Roads without Rails: European Highway-Network Building and the Desire for Long-Range Motorized Mobility

Limited-access highways were introduced before the Second World War in some European countries, and after that war in many others around the world, including the United States. They were superimposed upon an already existing, hierarchical system of roads. This article analyses the emergence of the 'highway concept,' focusing on the special case of the Netherlands. It argues that in order to build such roads, power had to be shifted to the state; in addition, fantasies about their future long-range use for touristic purposes were instrumental. The realization of early automobile-only road networks was accompanied by the emergence of a 'railway metaphor,' which referred to the desire for central control of national and international road building agencies. On these roads, traffic flows resemble centrally controlled train behavior far more than motorists and historians alike have thus far realized.