scary part of it, but I love hearing about the history part of it and what people thought and what they did that led to these scary stories.

- I knew about the avenues, a lot of the historical homes and some of the historical buildings on Temple, South Temple, and I like architecture and history, so I was interested in that.

But I didn't know about the ghost tour until my coworker told me about it, so I came with her today.

- TOUR GUIDE: It looks like a ghost.

- NARRATOR: You don't have to take a tour to encounter a Salt Lake City ghost, as the owner of a well-known restaurant told Sarah Jamieson.

You know, I went to lunch there before I bought the cafe.

I went to lunch there with some of my friends, and I got up to go to the bathroom, and as I went to the bathroom, a woman walked past me and she walked right through the woman's restroom door, and I'm like, "Oh yeah."

And he's like, "No, she didn't open the door and walk through it, like the door stayed closed, and she walked straight through the solid door."

And I didn't know what to think of it.

- Even on the tour, security guards will come out and talk to us and tell us this just happened, just before you guys pulled up.

Fort Douglas has a lot of interesting ghosts.

We get a lot of stories from there, the cemetery of Fort Douglas, the city cemetery.

It's just people wanting to see people.

[chuckle] Dead, people wanting to see people, and it makes it interesting because we know their stories.

We can feel that connection to them.

- We get a lot of people from the surrounding states, from Arizona, California, Idaho, things like that.

But then we get some that are, you know, from back east in different places.

But yeah, we get people from all over the world, who when they come to Salt Lake City, will come and go on our tours.

[train track rumbling] - NARRATOR: No need to hurry to Salt Lake City if you want to investigate for yourself the truth or fiction of ghosts.

[soft music] [chatter] - NARRATOR: If ghosts do indeed exist, they'll still be there whenever you arrive.

[highway rumble] - With such fortitude.

- NARRATOR: It was American President, Dwight Eisenhower who convinced Congress in the 1950s to spend hundreds of millions of dollars, a construction of an interstate highway system.

[soft music] [explosion] - NARRATOR: Arguing in part that it was necessary to quickly move military assets in times of national emergency.

[soft music continues] It was even suggested that U.S.

Air Force B-52 bombers could use long stretches of the highways for emergency landings.

[soft music continues] - NARRATOR: Construction of the Interstate Highway System cost the equivalent of more than $650 billion, adjusted for inflation.

One complicating factor was that each state along the route would plan, coordinate, oversee construction, and maintain the interstate highways within their own borders.

As a result, it would be 1992 before the interstate system would be declared complete.

[soft music continues] - NARRATOR: The economic impact of interstate highways is undeniable.

Literally everything travels by truck and operating those trucks are thousands of long distance professional drivers.

[soft Jazz music] - NARRATOR: There is plenty of mythology surrounding truckers, fed by Hollywood film-noir movies like the classic They Drive by Night.

It's a portrait of long, hard hours and being on the go, night and day, day and night.

- Right now I work for a produce buyer, so pick up a lot of produce and it goes back to Buffalo, New York.

And so my travels are normally Lincoln, Nebraska, where I live to down to southwest and pick up produce down there or go down to Florida, pick up produce down there as well, and bring it back to Buffalo.

So I do a big circle.

I spend normally 10 to 12 days out, go home for a few days and then do it all over again.

It's kind of like Groundhog Day in a way.

[upbeat music] - NARRATOR: Iowa 80 bills itself as the largest truck stop in the world.

It certainly looks the part.

Remarkably, it is a family owned business, started by a Korean War veteran.

- My grandfather, Bill Moon, loved truck drivers and he loved the trucking industry.

Just thought it was really unique and it is uniquely American.

And he wanted to create a place where truck drivers could come and have anything they needed, anything they wanted.

So we have a super truck showroom that has all sorts of chrome and truck accessories.

We have a dentist, we have a barber, we have a chiropractor.

We have a laundromat, we have a movie theater, a driver den, a chapel on Sundays.

