For those of you in the business of envisioning, planning, designing, constructing, and maintaining highways—do I have a book for you!
The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created American Superhighways, by Earl Swift, recounts the birth and development of the United States Interstate system. In this compelling saga, Swift weaves the facts and figures typical of non-fiction into a fictional page-turner. Richly developed characters and plot lines come together to shape the 47,000+ mile Interstate network we know today.
As you read, be prepared to read about a history that follows generations through disappointment and triumph. Sweat it out while builders of the Lincoln Highway struggle across Utah’s salt flats and have your heart broken as one plan after another for I-70 involves uprooting Baltimore residents and their communities.
Swift also treats readers to a discourse on sociology and socioeconomics, engineering and science, and politics and finance. If you ever thought right-of-way acquisition, macadam mixes, and signage were ancillary pieces in design, think again. Big Roads provides an engaging storyline for nearly every component in the creation of the nation’s Interstate network.
The neatest part of this book? It’s available in audio book format, so you can listen to it while traveling the Interstates on your summer road trip!
About the Author
