Highway History Bibliography
Magazine Articles
The latest additions are in bold
"America: The Inside Story," Time, July 7, 1997. (A special issue devoted to a look at America along U.S. 50.)
Axline, Jon, "A Massive Undertaking: Constructing Montana's Interstate Highways, 1956-1988", Montana: The Magazine of Western History, Autumn 2013.
Banasiak, David, "Origins of the Interstates," Roads and Bridges, June 1996. (One of several articles celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Interstate System.)
Barnes, Fred, "In Praise of Highways," The Weekly Standard, April 27, 1998.
Bedeau, Michael, "The Yellowstone Trail: A Good Road from Plymouth Rock to Puget Sound," SCA Journal, Spring 1996. (Journal of the Society for Commercial Archeology.)
Bilger, Burkhard, "The Long Dig," The New Yorker, September 15, 2008. (Covers the development of tunnels technology, the history of tunnel construction in Switzerland, and how tunnels transformed the Swiss economy.)
Broussard, Emma J., "Dedicating the Cochrane Bridge: A Day of Triumph for Mobile's Elite," The Alabama Review, April 2010, p. 111-143. (The Cochrane Bridge, which carried the Old Spanish Trail/U.S. 90 across the Mobile River, was dedicated on June 14, 1927.)
Cahill, Tim, "The Best Road Trip in America: Over the Mountains and Through the Woods from Yellowstone to Glacier," Travel and Leisure, July 1991.
Caro, Robert A., "The City-Shaper," The New Yorker, January 5, 1998. (The author of The Power Broker, the highly critical biography of Robert Moses, returns for another look at the man and his creations.)
"Celebrating the Greatest Profession," Civil Engineering, November/December 2002. (Special issue celebrates 150th anniversary of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Includes "Landmarks in American Civil Engineering History.")
Cole, Dave, "Magazines for Early Motorists,", SCA Journal, Spring 1996. (Journal of the Society for Commercial Archeology.)
Conard, Rebecca, "The Lincoln Highway in Greene County: Highway Politics, Local Initiative, and the Emerging Federal Highway System," The Annals of Iowa, Fall 1993.
Diaz, David, "Under Pressure," American Heritage of Invention and Technology, Spring 1996. (How James Eads, during construction of the Eads Bridge in the 1870s confronted "caisson disease," now known as the "bends.")
Di Salvatore, Bryan, "A Reporter at Large: Large Cars," The New Yorker, September 12 and 19, 1988. (A two-part article about the life of a trucker on the Nation's Interstate highways.)
Geistlinger, Lee, "First Person: Frank Turner," Roads and Bridges, June 1996. (An interview with former Federal Highway Administrator Frank Turner provides the framework for a biographical sketch of the highway legend.)
Giblin, Kelly A., "The Jersey Barrier: You've Probably Never Heard of It-But it May Well Have Saved Your Life," American Heritage of Invention and Technology, Summer 2006. (Describes the history and design of the barriers. As the Table of Contents puts it, "A lot of engineering goes into those bland-looking concrete wedges you see along the sides of America's highways.")
Grantz, Walter C., "The Immersed Tunnel Method," American Heritage of Invention and Technology, Summer 1996. (Uses the I-95/Ft. McHenry Tunnel in Baltimore, Maryland, to explain the immersed tunnel method of construction.)
Heppenheimer, T. A., "The Rise of the Interstates," American Heritage of Invention and Technology, Fall 1991.
Jablow, Valerie, "Othmar Ammann's Glory," Smithsonian, October 1999. (Construction of the George Washington Bridge across the Hudson River.)
Krim, Arthur, "The Ozark Trails: The Original Mother Road, SCA Journal, Spring 1996. (Journal of the Society for Commercial Archeology.)
Lalire, Gregory, "When Stagecoaches Rolled the West," Wild West, April 2002. (Life on the road was tough in the days of the stagecoaches.)
Lamb, David, "Romancing the Road," National Geographic, September 1977. (Traveling U.S. Route 66.)
Lamm, Michael, "Dot Dot Dot," American Heritage of Invention and Technology, Fall 1996. (How Elbert Dysart Botts invented the reflective devices embedded in pavements and known as Botts Dots.)
Langdon, Philip, "Westward on the Old Lincoln Highway," American Heritage, April 1995.
Leach, Sara Amy, "Pines to Palms: A Drive Along the Ocean Highway, SCA Journal, Spring 1996. (Journal of the Society for Commercial Archeology.)
Manchester, Ann and Albert, "From DC to the Golden Gate," American History, December 1997. (The U.S. Army first transcontinental convoy in 1919.)
Mansfield, Howard, "Life in the Slow Lane," Yankee, October 1998. (The Mohawk Trail.)
Marriott, Paul Daniel, "Roads Designed for Pleasure: A Brief History of the Origins of Scenic Driving and Automobile Touring in the United States," Journal for America's Byways, June 2011 (part 1) and October 2011 (part 2). (From the Author's Note: "Here is an introduction to the people, movements, technologies, and inspirations that form the basis of the American passion of driving for pleasure.")
Maturi, Richard J., "Lincoln Highway," American History, August 1994.
McCarthy, Michael P., "Baltimore's Highway Wars Revisited," Maryland Historical Magazine, Summer 1998.
