Concrete Roads
and Their Construction

116 CONCRETE ROADS and Wayne County, which contains the city of Detroit, is generally recognized as the pioneer among counties throughout the entire United States as a builder of concrete highways. At this point it is fitting that recognition should be given to Mr. Edward N. Hines, who, as chairman of the Board of County Road Commission- ers of Wayne County, had the vision and foresight to anticipate the need for hard roads, and-who by great personal initiative was able to convince voters and taxpayers that a comprehensive system of concrete roads connecting the principal points in the county should be built. At the outset considerable difficulty was experi- enced in determining the proper width and thickness of the pavement. It was a pioneering venture, and there were few rules or experiences by which to guide their actions. Many of the first concrete roads were much narrower than those built since highway building experience has become more rounded. Eighteen feet is now considered the minimum as a practical width foi' country roads. This width gives an opportunity for trucks and automobiles to pass with a good margin of safety at reasonable speed, and in a large measure prevents road accidents. The history of concrete roads, spanning as it does the short period of a decade, may properly be divided into three parts. First, pre- war construction, which commenced, as we have said, in 1909 and continued until America entered the World War. Second, the period of war construction, which took place from the date of the entry of the United States into the world conflict until the signing of the Armistice. The third period may be called the post-war period of construction, which began at the signing of the Armistice and continues until the present date. The period of pre-war construction carries us largely through the experimental and educational stage of concrete road-building. From 1909 until 1911 actual construction was limited, and in those two years less than 300 miles of road were built. During 1912 and 1913 considerable stimulus was felt, and from 1914 until 1917 the construction of concrete roads throughout the United States was carried on at a rapid rate. When a graph of the mileage by years is plotted, the curve covering the last-named period becomes almost perpendicular. In the four years ending in 1917, 5,000 miles of 18-ft. concrete roads were built. People were buying cars. Farmers who at first had frowned upon self-propelled vehicles, and had regarded them as a whim of the idle rich, had come to find out that the car and the truck were valuable aids in carrying on their farming