HISTORY OF HIGHWAYS

HISTORY OF HIGHWAYS

EARLY ROADS:

Traces of early roads have been found which antedate recorded history. The first hard surfaces appeared in Mesopotamia soon after discovery of the wheel about 3500 BC. On the island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea was found a stone surfaced road constructed before 1500 BC. The Direction in the Bible (Isaiah40:3-5) “make straight in the desert a high road” constructed soon after 539 BC between Babylon and Egypt. In the western Hemisphere evidence exists of extensive road systems constructed by the Mayan, Aztec, and Incan people of Central and South Africa.

The Romans bound their empire together with extensive systems of roads radiating in many directions from Rome. Some of these early roads were of elaborate construction. For example, the Appian Way, built southward about 312 BC, illustrates the procedures used by the Romans. Just a trench was excavated to such a depth that the finished surface would be at ground level. The Pavement was placed in three courses: A layer of small broken stones, a layer of small stones mixed with mortar and firmly tamped into place and a wearing courses of massive after 2000 years.

With the fall of the Roman Empire, road building became a lost art. It was not until the eighteenth century that tresaguet (1756-1796) in France developed improved construction methods that at a later time, under Napoleon, made possible a great system of French roads. Highway development in England followed soon after. Macadam (1756-1836) in particular was outstanding. A road surface which bears his name is still used.

Although little significant road building, as such, was done in England before the eighteenth century, the foundations of England and thus American highway law were being laid. Early Saxon laws imposed on all lands an obligation to perform three necessary duties: To repair roads and bridges; maintain castles and garrisons; and aid in repelling invasion. Soon after the Norman Conquest it was written that the king’s highway was “a sacred thing, and he who has occupied any part thereof by exceeding the boundaries and limits of his land is said to have made encroachment on the King himself.” Very early, applications of this law made clear that ownership of the roads actually was vested in all persons who wished to use them. Other statutes, dating as far back as the thirteenth century, required abutting property owners to drain the road and clip any bordering hedges, and to refrain from fencing, plowing, or from planting trees, bushes, or shrubs closer than specified distances from the center of carriageways. In these and other early statutes can be seen the rudiments of such present day concepts as the governments responsibility for highways, the rights of the public to use them without interference, and the obligations of and restrictions on the owners of abutting property.

EARLY AMERICAN ROADS:

           

            Few roads were built during the early history of the United States since most of the early settlements were located along bays or rivers, and transportation was largely by water. Inland settlements were connected with the nearest wharf, but the connecting road usually was just a clearing through the forest. Before the Revolutionary War travel was mainly on foot or horseback and roads were merely trails cleared to greater width. Development was extremely slow for a time after the war’s end in 1783. For example, poor roads were the real cause of the whisky Rebellion in western Pennsylvania in 1794. The Framers of this area objected to a tax on the whisky that they were making from grain. One historian has recorded that “a pack horse could carry only four bushels of grain over the mountains but in the form of whisky he could carry the product of twenty-four bushels.” Construction of the Philadelphia-Lancaster Turnpike resulted from this incident. It was a toll road 62 miles long, surfaced to a width hand-broken stone and gravel.

Between 1795 and 1830 numerous other turnpikes, particularly in the north, eastern states were built by companies organized to gain profits through toll collections. Few of them were financially successful. During this period many stagecoach lines and freight-hauling companies were organized.

The “Old National Pike” or “Cumberland Road” from Cumberland Road, Md., to wheeling, W. Va., on the Ohio River and on to St. Louis, Mo., was one of the few roads financed by the federal government. It was originally toll-free. The Cumber-land-Wheeling section was authorized by Congress in 1806 and was completed 10 years later. It was 20 ft in width, and considered of a 12 in. bottom and a 6 in. top course of hand-broken stone. Some 20 more years elapsed before the road was completed to St. Louis. During this same period numerous canals were constructed, particularly along the Atlantic Seaboard; but they offered little competition to turnpike development, since the terrain of the most of the country was unsuited to canal construction.