We have a church service there.

We have a gym, we have a walking trail.

We have a dog wash, a dog park here.

- The most common thing that they see me for would be probably low back in mid back pain, just because they're sitting there, and that causes a lot of problems for them, just because of their sedentary lifestyle.

My office is 100% walk in, but they'll let me know that they're going to be coming through.

But the trucking industry, depending on weather or accidents, you know, they can get delayed or that.

So that's why my office has always been a walk in clinic.

- NARRATOR: Trucks generally run on diesel fuel, but truckers run on gallons of coffee and good, hardy food.

- Our motto has always been nothing fancy, just good food, so we don't go with a lot of the trends and that we just keep making the same stuff really, really good.

And that and we try to add fun stuff from time to time, but our customers want to know what they're going to get when they come through here.

So, a lot of the menu, and I've looked at a lot of the old ones, a lot of the stuff is the same stuff, just done correctly.

- NARRATOR: No matter how bad road conditions get, the Iowa 80 kitchen is always open.

- We're open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

And in my 34 years we have not closed, not once.

We figure out a way to get our employees here because people are going to be pulling off the interstate, so, we're going to be open for them.

Sometimes we got to get creative with how we do it, but what we're going to be here.

-NARRATOR: Iowa 80 is unique, in that, it even has its own trucking museum open to professional drivers and tourists alike.

- That museum opened to the public in 2008.

Like I said, my grandpa loved trucks and he loved the history of the trucking industry.

And one time, he was sitting at the driver counter in the Iowa 80 kitchen restaurant, and he was talking to some drivers, and someone came in and said that they were going to crush some antique trucks down at a junkyard somewhere along the river, and the driver was upset about it.

So my grandpa jumped in the truck with him and went and bought one of them.

And that's how we ended up with the first truck in our collection.

[music fades] [engine revving] [whimsical music] - NARRATOR: Heading east along I-80, the next state is Illinois.

Moline is a relatively quiet place with a vibrant history.

Ice cream parlors, also known as Sweete Shops, are certainly part of that history.

Today, they are largely gone.

One exception is Lagomarcino's old-fashioned confectionery.

[whimsical music continues] - NARRATOR: It's a family business, and it has been from the start.

- We're in our fifth generation.

My grandson is working here now, besides three of my four children, and it was started by my grandparents in 1908, Luigia and Angelo Lagomarcino, immigrants from Italy.

- NARRATOR: Making candy, is both a science and an art.

Here, decades old recipes lead to delicious temptations.

They attract customers from near and far, especially around Valentine's Day, when the most popular specials are everything.

- Oh my goodness!

We sold everything it feels like.

But we do heart shaped boxes, which are very popular, that are filled with our homemade chocolates.

We actually have a seven-pound heart box here that is very elaborate.

[laughs] - NARRATOR: The store is decorated, as it has been for decades, a throwback to an earlier era.

In fact, it is the key to their success.

[whimsical music] - My papa would say, "The way that we stay different is that we don't.

We stay constant.

We don't change."

When you walk in here, it's like a step back in time.

We stay true to our recipes.

We want to provide quality products, and we take a lot of pride in our business as a family business.

We make sure that we have good products.

We have a friendly atmosphere, and very family oriented.

[whimsical music continues] - NARRATOR: Travelers are always welcome, along with local folks.

But if your plans don't include a drive through Moline, you can still get some of these wonderful indulgences.

This old fashioned business is also very modern.

- So he shipped nationwide.

That was something that my Noni introduced back years ago.

And so, we have really grown our online presence.

We do like curbside pickup.

We ship, and, you know, we try to make it easier and to be up to date with times because a lot of shopping is happening online now.

[warm music] - NARRATOR: Americans have always had a love affair with automobiles.

Perhaps it is the embodiment of the American notion of freedom, the ability to go somewhere, anywhere, whenever we wanted to go.

