The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways
Written by Earl Swift
Narrated by Rob Shapiro
4/5
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About this audiobook
Earl Swift
Earl Swift is the author of the New York Times bestseller Chesapeake Requiem, which was named to ten best-of-the-year lists. His other books include Across the Airless Wilds, Auto Biography, The Big Roads, and Where They Lay. A former reporter for the Virginian-Pilot and a contributor to Outside and other publications, he is a fellow of Virginia Humanities at the University of Virginia. He lives in the Blue Ridge mountains west of Charlottesville.
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Reviews for The Big Roads
19 ratings10 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Little detaily. But would read the author again
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I've always been curious about how our highway system came about. This book answered that question thoroughly. It's well worth reading.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5I admit that I have a fascination with infrastructure. It seems so natural that I could jump in my car in Boston and be in Florida 24 hours later. I'm already forgetting the snarls and confusion in Boston during the Big Dig and the new harbor tunnel. At the dawn of the automobile age, cross-country travel was virtually impossible for the average person. Actually, travelling outside the city was not much easier. The Big Roads traces the development of the modern interstate through the eyes of some of the key architects of highway travel. Mostly that falls on the shoulders of Thomas Harris MacDonald and his protege, Frank Turner. They lead the efforts at the federal level to develop the big roads. The book also debunks some myths of the interstate. Most prominently, it discredits Eisenhower with its creation. Sure he signed the law, but the system was already far along in design before that happened. Swift points out that Eisenhower was an advocate solely for rural interstates that did not come into the city itself. The other aspect of the book is the portrayal of some of the bad things highway designers did to the urban core. Baltimore is the central story point as the design for getting interstates through the city destroyed neighborhoods, but rallied citizens to find a better solution. I don't think the book was entirely successful in focusing the narrative on the key people involved. Most of the central characters are career government bureaucrats and they come across as the grey, generic paper-pushers you would expect. If you are interested in how our highway system came to be, you will find the book fascinating.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/55413. The Big Roads The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways, by Earl Swift (read 12 Oct 2016) This book sort of starts with the beginnings of automobiles and tells of how they grew so quickly into a major factor in American life. Along with that it tells of roads and how they developed. He says the idea for the superhighways was broached by FDR and legislation looking toward development of the Interstates was enacted before Eisenhower became president and Ike's role was relatively minor. The engineers who undertook to create the Interstates were devoted and hard working men. The Interstate system was supposed to cost some 13 billion dollars but of course the cost was much greater. Much of the book is of interest, though it seemed to me we heard more about the travails in regard to the Interstates around Baltimore than necessary. I would have liked to learn something about the Interstates with which I am more familiar but I guess they caused less trouble while being located and built so there is very little about Interstates in Iowa and vicinity. It is discouraging that the author says the Interstates are wearing out and not being adequately maintained. And he decries the uniformity of using Interstates--which reminds me of my wife usually choosing that we travel on non-Interstate routes since there "is nothing to see when driving on the Interstate." The book meanders some but is full of solid information, though the author sometimes decries aspects of the Interstate system which do not seem so awful to me.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Say “Interstate” and the person who comes to mind is Dwight D Eisenhower, right? Not so fast. Based on this fascinating story of America’s highway system, old Ike wasn’t the enlightened president who rammed through legislation creating the Interstates. Yes, he made a speech or two about the importance to America’s defenses of a good road system – he had first-hand information about Germany’s Autobahn from his experiences in Europe during World War II. But a letter written early in his presidency outlining his vision of such a system was so un-researched, irrelevant and off-base that it was filed away in a Commerce Department file cabinet, never to see the light of day again. By the time Ike was president, several generations of engineers and bureaucrats had hammered out a plan for a road system – where it would go, where it wouldn’t go, how it would be constructed and numbered – was pretty well finalized and awaiting funding. While Congress battled about how to fund the system without raising the debt limit (sound familiar?), Dwight D. was on the golf-course or otherwise occupied, it seemed. But he did sign the bill in June 1956, so maybe that’s enough to have his name emblazoned on thousands of signs even today. Earl Swift tells the stories of the men (and they were all men) who were truly responsible for the “good roads” we have today, starting with Carl Fisher (who also developed Miami Beach AND started the Indy 500). The operative word here is “story.” Earl Swift is a masterful storyteller who makes the subject of ROADS endlessly fascinating and ENGINEERS interesting. I love the author’s casual writing style – his ability to cut through the dull, bureaucratic stuff to make the prose come to life. The Big Roads was fun to read and I can recommend it without reservation.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Very well written, fascinating history, and great perspective on our modern world.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This was a really fascinating look at the history of road transportation in the U.S. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Very detailed & well researched - full of facts and trivia. For me, the book seemed to really bog down about 2/3 in. Overall very interesting but probably only for a history buff.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Greatly appreciated how deeply this book dove beyond the tired old history that Eisenhower was responsible for all the interstates. Learned a lot about some individuals I had never heard about - however, it spent a bit too much time focusing on people and things that didn’t really relate to the interstates themselves. Example being the last chapter which randomly mentions a possible alternative fuel than gasoline that was possibly invented in the 1910’s, or about Carl Fisher building the Indianapolis speedway. I understand laying the groundwork for what’s to come, but a more focused approach would have been preferred.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Not just Eisenhower.