The Road and the Car in American Life

The purpose of this book is to survey the influence of motorized highway transportation on American social and economic life. A number of books have been written about the automobile itself and its influence, and there are a few studies of highway development. The distinctive feature of this book, however, is its study of the highway and the motor vehicle in conjunction as an integrated mode of transportation.

The book provides historical background on the general subject of highway transportation from antiquity to the early 1900s and continues with an intensive account of the development of the paved road and the car in the United States during the twentieth century, with some references to the experiments of other countries. The author examines the ways in which the automobile has influenced highway policy, the economic and social impact of the automobile and highways on the movement of people and of goods, and their effect on society and on rural areas in particular. He covers the development of the Interstate System and devotes an entire section to the impact of highway transportation on urban life, comparing it to other modes of transportation—past, present, and projected. Each topic is developed completely, and each chapter has an extensive list of references, although the text itself is nontechnical and readily understandable to the general reader.

The road and the car are major issues in contemporary American life. There is a strong tendency at present to look at the adverse features of highway transportation, and this book attempts to put forth a more balanced view of its possible benefits without denying the crucial concerns of mass transit, traffic congestion, safety, and pollution.