- FEMALE ANOUNCER: The new 1953 Chevrolet Isn't that a sight to take your breath away?

Wouldn't that new beauty steal any show?

I declare, it looks a mile long, and see how low it is, and that beautiful, beautiful grill.

♪ Do make a day today.

♪ to see the USA, ♪ and see it in your Chevrolet!

♪♪ [rousing music] - NARRATOR: Whatever their perceived economic benefits, the construction of interstate highways led to the destruction of many still vibrant urban neighborhoods.

[rousing music continues] - NARRATOR: And while this may have only increased the pace of inevitable change, that was little consolation to the people and businesses displaced.

Many locally owned gas stations, family restaurants, and entire neighborhoods disappeared.

[rousing music continues] Historically, the economy of rural America was dominated by agriculture, with country roads lined with farms and open land.

Now, mega distribution centers grow in fields once covered with a different sort of cash crop.

Food and fuel are essential for travelers.

I-80 has travel plazas, rest stops.

In Illinois, there's even an oasis or two.

[upbeat music] - NARRATOR: Whatever you call them, they are an inherent element of the I-80 travel experience.

They are the long distance drivers' pit stop, and are synonymous with gas, meals, and restrooms.

The rest stops are the place where an infinite number of personal worlds intersect and at times collide.

People who most likely would never meet interact, however briefly.

- I would come from Maine, right now.

Portland, Maine.

We just did a convention there, and now we're headed to Detroit.

- I spent a year in a semi and we went down like I-10 a whole lot.

I'm from Atlanta, so of course, you know, we have like really heavy traffic out there.

I haven't experienced, like, any of that across I-80.

It's been absolutely beautiful.

The scenery is to die for and just the frequency of stops and the availability of stops and able to make yourself very comfortable.

I definitely like, and I definitely appreciate because we didn't have that down South.

- Right now I don't have anything, but I'm going to have to get a load of biomass.

It's basically a bug parasite that they use in wastewater treatment plant.

They eat the you know, the out of the filtration system.

- I'm driving on I 80 today.

I'm headed to New York to see a concert tomorrow.

So I've been driving since yesterday.

- Who are you seeing?

- I'm going to see Cardi B.

- So, I have a college roommate whose wife died and he lives in Pittsburgh.

So, I'm driving from Massachusetts to go to the wake and funeral.

- I'm from Toronto, Canada.

This is my first time on I-80.

It's been fantastic so far.

It's absolutely amazing.

The views are breathtaking.

- Yeah, I'm a truck driver.

I've been driving now for like I guess about 38 years or so.

Yeah, hauling steel.

You know, I used the turnpike on a regular basis, just about five days a week, you know.

So, I have good experiences.

You know, it's not bad at all.

Plenty of, you know, rest areas.

You know, good food.

So it's a pretty good road to travel.

- NARRATOR: But everyone at the rest stops is in a hurry to move on.

- Yeah, I got to get up here in this truck and go to work and get this load delivered up in Lansing, Michigan before six o'clock today.

- NARRATOR: A crossroads like this doesn't happen by accident.

Running them is a complex business.

- Basically, we operate 14 mini malls across our 241 mile toll road.

As you can see, our plazas are very modern.

We try to provide all the amenities that somebody could need to stop rather than getting off the road.

We also encourage folks to stop.

We want to make it as convenient as possible.

Fatigue driving is a major safety issue for transportation across the US.

We encourage our customers to get out of the vehicle, stretch their legs, fuel up, take a break, get some refreshments, and wake the for the rest of their journey.

[upbeat music] - NARRATOR: Family dogs like to travel with their human companions, but they can leave behind dog poop in rest areas.

We have designated pet walk areas with water.

We obviously have the pickup bags and we encourage people to use our green space, let the let their furry friends stretch their legs, get out there and It's not not an issue.

I'd say the majority of all our customers are very responsible with their pets.

