U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000


Skip to content U.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Highway AdministrationU.S. Department of Transportation/Federal Highway Administration

Highway History

 

Highway History Bibliography

State Highway Histories

Interstate System
Interstate System, critical
Routes
National Road/U.S. 40
U.S. Route 66
General and Travel
Magazine Articles
The American Guide Series
The American Trail Series
Early American Roads and Turnpikes
Recent Publications
State Highway Histories
Ph.D. Theses
Latest Additions

The latest additions are in bold

Brindley, John E., History of Road Legislation in Iowa, Iowa Economic History Series, The State Historical Society of Iowa, 1912.

Campbell, Ballard, "The Good Roads Movement in Wisconsin, 1890-1911," Wisconsin Magazine of History, Summer 1966. (Reprinted as part of the Wisconsin Stories series by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1980.)

Centennial Edition, California Highways and Public Works, September 1950. (This issue, over 160 pages long, covers 100 years of highway building in California.)

Corbett, William Paul, Oklahoma's Highways: Indian Trails to Urban Expressways, Oklahoma State University, December 1982.

Dawson, Carol, and Polson, Roger Allen, Miles and Miles of Texas: 100 Years of the Texas Highway Department, Texas A&M University Press, 2016. (This book is a well-illustrated celebration of the centennial of the Texas highway agency, now part of the Texas Department of Transportation.)

DeLuca, Richard, Post Roads and Iron Horses: Transportation in Connecticut From Colonial Times to the Age of Steam, Wesleyan University Press, 2011. (A history of the turnpikes, steamboats, canals, railroads, and trolleys that helped Connecticut grow.)

Directions: Maryland Transportation--a Historic Focus 1776-1976, Maryland Department of Transportation, 1976.

Fein, Michael R., Paving the Way: New York Road Building and the American State, 1880-1956, University Press of Kansas, 2008.

Forsyth, Raymond, and Hagwood, Joseph, One Hundred Years of Progress, California Transportation Foundation, 1996. (Brief introductory essays accompany a photographic essay on the development of California's transportation system.)

Habegger, Arman J., Out of the Mud: The Good Roads Movement in Kansas 1900-1917, University of Kansas, 1971.

Historical Review: Arkansas State Highway Commission and Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department, 1913-1992, Arkansas State Highway and Transportation Department, November 1992.

A History of Roads in Virginia, Virginia Department of Transportation, 1992.

A History of Wisconsin Highway Department, 1835-1945, State Highway Commission of Wisconsin and the Public Roads Administration, Federal Works Agency, 1947 (a second volume updating the history has been published as a part of two-volume set).

Highways to the Sky: A Context and History of Colorado's Highway System, Colorado Department of Transportation, 2002. (This online publication is available at https://www.codot.gov/programs/environmental/archaeology-and-history/highways-to-the-sky. It includes an historic overview of highway development in Colorado and guidelines for determining National Register eligibility of roads and other road and highway-related resources.)

Hoyt, Hugh Myron, Jr., The Good Roads Movement in Oregon: 1900-1920, University of Oregon, 1966.

Huddleston, John David, Good Roads for Texas: A History of the Texas Highway Department, 1917-1947, Texas A&M University, August 1981.

Kendrick, Baynard, Florida Trails to Turnpikes, 1914-1964, University of Florida Press, 1964.

Kerr, C. M., "Highway Progress in Louisiana," The Louisiana Historical Quarterly, January 1919.

Knowlton, Ezra C., History of Highway Development in Utah, Utah State Department of Transportation, 1967.

Koster, George E., A Story of Highway Development in Nebraska, Nebraska Department of Roads, December 1986.

Landis, Leo, Building Better Roads: Iowa's Contribution to Highway Engineering, 1904-1974, Center for Transportation Research and Education, Iowa State University, 1997.

Lane, Wheaton J., From Indian Trail to Iron Horse: Travel and Transportation in New Jersey 1620-1860, Princeton University Press, 1939.

Missouri Highways: The First 200 Years, Missouri State Highway Commission, 1966 Annual Report.

Missouri Highways: The Years Between, Missouri State Highway Commission, 1967 Annual Report.

Moore, John Hammon, The South Carolina Highway Department, 1917-1987, University of South Carolina Press, 1987.

Newlon, Howard, Jr., and Pawlett, Nathanial Masson, Backsights, Virginia Department of Highways and Transportation, 1985.

Olliff, Martin T., Getting Out of the Mud: The Alabama Good Roads Movement and Highway Administration, 1898-1928, The University of Alabama Press, 2017. (According to the book jacket, this book "recounts the history of the Good Roads Movement that arose in progressive-era Alabama, how it used the power of the state to achieve its objectives of improving market roads for farmers and highways for automobilists, and how state and federal highway administrations replaced the Good Roads Movement.")

Out of the Mud: The Story of Mississippi's Roadways, Mississippi State Highway Department (date unknown, but after 1978).

Peters, Kenneth Earl, The Good Roads Movement and the Michigan State Highway Department, 1905-1917, The University of Michigan Ph.D., 1972.

Schirmer, Sherry Lamb and Wilson, Dr. Theodore A., Milestones: A History of the Kansas Highway Commission and the Department of Transportation, Kansas Department of Transportation, December 1986. (A second publication by a combination of authors, Milestones: A History of the Kansas Department of Transportation, takes the story forward from 1987 to 2001.)

Texas Highways, September 1967. (This 191-page special edition of Texas Highways magazine celebrates the Golden Anniversary of the Texas Highway Department, 1917-1967, with features on its history, its leaders, and evolution of transportation in the State.)

The High Road, Colorado State Department of Highways, 1976.

Thompson, William H., Transportation in Iowa, Iowa Department of Transportation, 1989.

Turner, Walter R., Paving Tobacco Road: A Century of Progress by the North Carolina Department of Transportation, Historical Publications Section, Office of Archives and History, 4622 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, NC 27699-4622. (This 181-page paperback traces the development of the North Carolina Department of Transportation from its beginnings in 1915 as the North Carolina State Highway Commission through the first years of the 21st century.)

Wade, Joseph, A History of Kansas Trails and Roads, Kansas State Teachers College, 1947.

Updated: 04/09/2018
Federal Highway Administration | 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE | Washington, DC 20590 | 202-366-4000