The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways

ldquoTravelers hitting the highways this summer might better appreciate the asphalt beneath their tires thanks to this engrossing history of the creation of the US interstate systemrdquomdashLos Angeles Times Perhaps nothing changed the face of America more than the creation of the interstate system At once man-made wonders economic pipelines agents of sprawl and uniquely American sirens of escape the interstates snake into every aspect of modern life The Big Roads documents their historic creation and the many people theyrsquove affected from the speed demon who inspired a primitive web of dirt auto trails to the cadre of largely forgotten technocrats who planned the system years before Ike reached the White House to the thousands of city dwellers who resisted the concrete juggernaut when it bore down on their neighborhoods The Big Roads tells the story of this essential feature of the landscape we have come to take for granted With a view toward players both great and small Swift gives readers the full story of one of Americarsquos greatest engineering achievements ldquoEngaging informative The first thorough history of the expressway systemrdquomdashJonathan Yardley Washington Post ldquoThe book is a road geekrsquos treasuremdashand everyone who travels the highways ought to know these storiesrdquomdashKirkus Reviews.