Technical Paper
FITTING THE HORSE-AND-BUGGY ROAD TO THE AUTOMOBILE
1924-01-01
240055
Public thoroughfares have invariably been laid out to meet the requirements of age-old horse-and-buggy equipment and little thought has been given to the needs of the future. Until the middle of the last century, man was dependent for transportation upon his own strength or upon that of the animals that he could domesticate. Caesar could have traveled from Rome to Paris as quickly as could Napoleon 17 centuries later. Now, the humblest American farmer could make the round-trip with his whole family in less time than either emperor could travel one way. Within the last century have been developed in rapid succession the railroad train, the steamship, the electric trolley-car, the automobile, the motor truck, the tractor and the airplane. The most permanent thing we have is land; the very slowness and regularity with which buildings are replaced tend to make a route and the width in which it is established almost as permanent as the land of which it is a part.