[rock and roll music] - NARRATOR: Rest stops are one of the few places where ordinary drivers and professional drivers, truckers congregate and meet.

By and large, truckers think they are misunderstood by many members of the driving public.

[rock and roll music continues] - We're not uneducated by any means because it's got to be very educated.

Trucking is just not something you just get in and just do whatever you want.

It does take a skill, especially driving this part of the country.

We're careful for what we do around people, and we're most majority of us, 90, 95% of us are very polite and professional, and we're just here to serve the people of America.

[rock and roll music continues] - NARRATOR: Today, truckers have a new concern automation and AI.

Self-driving trucks are currently operating on a limited number of long haul routes.

They don't have to take government mandated rest breaks.

In fact, they can work 24 hours a day.

[rock and roll music continues] - NARRATOR: The possibility of a mechanical breakdown is a fear shared by just about every driver.

Rescue often involves someone who will become the driver's new best friend a tow truck operator.

- I was driving my tow truck one day, and I had a person get into an accident three or four car lengths in front of me.

I ended up using the tow truck to block the lanes of traffic so he wouldn't get hit again.

And then I ended up stopping the bleeding before paramedics received or arrived on scene.

- NARRATOR: Winter spawns all manner of accidents.

- It's cold and the wrecks are usually a lot more abundant during the winter and the snow and the ice.

[upbeat music] - NARRATOR: In Ohio, I-80 becomes the Ohio Turnpike.

With online campaigns like the "Name a Snowplow Contest."

the turnpike is looking for fun ways to engage drivers.

They also seek to humanize Turnpike maintenance workers, who are often little more than a blur as they strive to keep I-80 passable, regardless of the weather.

- We have two 12 hour shifts.

We have an A crew, a B crew, and each shift starts at 11 o'clock, the one being 11 in the morning.

That would be our A crew shift to 11 at night.

And then we have a night shift that comes in.

They start 11 at night and then they finish at 11 in the morning, - NARRATOR: Long before the snow begins to fly workers at maintenance depots are busy readying the Turnpikes fleet of snowplows.

It is a year round effort.

Paradoxically, the big snowstorms are in some ways easier to clear.

- In a bad storm, it's a little bit more relaxed.

It's kind of hard to believe because traffic is going extremely slow.

Traffic is dead, basically.

There's nobody out there on the roadways.

It's actually a little bit more calming than what it is, like a rush hour traffic.

When you have like these big-name snowstorms, people tend to just stay home and not travel, which is a good thing for everybody.

[vehicle engines humming] - NARRATOR: Interstate highways don't build themselves and they don't maintain themselves either.

These are jobs which AI won't be replacing anytime soon, but they can be dangerous.

Despite signage advising drivers to slow down in construction zones, many people don't.

[thuds] [whoosh] - NARRATOR: Their results can be tragic.

- It can be very intimidating out there.

When you're standing along at the edge of the roadway, and traffic can be literally running up to 70 to 80 miles an hour, you know, within six inches of your feet, you know, but you still have to get out there and do your task.

Typically when you when you approach one of our crews, there's going to be some advance warning signs, if we have a full zone set.

We would ask if you start to see those signs, maybe, you know, put any distractions down or, you know, really focus on the road.

When you see those signs or you see those flashing lights, whether it be the patrol, be the maintenance guys out there and girls that work the roadway, just start thinking there's something going on ahead of you.

And if you could just put your full attention on that, that road and what's straight ahead of you.

You'll get where you need to be and everybody is working along these roadways across the country will get home.

- NARRATOR: Even the best roads need to be maintained.

The way to prevent potholes is to keep the roadway surface sealed, but water and ice inevitably make their way below the surface, resulting in the dreaded pothole.

It is time to mill the road when the surface begins to look like a patchwork quilt, and lay a whole new layer of asphalt.

[upbeat music] - NARRATOR: As long as there have been highways, those who patrol them, often called state troopers, have exercised jurisdiction over major roads.

