We have Gen. Eisenhower's experience in crossing Nevada for his insistence on creating the US interstate system. Crossing Nevada, passing through Eureka and Austin, when he was but a captain in 1919 was such a maddening burden that Eisenhower remembered this when he saw the German autobahn and said to himself "We should have this level of road system." Nevada, in springtime, can have horrible mud. In late summer, you can lose a 4x4 rig in our "poof holes" where the dust is pounded as fine as talcum powder, axle-deep.

Old timers tell me that when they wanted to drive to Elko from Eureka, they would take three spare tires with them. The drive from Eureka to Austin was a "four tire drive" -- four spares required. Or lots of time and a substantial patch kit. This is what Eisenhower had to push post-WWI trucks through to get from coast to coast. 

Russia, by comparison, put Marshal Zukov out to political exile after WWII, then sent him to invade Hungary in the 50's, when Eisenhower was championing better roads. Since the Russian roads foiled the advances of the Wehrmacht, I rather suspect the Russian character is to prefer those quagmires over our interstates from now until doomsday or the Russians forget the "Great Patriotic War", whichever comes first.