The Railroad Era:

The Extension of turnpike in the United States was abruptly halted by the development of the railroads. In 1830 Peter Cooper constructed America’s first steam locomotive, the Tom Thumb, which at once demonstrated its superiority over horse-drawn vehicle. Rapid growth of the railroad for transportation over long distances followed. Cross-Country turnpike construction practically ceased, and many already completed fell into disuse. Rural roads served mainly as feeders for the railroads; improvements primarily led to the nearest railroad station and were made largely by local authorities and were to low standards. However, the improvement of the city streets progressed at a somewhat faster pace. Also, the development of the electric trolley in the 1885 launched the trend toward public transportation.

Regarding Highway development before 1900, federal road officials stated that:

                           

At the end of the century, approximately 300 years after first settlement, the United States could claim little distinction because of the character of its roads. As in most parts of the world, the roads were largely plain earth surfaces that were almost in passable in wet weather. Neither the Federal nor State governments had undertaken to provide funds on the scale that would permit general road improvement. Those seeking knowledge on road-building methods and administration turned to the countries of Europe for information.

   

  The First decades of the twentieth century saw the improvement of the motor vehicle from a “rich mans toy” to a fairly dependable method for transporting persons and goods. There were strong demands for rural road improvement, largely for roads a few miles in length connecting outlaying farms with towns and railroad stations. This development has been aptly described as “getting the farmer out of the mud”. Great improvements also were made on the city streets. 

In this period it was recognized that road improvements was a matter of federal and state concern rather than of purely local interest to be dealt with by the country and city governing bodies. Federal and state highways organizations were established and small amounts of money appropriated by congress and the state governments to deal with road problems.

Modern Highway Development:

The period since 1920 might well be called the “automobile age,” for during this period highway transportation has assumed a dominant role in America. It can well be described as “a nation on wells.”

On the other hand, road and street mileage have increased relatively little during these four decades. This small growth is a result mainly of new roads and streets in areas where land use has become more intensive, and from a relatively small mileage of major arteries on new alignments. The greatest impact of the tremendous growth in Highway transportation has been to generate a much more intensive use of the same road and street skeleton. In turn, the bulk of highway expenditure to date has gone to adapting existing roads to this more intensive use by greatly improved vehicles.

The first 15 years of modern highway development saw highway agencies focusing primary attention on the completion of a network of good rural roads comparable to the street systems undertaken by local governments. By 1935 cross-country travel by automobile in almost any direction was practicable. Since 1935 highway activities in rural areas have been devoted mainly to an attempt to provide facilities of higher standards and greater capacity. During the same period, increasing attention has been focused on urban areas, which have been struck simultaneously by rapidly increasing population and a shift from mass transportation to the private automobile. Extreme congestion exists in the central areas of many cities and towns, parking space is often insufficient, the “flight to the suburbs” is an accomplished fact, and noise and air pollution are causes of serious concern. Barely a start has been made toward solving this “urban problem.”  

Future Highway Developments:

            Technological advance has been great during the age of modern highways and continues today. Knowledge has been extended in the fields of soils and other highway materials so that designs are now more economical and reliable. Developments in machinery and management techniques are revolutionizing construction and maintenance methods. The highway engineering has become increasingly conscious that a highway can be attractive and safe as well as useful and has learned much about roadside improvement, erosion control, and noise abatement. Entirely new sciences have developed in the fields of highway planning, geometric and structural design, and traffic control. In these areas lie many challenges for those interested in research, design, and administration as present practices are refined and new approaches are developed.

            Possibly the most difficult problem now facing highway and transportation planners, engineers, and administrators is to define the role of highways and other forms of transportation in urban areas. Currently, critics are blaming the automobile for such problems as the flight to the suburbs, congestion and slum conditions in the central areas, and air and noise pollution and are clamoring for new solutions. To search out, demonstrate, and implement viable approaches to transportation that will help solve these problems will challenge the ingenuity, abilities to deal with people, and staying power of all in the years ahead.

As indicated above, the decades from 1920 to 1970 have been called the “automobile age” and the transportation that will be evolutionary. But will motor-vehicle use continue to increase as in the past, almost doubling each 20 years? One viewpoint is that it will, with an estimated 75% increase as in urban travel by 1990. Another is that an energy shortage and demands for better housing and healthcare and for the control of the environment will consume a greater share of our resources so that motor-vehicle use will, of necessity, be curtained. Only the future will tell.