King's Highway

“ The path you see leading down there, in this other part of the valley, is called King’s Highway, very rough indeed, as you all can see. Thereon it is hard to travel and difficult to stand still. It is so narrow that if a traveler should stand still, he is constantly harassed or pushed about by those who wish to pass on. ”

“ The earliest road legislation that can be traced was an Act passed in 1285, in the reign of Edward I., directing that on highways leading from one market town to another "there be neither dyke, tree nor bush whereby a man may lurk to do hurt within two hundred feet on either side of the way"; but this measure was designed for the protection of travellers against robbers, and had no concern with the repair of the roads. In 1346 tolls were imposed, by authority of Edward III., for the repair of three roads in London, namely, "the King's highway between the hospital of St. ”

“ The King split-log drag was a surprisingly effective maintenance machine. After a little instruction and practice, an average farmer could easily drag 6 to 8 miles of road per day and could keep a well-graded dirt road in good shape for light traffic for as little as $8 per mile per year. The appearance of the King drag coincided with Director Page’s decision to place greater emphasis on earth and sand-clay roads in the object lesson road program, so Page decided to promote dragging as well. ”

“ But Clio is silent. She does not know; it is a question rather for archæology, for which there is no Muse at all. Nor can she tell much of the history of the road, apart from the larger national concerns in which it has a part. She is like a wholesale trader, and deals only in bulk. Let us in these pages seek to recover something from the past to illustrate the description of these many miles.
[Pg 4]
II
The coach-road to Cambridge, Ely, and King's Lynn—the modern highway—follows in general direction, and is in places identical with, two distinct Roman roads. ”

“ People traverse it, not with the object of arriving at any particular destination, but for the delight of the road itself, of the joy it gives to the eye and to the imagination. Its only traffic is what the transport agent would call “holiday traffic”; for when the idle season ends the highway is deserted. In earlier days there would rumble along the road the carriage and four of the traveller of great means; then came the humbler vehicle hired from the town; then the sleek motor; and finally, as a sign of democratic progress, the char-à-banc, the omnibus, and the motor-brake. ”

“ Although the freight and express traffic of those days lacked the picturesqueness of the passenger coaches, nothing illustrates so conclusively what the great road meant to an awakening West as the long lines of heavy Conestogas and rattling express wagons which raced at "unprecedented" speed across hill and vale. Searight, the local historian of the road, describes these large, broad-wheeled wagons covered with white canvas as
visible all the day long, at every point, making the highway look more like a leading avenue of a great city than a road through rural districts.... ”

“ I do not propose, of course, that all these improvements should be made at once—and most assuredly all the improvements must be made with a due preservation of the beauty and charm of our country roads and the districts they traverse—but, no doubt, as soon as the importance of the roads, so long overshadowed by the railways, revives there will be a great and pressing cry for highway improvements. ”

“ With heavier traffic and higher speeds, it became dangerous to drive in the middle of the road, and the States began painting centerlines on the pavements to channelize traffic in lanes. [N 3] At 40 miles per hour, these lanes appeared uncomfortably narrow to most motorists, especially when passing trucks. The lane lines also caused trucks to run closer to the shoulder where they caused increased breakage of slab edges and corners. To provide greater safety and reduce edge damage, the State highway departments built wider pavements, and they also made new roads straighter. ”

“ Through the rich and beautiful woods of the park, over the sunny lawns and grassy savannas—where the wild deer, nested in the tall fern, raising its dark eyes and antlered head to gaze above the feathery green at the passers by—Wilton and Laura wandered on, pouring forth the tale of affection into each other's hearts, gazing in each other's eyes, and seeming, through that clear window lighted up with life, to see into the deepest chambers of each other's bosom, and there behold a treasury of joy and mutual tenderness for years to come. ”

“ Less than a century ago these highways were still, as they had been since the dawn of history, either waterways, natural or artificial, or else ordinary roads for wheel vehicles drawn by animal power. The railroad, which was utterly unknown when our Government was formed and when the great principles of our jurisprudence were laid down, has now become almost everywhere the most important, and, in many large regions, the only form of highway for commerce. The man who controls its use can not be permitted to control it in his own interest alone. ”

“ Because they see not only the necessity for improvement on the particular road but also the many competing needs of other roads, and have at their disposal and in view only a certain total sum that they feel must be made to go a far as possible in meeting all needs, the highway authorities construct the road on the existing admittedly restricted right-of-way. The principle of growth asserts itself. New traffic, drawn and generated by the improvement, appears on the road. The road as built soon becomes inadequate to accommodate the greater traffic. ”

“ Strength, vigour, power of enjoyment, disappear one by one. Hope, buoyant hope, snatching at straws to keep herself afloat, sinks also in the end. Then life itself goes down, and the broad sea of events, which has just swallowed up another argosy, flows on, as if no such thing had been; and myriads cross and re-cross on the same voyage the spot where others perished scarce a day before. It is all loss, nothing but loss," and he again fell into a fit of bitter musing.
"Come, Wilton," said Lord Sherbrooke, after a moment's thought, "I will show you a room where you can sleep. ”

“ The Lincoln Highway inspired a tremendous amount of argument both for and against long-distance roads. The rural interests generally were against them, claiming that the Nation would be drained of funds to build a few “peacock alleys” for the enjoyment of wealthy tourists. Urban spokesmen said the country had been too long in bondage to the medieval English concept that roads were the responsibility of the smallest and weakest units of government, namely, the road districts, townships, and counties, and that the Federal Government should assume responsibility for “national routes.” ”

