Customer Reviews

The Roads That Built America: The Incredible Story of the U.S. Interstate System

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

A high quality printing, on quality paper,with lots of interesting pictures,and a fairly complete general history of the interstates from their conception and idea on into the near future of these roads,more or less a coffeetable book in some ways but a very affordable price.Quite a bit of information within it's 200 some pages.

I found this book to be a comprehensive accounting of the developement of our highway system beginning with our very first national road and going thru to Boston's big dig. The book doesn't get bogged down with details, and has lots of good pictures. If you want a lot of information in a hurry, you'll enjoy this book.

I've read several books on this subject, and this one is like the others in one regard: I'd enjoy reading more about the actual construction details- the unforseen problems, the mishaps and mistakes, the million other events that occur between groundbreaking and ribbon-cutting. Nonetheless, a good book, I enjoyed it.

Clearly this topic will not be of interest to everybody but for those with an interest in history and the often surprising reasons behind the highway system in the U.S., this book is a joy. You will astound your friends with trivia! How many of them know that Maryland contains the most-expensive (per toll mile) interstate in the Country? (How many of your friends might care, is another story).

Altough it seems to be written in high-school textbook prose, the chapters are well organzined, the photos are wonderful and the format lends itself to the coffee table. It can be read in almost any order, a chapter at at time or even a sidebar at a time.

I now have an appreciation for the engineering marvel that Americans take for granted every day.

I bought this book based on the reviews and on the author's credentials. When I read the first pages, however, I came close to not going any further because all I could see on these first pages was fluff and boosterism about the Interstate system. I didn't need to pay money for that.

Delving a little deeper into the book, I did find some things of interest: The history of the National Road, for example, was fascinating, as was the growth and development of the U.S. highway system. It was also interesting to note President Eisenhower's inspiration for the U.S. Interstate System from Germany's Autobahn.

Having said that, I found a lot wrong with this book. First, I was looking for more of a "political" background in the U.S. that led to pushing through the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which launched the Interstate system as a defense and transportation system. I wanted to know more how the culture of the time influenced the move toward a national highway system that was more efficient than the one already in existence.

For example, how fears of nuclear strikes spurred the planning of a system that would be necessary both to evacuate and to get the military to various positions. McNichol spends a couple of paragraphs on it, but it was fears of war that really helped spur the Interstate system, and I saw the lack of mention as a huge gap in this book. I also wanted to know why Missouri was "ground zero" for the first Interstate highway. That was never explained to my satisfaction, either.

Second, I wanted more information on why the Interstate highways were planned where they were. McNichol goes into a lot of detail about the fact that they were placed so as not to compete against already existent U.S. highways (but doesn't explain why this is the case). He also mentions that the East Coast, with its dense population, seems to have gotten the lion's share of Interstates -- but I would have been interested in knowing, for example, how North Dakota (which didn't seem to be on the original Interstate map) ended up with I-29. In another case, there is no Interstate linking Houston, Texas with the state capital of Austin -- again, this absence might have been explained if a little more information had been given about why Interstate roads were built in what areas.

Third, there was entirely too much time and space spent on Boston's Big Dig (not to mention way too much time on Boston's "Highways in the Sky" project without mentioning similar failures throughout the country). I understand the Big Dig is McNichol's area of knowledge and I know this project was technically considered the "end" of funding for new Interstate projects. But he already wrote a whole book about the Big Dig. Mentioning it in this particular book was certainly appropriate -- but I think he overdid it.

Furthermore, along those lines of "Boston bias," why focus on only the Highways in the Sky as a result of rebellion against the Interstate highway system through certain parts of town? Don't get me wrong, I love Boston. But Chicago suffered a similar fate as Boston through its aborted Crosstown Expressway -- that, too, would have torn down huge chunks of the south side of town (that particular project never got anywhere because of protests and costs). This was a huge story during the 1960s and 1970s -- but was never mentioned.

Finally, the style of writing was a little too simplistic for my tastes. I felt as though I was a 6th grader being introduced to the "great wonderful Interstate system!" rather than reading a historical book about the road system's development. I know "style" is a personal thing here, so I won't belabor that point.

But to sum this book up, I found it long on fluff and anecdotes (and Boston) and short on being a truly comprehensive history on America's roads and especially the Interstate highway system.

This terrific book tells the story of America's interstate highway system. It is easy to read and informative, I thought, with terrific illustrations. The author gets to the point without getting bogged down in unnecessary details or big words. At about 200 pages with illustrations, the length is about right. What more could you want for this subject? Contrary to another review, this is not a children's book. Academics will need to look elsewhere. That's just not the point of this mainstream book.

President Dwight Eisenhower emerges as a most-respectable person in this American story. He was more engaged and effective than people realize -- and an underrated near-great president.

This is a great book if you want to learn about the development of America's roads from the early days of the nation to today, learning a bit about America along the way. The biggest strength is that the book is easy to read and concise.

The Roads that Built America is a lively, highly informative look at the development of U.S. roads from there earliest beginnings until now. It is lavishly illustrated with photos, drawings and maps. Anyone who has ever wondered about how our nation's road system came to be, and anyone with an interest in U.S. history, should read this.

A well written and engaging book. Even if you're familiar with the history of the U.S. Interstate system, you're sure to find interesting tidbits and factoids that will keep you turning the pages. It's a pretty easy read with a lot of great photos. A bunch of sidebar stories helped to break things up a bit and keep it interesting for non-highway geeks.

McNichol is a bit fixated on Boston's Big Dig. While the Big Dig was arguably the most aggressive engineering feat in U.S. insfrastructure history, I think it got a little more attention in this book than it deserved. After all, McNichol did already publish a 235 page tome devoted solely to the Big Dig in 2000.

Also, this book has not been updated since it's original release in 2006. Since that time a lot has happened. I-10 in New Orleans completely failed during hurricane Katrina leaving many refugees stranded on flooded surface streets. The I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapse in Minneapolis in 2007 changed the way bridges are inspected yet again and had a far reaching impact on how U.S. highway funds are allocated for transportation safety.

The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways project may be complete in principle, but it will never actually be finished. As long as our Interstate Highways live, this book will always have relevance and should have periodic updates and revisions.

My husband got this book from our library and enjoyed it so much I purchased it for our 36 year-old son for his birthday, and he also really enjoyed it. If you remember car travel before the interstates and the Eisenhower years, you'll like this one. Has an interesting section on old bridges, too.

This is by far the finest book written on the Interstate System in it's fifty- year existance! I just can't put it down. It's written in a way that you can choose - the earlier pre-interstate era, or just the tunnel chapter, or whatever! There are several very intresting "sidebars" on related subjects like a parcel company that thrived because of the Interstate, and how the sign design process evolved. Author Dan McNichol is a respected authority on transportation journalism, and this has to be his greatest career milepost!

In as much as the Interstate has had an impact on American society, this fine book provides miles of intresting reading!

Anyone interested in transportation would love all of the history presented in this book. It begins by talking about roads that were dirt paths and progresses all the way to the 'Big Dig' project in Boston. Great stories, great writing, great pics!

Recommended!!