- ANNOUNCER: Protection of motorists on the 68,000 miles of improved Michigan highways has become more and more a definite major responsibility as traffic has increased.

300 men in cars and on motorcycles joined daily in an effort to make your journey a safe one.

[soft music] - NARRATOR: In the video you are watching, a Utah police officer is pursuing a speeding car, going the wrong way on Route 80.

You can see it on the left and what happens?

[clash] [suspenseful music] [thud] - NARRATOR: A popular notion is that troopers like the Ohio State Highway Patrol spend far too much time writing speeding tickets.

The whole point is to slow drivers down and save lives.

[whoosh] - NARRATOR: Early on, Staff Lieutenant Richard Reader of the Ohio State Highway Patrol knew he wanted to become a police officer.

- We start our days typically at the patrol post, and you're given a line assignment.

Here on the Turnpike, there's three different posts, and we cover an 80 mile stretch, roughly, and we'll split it up typically in three areas.

So you'll get your line assignment, and then you go out, you try to run your line and make sure there's no disabled vehicles out there, any debris in the road.

And while you're doing that, you're looking for egregious violations, such as speeders that are 20 plus over.

So we try to go out and use that data to be purpose driven in our efforts to enforce the laws and reduce traffic crashes and ultimately save lives, which is our greatest goal.

[soft music] [vehicles whizzing by] - NARRATOR: It's up to state troopers to handle everything from car and truck crashes and impaired drivers, to interstate fugitives and deadly road rage, [siren blaring] all during a shift which is typically eight hours.

[soft music] Night shifts in the dead of winter can seem especially long.

[soft music continues] - You know, it does get tough at times.

You know, you talk about those night shifts on a cold winter's night, and you're right.

You have to be ready because the next second you could go from that I don't have a call for service to someone's fighting for their life because they just rolled their car over or crash their car.

It's imperative that you keep that focus throughout the night.

You know, I didn't drink coffee when I was younger.

I was able to stay awake all night.

I find myself now that I've got 28 years on that I drink the coffee, the caffeine helps me, but ultimately, what keeps you there is the fact that you want to to serve.

You want to help people.

And you know, at times you might be that difference between life and death to save a life.

And, you know, you're constantly ready, you're constantly, you know, in addition to crashes, you know that you need to be ready for the criminal element as well.

One of your other troopers might stop a stolen vehicle that has multiple suspects and weapons inside the car.

So, you know, you have to be alert.

You have to be ready and always ready to handle whatever the shift may give you.

[soft music] [rock and roll music] - NARRATOR: For many decades, vacationers have made their way to eastern Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains.

A number of resorts there began life as honeymoon hotels with oversize, heart shaped bathtubs and such.

Those places are pretty well gone, replaced by destinations which position themselves as family resorts.

None more so than Camelback Resort.

- One of the best things about Camelback is that it's multi-generational, and that families can come here, that grandparents, teens, kids, everyone alike.

Camelback's really for everyone.

We've got activities all across the board, and really, our guest space is a drive to guest who's looking for a convenient escape and within a 3 to 4 hour radius of here.

And lucky for us, there's about 18 million people in that 3 to 4 hour radius of here.

[soft music] - NARRATOR: Winter sports are a tradition in Pennsylvania.

At first, they were pretty much do it yourself.

In fact, just getting there was a challenge and there weren't any hotels, lodges or restaurants.

Route 80 changed all that.

You know, we've got a couple of billboards on route 80.

We know that that's the main route that our guests take to get here.

And it's an important route because you can get from New York City to here in about an hour and 20 minutes, all because of route 80.

So, you know, you can leave the city behind and end up right here on the mountains.

- We've been to some other mountains in Pennsylvania, but we've never been to Camelback before.

I think I've been skiing since college, probably 20, 25, 30 years.

- My favorite part is going down the hill and doing all the turns.

And it's so fun.

