Better Roads
Better Roads
During the 19th century, cities usually had decent roads, but rural roads were often little more than muddy trails. Bicyclists and railroad companies began calling for good roads in the 1880s, but American road building really took off in the 20th century as a response to rising numbers of cars and trucks. Some of these new roads were private initiatives, such as the Lincoln Highway, but after 1916, federal law and government money fueled much of the country’s road building.
Pamphlets such as this one promoted support for good roads in the late 1800s. The League of American Wheelmen—an organization of bicyclists—distributed about 5 million tracts calling for road improvements.
Roads that had been improved for bicycles in the 1890s were often ruined by automobile traffic, and dirt roads remained impassable for much of the year. Early cars—particularly the Ford Model T, which sat up high—were designed to cope with rural roads, but roads had to change to accommodate cars. In 1904 only one-sixth of rural public roads had any kind of surfacing. By 1935, more than a third of rural roads were surfaced, and many were paved with concrete and asphalt for motor traffic.
Road draggers, scrapers, and levelers were used to build, grade, and maintain rural dirt and gravel roads. As cars became a common sight—and as they tore up road surfacings—road construction changed. Builders began to use asphalt, concrete and other harder and more durable surfaces to withstand the speed and weight of cars.
Promoting Good Roads
Vehicle Stuck in the mud
Courtesy of North Carolina Division of Archives and History
Kramer farm wagon, 1925
Farmers’ wagons served many purposes. They picked up and delivered goods, and also served as passenger vehicles when benches or extra wagon seats were added. In 1926, despite the growing use of the automobile, more than 200,000 new wagons were manufactured, and millions were still in use around the country.
The Human Cost of Roads
“Beware Little Children,” sheet music, 1925
Images of wrecks were used in advertising and safety campaigns and sometimes became a source of humor. Cars did not have turn signals, seatbelts, or many of the other safety features we now take for granted. Still, accidents were often seen as the fault of reckless drivers and witless pedestrians, rather than problems with automobile or highway design
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Woodrow Wilson’s Lincoln Highway Association membership card, 1913 (replica)
President Woodrow Wilson was officially the first member of the Lincoln Highway Association. The Association used memberships to publicize the highway; at five dollars a head, membership dues couldn’t cover the cost of actually building the road.
