How did “car culture” in the united states affect the new migration of the 1950s? the new highway system, which resulted from the car culture, made it easier for people to migrate from the north and east to the south and west. only wealthy people could afford cars, so the people involved in the new migration tended to be wealthy with a lot of disposable income. as car ownership increased, more people stayed put and only traveled to distant places during vacations, which brought the new migration to an end. cars urban centers and their downtown areas prosper, which made people want to migrate to eastern cities during the 1950s.