- My favorite part is, it feels like I'm flying.

- I just love the speed.

- Me too.

- Yeah.

- People arrive with all different kinds of knowledge and skill sets.

And the typical ski student or snow sport student is there is no typical.

There are everybody from ages three, four, up to and I have taught 84 year olds had a skate.

This is fun.

Let's have some fun.

And turning and stopping is wonderful, but the sliding is so much fun.

And let's just go out there and have some fun.

- Sort of like dancing at weddings and bar mitzvahs.

You think people are watching you?

Nobody's watching you.

Nobody really cares.

Go out there and have some fun.

Enjoy yourself.

- NARRATOR: Now it's true, the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania aren't exactly the Alps.

And some people say getting around the Camelback Resort can sometimes be a challenge.

But that's not important if your goal is to just have some fun.

- My funniest memories at Camelback is when I first started, I was just It was three of us, three guys.

We have zero experience.

We never had a lesson and we just wanted to try something different and we came to Camelback and we went up the the bunny slopes maybe three times.

And then we got on the lift and we went all the way up and we were just rolling all the way down.

I had a GoPro, I had videos of it, and I just go back and I look back at it sometimes and I'm like, you know, I've come pretty long way to where I'm at now.

[mellow music] - NARRATOR: Camelback is the largest snow tubing park in the nation.

No lessons are required.

All you need to know is how to sit.

- We're going to have Pennsylvania's longest ski season this year, but eventually it will melt.

And in the summer, we transform into Camel Beach Mountain Water Park.

So we're Pennsylvania's largest outdoor water park.

Then we also have Aqua Topia indoor water park, which is open in the summer.

It's also open in the winter.

- NARRATOR: What's more fun than going swimming, while outside, everyone is bundled up?

[dramatic rock and roll music] - NARRATOR: While I-80 has many things, one thing it doesn't have is a fire department.

In big cities, professional firefighters respond to accidents in blazes, but elsewhere it is volunteers who answer the call.

In fact, for decades it has been volunteer firefighters who have kept their communities safe and continue to do so today.

[dramatic music continues] Volunteer firefighters hold a special place in community life.

[siren wailing] Once there were plenty of volunteers.

Today, fewer and fewer people have the time or the motivation to participate.

Those who do, have strong personal reasons.

[dramatic music continues] Fire is an ever present danger, especially seasonal wildfires.

So are auto accidents and even disasters like the 2025 Green River tunnel incident in Wyoming.

[dramatic music continues] In Parsippany, New Jersey, about 25 miles west of New York City, volunteer firefighters drop everything and rushed to the scene of reported fires.

- So District five was started back in 1928, time when the town was pretty much a rural town, and we still had a lot of farmland.

We had a bunch of members that pretty much said, "We don't have a lot of fire protection on this side of town."

So, they decided to incorporate themselves, get a little bit of a fire truck.

They had a little, pretty much a shed at one point, and they started out of that and we've built to what we are today now, which is a two different firehouses in the district.

- NARRATOR: Volunteer firefighters must complete the same exhaustive training as professionals.

- So you initially have to go through your basic fire academy.

I did that in 2004.

It was a four month course at the Morris County Public Safety Fire Academy about four days a week.

And that's your initial training just to become a firefighter here in the state of New Jersey.

Everybody has to go through it.

Then with that, there's additional training that you can get done.

The county academies all over the state, they offer additional training courses to advance your firefighting techniques and abilities.

And then as well, here in Parsippany, we do swiftwater rescue, ice water rescue, hazmat technicians, vehicle extrication.

So all those are all secondary courses that you have to take.

[fire truck siren blaring] - NARRATOR: The officers and men of District Five are on call day and night, whenever an alarm comes in.

Often, they then travel from their fire station to a nearby Route 80 entrance.

They are never sure what exactly they will find.

But the dangers go beyond the fire itself, it is a matter of personal safety.

- There's a lot of stuff that comes through the town that we don't know about.