“ Avarice is a gentleman to ambition! Avarice is merely a tinker, a dealer in old metal; but ambition is a chimney-sweep of a passion: a mere climbing-boy, who will go through any dirty hole in all Christendom only to get out at the top of the chimney. But you have not guessed, Wilton—you have not guessed. ”

“ It is a modern road for many miles, and you are tramping, let us say, along the Cotswold on a hard metalled modern English highway, with milestones and notices from the County Council telling you that the culverts will not bear a steam-engine, if so be you were to travel on one. Then suddenly this road comes up against a cross-road and apparently ceases, making what map draughtsmen call a “T”; but right in the same line you see a gate, and beyond it a farm lane, and so you follow. You come to a spinney where a ride has been cut through by the woodreeve, and it is all in the same line. ”

“ The same horse-pond by the roadside, the same trees, only older and more decrepit, the same prehistoric dykes and tumuli on the unchanging downs; it must have been capable of absorbing the fun and jollity of a fair, and still presenting its characteristically dour and dreary aspect; but now that, sitting in the bay window of the parlour that commands the road in either direction, you may watch the highway by the half-hour and see no traveller, the emptiness is appalling.
To this solitary outpost of civilisation came William Hazlitt, critic and essayist, during several years, for quietude. ”

“ He thinks “in the use of the railroads constructed by the state it will probably be best for the state to furnish the motive power, leaving the cars for the conveyance of freight and passengers to be furnished by individuals or companies, from whom the [107] state will exact the proper toll for the use of the road, and for the motive power.” The idea seems everywhere to have prevailed that a railway was a public highway to be used by and for the benefit of the public. ”

“ But if I am not altogether selfish, Sherbrooke—and you have no cause to say I am so—if, as you know too well, there is deep, and permanent, and pure and true affection for you at the bottom of my heart, judge what the after-hours of life will be, judge what a long dreary lapse lies before me, between the present instant and the grave. ”

“ The large volumes of traffic that now flow between densely populated localities have created a demand for wide, multiple-lane highways, built according to the highest standards of grade and alinement, with opposing traffic separated by a center parkway, bypassing all cities, with structures separating streams of traffic at all highway and rail crossings, and with access from side roads permitted only at carefully selected points. ”

“ A glimpse of every kind of road now in use in this country is afforded, and doubtless our ancestors at some later date, when this country will boast a nation-wide system of roads such as is common in Europe to-day, will look with interest at the evolution of the road from the virgin clay to the perfect cement boulevards which are springing up now in sections along every part of the Lincoln Highway. ”

“ Highways are avenues of transportation. Within limits of feasibility they should be adjusted in the various elements of their design to the justifiable needs of traffic. Failure to effect such adjustments in highways previously built, because of a deficiency of traffic information and knowledge of road-traffic relationships, have been the cause of much of the present highway obsolescence. ”

“ Our vast network of highways, which account for 90 percent of travel and 80 percent by value of freight traffic goods movement, is deteriorating. If current trends continue, a major proportion of the Interstate pavement will have deteriorated by the end of the 1980's.
Arresting the deterioration of the nation's system of highways is a high priority objective for the 1980's. We must reorient the Federal mission from major new construction projects to the stewardship of the existing Interstate Highway System. ”

“ But the common impression that provision of such routes would constitute invariably a complete, or even a substantially adequate, solution of the highway problem at cities is not well-founded. It is a fallacious conception of the need for adequate accommodation of the traffic moving over the rural highways. From the standpoint of the cities it fails as a solution of the most serious aspects of the problem. ”

“ Considering the needs in respect to highway and street improvements described in detail in this report, it is believed that the Federal Government can most helpfully contribute to the important improvements required in the following ways:
1. By facilitating the acquisition of adequate rights-of-way. To a great degree the early obsolescence of the rural highways previously built is due to the restrictions imposed upon their design by inadequate rights-of-way. In cities, archaic street plans are in need of major revision to permit the free flow of modern traffic. ”

“ Even the ghastly loneliness of the long straight road ascending the pass of Smitham Bottom is no more, for little villas, with dank little dungeons of gardens, line the way, and tradesmen’s carts calling for orders compete with the motorists who shall kill and maim most travellers along the highway. ”

“ There seems to be no doubt but what the railroads can and do transport large quantities long distances quicker, better, and more efficiently than can be done on the highways. Highways may be considered as feeders of the railways. With good roads the zone from which the railway can profitably draw products for long distance or quantity transportation is widened, and again widened very materially when better roads allow the use of motors in place of horses. This, if no other railway interferes, means a larger grand total of traffic hauled. ”

“ Where traffic on the rural routes is heavy and, in the environs of cities, where it is desirable to discourage undue extension of road-bordering city growth, prohibition of access to the highway from abutting land, controlled access at specified points, and the closure or grade separation of all intersecting highways are essential. ”

“ Americans enjoy the use of our Nation's highway system, which is one of the finest systems in the world, both for business and pleasure. Our highways are a source of pride for this Nation and they directly or indirectly affect and serve every American. Highways are our lifelines-providing us with food and other necessities, the opportunity to explore this vast, beautiful country, and a great freedom of choice in selecting our home and work areas. ”

“ The highway is in reality the right of passage, not the beaten track, for in both England and the United States the laws recognize the privilege the traveler has when for any reason the road becomes blocked or obstructed of taking to the fields and making another track. ”

“ There is a cabalistic language in love, Laura—unknown to any but those who really do love, but learnt in a moment, when the mighty secret is communicated to our hearts. We speak it to each other without knowing it, dear Laura, and we are understood, without an effort, if there be sympathy between us. ”