Lesson: Funding Public Goods

In the mid-19th century, road builders experimented with "plank roads" consisting of wood planks laid across longitudinal wood beams. Wood provided a smoother surface than dirt or gravel, especially in wet weather, but it deteriorated quickly. Maintenance costs, financed by user tolls, were prohibitively expensive and most plank roads were gradually resurfaced with gravel.

This poster details the planned route of the Lincoln Highway, the first improved transcontinental road. The road was planned by a private group of auto industry magnates, politicians and other big thinkers -- not by the federal government, as interstate highways are today. The poster asked for the assistance of states, counties and individuals along the road as well as monetary donations.

The Cumberland Road (also known as the National Road) was the first highway built entirely with federal funds. It ran from Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia, Illinois. Its construction began in 1811 and ended in 1839. This book tells the road's story: the politics of creating the road, its building, and everyday life on and along the road.