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The Big Roads:

The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighw (Google eBook)
Front Cover
31 Reviews
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Jun 9, 2011 - History - 384 pages
“Travelers hitting the highways this summer might better appreciate the asphalt beneath their tires thanks to this engrossing history of the creation of the U.S. interstate system.”—Los Angeles Times

Perhaps nothing changed the face of America more than the creation of the interstate system. At once man-made wonders, economic pipelines, agents of sprawl, and uniquely American sirens of escape, the interstates snake into every aspect of modern life. The Big Roads documents their historic creation and the many people they’ve affected, from the speed demon who inspired a primitive web of dirt auto trails, to the cadre of largely forgotten technocrats who planned the system years before Ike reached the White House, to the thousands of city dwellers who resisted the concrete juggernaut when it bore down on their neighborhoods.

The Big Roads tells the story of this essential feature of the landscape we have come to take for granted. With a view toward players both great and small, Swift gives readers the full story of one of America’s greatest engineering achievements.

“Engaging, informative . . . The first thorough history of the expressway system.”—Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post

“The book is a road geek’s treasure—and everyone who travels the highways ought to know these stories.”—Kirkus Reviews
  

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Review: The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways

User Review  - Joe Miguez - Goodreads

Carl Fisher. Jersey barriers. VOLPE v. Volpe. Zolene. I love reading books that highlight just how little I know about important parts of our culture. And there's probably no larger, more central ... Read full review

Review: The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways

User Review  - Eddy Allen - Goodreads

A man-made wonder, a connective network, an economic force, a bringer of blight and sprawl and the possibility of escape—the US interstate system changed the face of our country. The Big Roads charts ... Read full review

All 26 reviews »

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Contents

Introduction
1
Out of the Mud
9
Connecting the Dots
63
The Crooked Straight the Rough Places Plain
155
The Human Obstacle
225
Acknowledgments
325
Notes
328
Index
359
Back Flap
379
Back Cover
380
Spine
381
Copyright

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About the author (2011)

EARL SWIFT is the author of three previous books, including Where They Lay, a 2003 PEN finalist. He lives in Virginia with his daughter Saylor.

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