McCraig, Donald, "The Bozeman Trail," Smithsonian, October 2000.
McLaughlin, Jack, "Seattle or Bust," American History, June 2003. (During the 1909 New York-to-Seattle automobile race, five teams crossed the country and "were perfectly willing to bend a few rules or play some dirty tricks.")
McPhee, John, "A Fleet of One: Eighty Thousand Pounds of Dangerous Goods," The New Yorker, February 17 & 24, 2003. (The excellent writer, McPhee, travels the country with a trucker and his 65-foot chemical tanker. Fine portrayal of commercial life on the road.)
McPhee, John, "Land of the Diesel Bear," The New Yorker, November 28, 2005. (McPhee hops back in the 65-foot chemical tanker for a trip around the Northeast carrying WD-40 from San Diego.)
Milgrom, Melissa, "What Exit?" Metropolis, August/September 2001. ("From celebrated superhighway to despised eyesore in only half a century. A brief history of the New Jersey Turnpike.")
Millar, Heather, "The Ups and Downs of Highway 1," Smithsonian, June 1999. (California's spectacular Highway 1--scenic, and a hard road to keep in its place.)
Mitchell, John G., "30 Years on Ike's Autobahns," Audubon, November 1986. (Uses a trip along I-75 to look at the history and impact of the Interstate System on the occasion of its 30th anniversary.)
Moran, Barbara, "A Bridge That Didn't Collapse," American Heritage of Invention and Technology, Fall 1999. (Contrasts Maine's Deer Island Bridge and Washington State's Tacoma Narrows Bridge, both built at the same time according to the same theory-one collapsed, one didn't.)
Newcott, William R., "America's First Highway," National Geographic, March 1998. (The story of the National Road.)
Olliff, Martin, "The Most Famous Good Roads Woman in the United States: Alma Rittenberry of Birmingham," The Alabama Review, April 2010, p. 83-109. (Miss Rittenberry, as she was known, was one of the few women to play a leading role during the named trails era, playing key roles in creation of the Jackson Highway and the Dixie Bee-Line Highway.)
Oliver, David C., "Upon Shoulders of a Giant: Thomas MacDonald and the Federal-Aid Program" (October 1989), "In the Shadow of a Giant: H. S. Fairbank and Development of the Highway Planning Process" (October 1991), "In the Footsteps of a Giant: Francis C. Turner and Management of the Interstate" (Spring 1994), Transportation Quarterly. (This three-part series by an FHWA official describes the accomplishment of three of the great figures in 20th century highway development.)
Parfit, Michael, "The Hard Ride of Route 93," National Geographic, December 1992.
Patton, Phil, "To Build a Bridge, You Must Cross Troubled Waters," Smithsonian, September 1996. (Replacing the Wabasha Street Bridge in St. Paul, Minnesota.)
Pierce, J. Kingston, "The Biggest and Hardest Job Since the Panama Canal," American History, February 2001. (Construction of the Alaska Highway.)
Pushchendorf, L. Robert, "Lifting Our People Out of the Mud: The Good Roads Movement in Nebraska," Nebraska History, Winter 2015, pages 162-179
Rae, John B., "Coleman du Pont and his Road, Delaware History, Spring-Summer 1975. (The story of one of the earliest attempts to build a superhighway, financed by Coleman du Pont, businessman and good roads enthusiast.)
Rose, Mark H., and Seely, Bruce E., "Getting the Interstate System Built: Road Engineers and the Implementation of Public Policy, 1955-1985," Journal of Policy History, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1990. (The authors of the two best histories of highway development in the United States collaborate on the challenges posed by Interstate construction.)
"Route 66 Diamond Jubilee," New Mexico Magazine, February 2001. (Special issue devoted to U.S. Route 66.)
Salm, Dale B. "Where the Eye is Filled with Beauty," Yankee, October 1998. (The story of the Merritt Parkway.)
Sundstrom, Geoff, "The Paving of America: Mud and Macadam to Superhighways," Automotive News, October 30, 1985. (A concise history of highway development in the 20rth century.)
TR News, March-April 2001. ( "Tribute to American Highway Legend Frank Turner," features articles by Alan E. Pisarski ("The Frank Turner Story") and Bruce E. Seely ("An Historical Appreciation"), as well as tributes by Damian J. Kulash, Peter G. Koltnow, Jonathan L. Gifford, and Francis B. Francois.)
Taylor, Nick, "Roads That Bind Us: Interstate Highways, a Guide to Rediscovering America," Travel Holiday, August 1990.
Werbizky, Tania, "Accommodating the Traveler: The Development of the Tourist Court on U.S. Route 20 in New York State," SCA Journal, Winter 1992. (Journal of the Society for Commercial Archeology.)
Wilkinson, Stephan, "America in my Mirror: 4,300 Miles Across America With the Top Down," Condé Nast Traveler, July 1991.
Wilson, Bill, "Mr. Highways: A Legend Passes," Roads and Bridges, November 1999. (A tribute to former Federal Highway Administrator Frank Turner following his death on October 2, 1999.)
Yago, John W., "Harry S. Truman: The ARTBA Member Who Became U.S. President," Transportation Builder, October 2002.