Good Roads Movement

Early organizers cited Europe where road construction and maintenance was supported by national and local governments.

In its early years, the main goal of the movement was education for road building in rural areas between cities and to help rural populations gain the social and economic benefits enjoyed by cities where citizens benefited from railroads, trolleys and paved streets.

Once a commitment was made for Rural Free Delivery of the mail, the Post Office had to determine which local roads were suitable and which were not.

In that same year, Charles Duryea produced the first American gasoline-powered vehicle, and Rural Free Delivery began.

By June 1894, "Many of the railway companies [had] made concessions in transporting road materials ranging from half rates to free carriage.

The movement gained national prominence when President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Aid Road Act of 1916 on July 11, 1916.

Following World War One the US Government invigorated the movement by conducting a series of highly publicized Transcontinental Motor Convoys and distributing large numbers of war surplus trucks and motor vehicles to states and municipalities for road construction on the justification that improved roads were vital for national defense.

Official observers assigned to the first 1919 Motor Transport Corps convoy included future U.S. President Lieutenant Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower[4].