We're not really told about any of it.

Truck traffic has obviously increased over the years, freight, all that.

We deal with a lot of unknown tractor trailers, you know, what's in them?

Have they rolled over?

Hazmat spills What kind of hazard does that present?

We have residential communities that are right up against Route 80.

So depending on the incident that happens on Route 80, that could be affecting a residential community as well.

- We had a I believe it started out as a state police chase out of Jersey City.

There was a family in a vehicle, Probably, I want to say it was 5 or 6 people in a car.

The state police were chasing that vehicle which collided with this vehicle.

Car burst into flames.

So we had multiple patients, serious burns I think the patient that me and one of the other guys were working on was a two year old with a broken femur.

- We have a lot of calls on holidays, on birthdays, on anniversaries.

We see that quite often.

So you may get one call.

You may be going for ten minutes.

You may have another call, we may be gone for three hours, four hours.

We may miss the birthday party.

We may miss the Tea Bowl game.

So the sacrifices are more on the family side.

And, you know, the families are a huge component of that.

You know, they give a lot just like we do.

So I think that's probably the biggest piece that people don't necessarily see is we're going to call we're going to be there, but we're missing something else in order to go to that.

So, that's a huge part of this.

[lively music] - NARRATOR: Route 80 officially ends in Teaneck, New Jersey.

Most people don't notice they are now on Interstate 95.

The George Washington Bridge is certainly the most visually stunning way to enter New York City, with breathtaking views both north and south along the fabled Hudson River.

When built in the 1930s, it was hailed as one of the wonders of the world.

It's still impressive today.

When drivers reach Manhattan, they enter a vibrant neighborhood called Washington Heights.

And just like towns across America, this community reflects its historic culture.

In this case, that of immigrants from the Dominican Republic.

[upbeat Latin music] The neighborhood cuisine reflects the spices of the Caribbean with a New York City twist but parking can be a challenge.

[upbeat Latin music continues] Malecon is a nationally recognized Dominican restaurant.

[rhythmic Latin music] - Dominican food is is a mixture of Taino, which is Indian, the original people from the Dominican Republic, Spanish and African.

So it's a very unique mixture of flavors, very seasoned flavor, not spicy, but very season, and it's very fresh, always, and very local.

[utensils clinking] - The rotisserie chicken is our best seller.

We sell a lot of Mofongo, which is smashed plantains with pork and shrimp and cheese and chicken.

You can do whatever you want, but the chicken has been our staple for almost 40 years.

We sell about 6000 chickens a week just in this location, so it's a lot of chickens.

[chuckle] We have local people that are very loyal to us and they come every single day to eat.

But they also, since we are very popular place we're right in front of United Palace, which is they bring concerts and people all over the world or the city from other countries, from other areas.

And they will come and of course, they will dine with us.

- NARRATOR: Malecon is also a place to acknowledge special occasions.

- Through the years we've celebrated a lot here Birthdays We celebrated my father's 83rd birthday Actually, no his 82nd birthday.

And he would joke around with the waiters that he was 28, and clearly he wasn't 28.

[soft music] [utensils clinking] - Thank God we are very busy, always.

It is because we cook every day.

We make everything fresh every day.

And when people see a lot of people, they they like it.

I mean, they come over and say, "There's something going on there."

So, for 40 years has been good to us.

So yes, we are here to stay for another 40, maybe.

[inspiring music] - NARRATOR: The workers who built I-80 and the other interstate highways would probably be surprised at the profound impact their efforts had as Americans now consider long distance travel almost mundane.

The interstates also transformed the American economy, as all manner of products are now moved across regions, even across the country.

Interstate 80 is the story of the people of eleven states bound together by a common road and common dreams.

A snapshot of America, 250 years after the country's founding, a look at the variety of its people and places, stretching from coast to coast.

[inspiring music continues] Interstate Route 80 is indeed America's main street.

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