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Sep 5, 2023 · Considering the outsize effects of roads, it’s perhaps surprising that they didn’t truly receive their scientific due until the late 20th century.
Pierre-Marie-Jérôme Trésaguet is widely credited with establishing the first scientific approach to road building in France. He wrote a memorandum on his method in 1775, which became general practice in France. It involved a layer of large rocks covered by a layer of smaller gravel.
- Late 1800s Road Builders
- Asphalt Roads
- History of Parking Meters
- Traffic Lights
The road builders of the late 1800s depended solely on stone, gravel, and sand for construction. Water would be used as a binder to give some unity to the road surface. John Metcalfe, a Scot born in 1717, built about 180 miles of roads in Yorkshire, England (even though he was blind). His well-drained roads were built with three layers: large stone...
Today, 96% of all paved roads and streets in the U.S. - almost two million miles - are surfaced with asphalt. Almost all paving asphalt used today is obtained by processing crude oils. After everything of value is removed, the leftovers are made into asphalt cement for pavement. Man-made asphalt consists of compounds of hydrogen and carbon with min...
Carlton Cole Magee invented the first parking meter in 1932 in response to the growing problem of parking congestion. He patented it in 1935 (US patent #2,118,318) and started the Magee-Hale Park-O-Meter Company to manufacturer his parking meters. These early parking meters were produced at factories in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, Oklahoma. The first ...
The world's first traffic lights were installed near London's House of Commons (intersection of George and Bridge Streets) in 1868. They were invented by J.P. Knight. Among the many early traffic signals or lights created the following are noted: 1. Earnest Sirrine of Chicago, Illinois patented (976,939) perhaps the first automatic street traffic s...
- Mary Bellis
May 16, 2013 · The earliest stone paved roads have been traced to about 4,000 B.C. in the Indian subcontinent and Mesopotamia. To help support the movement of legions throughout their empire, the Romans...
- Steve Abrams
- unknown@hearst.com
Dec 16, 2020 · Recognising the value of scientific knowledge to road construction, the government established the Road Research Laboratory in 1933. The laboratory undertook a wide range of studies into traffic flow, vehicle safety and road surfaces.
We’ve come a long way from what are thought to be the first constructed roads on earth, streets paved with mud bricks and bitumen built in Mesopotamia around 4000 B.C. Today, there are more than 4 million miles of finished roads across the U.S.—enough to circle the Earth 160 times.
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It examines the earliest pavements in Egypt and Mesopotamia and then moves to North Africa, Crete, Greece and Italy, before a review of pavements used by the Romans in their magnificent road...
