1635: A measure passed in the Massachusetts Bay Colony providing for 2 – 3 men from adjacent towns work to lay out proper roads. The law stipulated that the roads could be located anywhere as long as it did not mean demolishing someone’s house or going through someone’s garden or orchard. These men are referred to as the nation’s first highway commissioners.

1750: Before the constitution of the U.S., three routes ran through Southwestern and Central Pennsylvania, and Central New York.

1753: Two more roads were opened westward which were long trails widened by pack horses.

1776: The 13 original colonies in the United States proclaimed their independence.

1781: These colonies constituted the first 13 states of the United States of America, making a new nation. As a new nation, the path to progress began, including the addition of roads.

Early 1800’s: The Lewis & Clark expedition was organized to establish a route from the Atlantic to the Pacific. E.L. Powers states in the story, The History of Road Building published in the Jan. 2, 1910 issue of the New York Times, “Praise is also due to John C. Fremont, the eminent engineer, who in 1844 surveyed a route to these shores through what was then named the South Pass of the Rockies.”

1824: First use of asphalt for roads occurred in Paris.

1835: The plank road came into existence.

1837: The first plank road was constructed in Syracuse, NY.
Within 15 years, 2,106 miles of Plank Road was constructed in New York, averaging less than $2,000 per mile.

1872: The first uses of asphalt in the U.S. occurred in Battery Park and on Fifth Avenue in New York City.

1885: The bicycle became popular generating more recognition for the need for better roads.

1893: The Office of Road Inquiry (ORI) was inaugurated. With a $10,000 budget, the ORI advocated for new rural road development to serve wagons, bicycles and coaches on America’s dirt roads. Also, this year, 2 U.S. bicycle mechanics built the first gasoline-powered motor wagon. Having no brakes, the wagon was stopped by driving it into a curb.

1904: Facts compiled by the ORI show 2,151,507 miles of roads in the US, with only 153,662 (approximately 7%) miles actually improved roads. The other roads are still mostly dirt.

1908: Henry Ford introduced the Model T Ford.

1914-1918: World War I. After this War, the federal government increased paving and road building to “get the farmer out of the mud.” The road improvements were funded by a new tax on gasoline sales. By

1929, all states had imposed this new tax.

1921: ORI, now called the Bureau of Public Roads (BPR) received funding from the Federal Highway Act of 1921 to construct two-lane interstate highways.

1941: America became engaged in World War II and the focus turned to roads needed by the military.

1944: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed legislation authorizing a network of rural and express highways called the “National System of Interstate Highways.” However, the legislation was not funded.

1956: President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act providing funding for the 1944 Interstate program.

1966: The U.S. Department of Transportation is created.

In 2005, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation website, there is estimated to be 3,995,635 miles of Public Roads and Streets and 8,371,718 miles of U.S. Roadway Lane Miles. As the old saying goes, “We’ve come a long way baby!” And we still have a long way to go. As you consider improvements to existing roadways or construction of new roadways, remember to engage Heneghan and Associates for your transportation engineering. We will guide you down the long and windy road!