Camino del Norte: How a Series of Watering Holes, Fords, and Dirt Trails Evolved into Interstate 35 in Texas

Federal Dollars for Roads, 1918–1938

156 Federal Dollars for Roads, 1918–1938 ~HE Federal Aid Road Act of 1916, the birth of the Texas Highway Department in April 1917, and the THD’s state highway system map of June 1917, were all catalyzed by World War I considerations, possible actions related to the Mexican Civil War, and the explosion of U.S. automobile traffic. If the foundations for interstate highway development including future Interstate 35 were now in place, the conversion of Highway 2 and sections of other routes from a string of disjointed, mainly dirt roads into a paved interstate highway between Laredo and the Red River would take some time and a good deal of money. The Texas State Highway Guide of 1918, the “official logbook” of the TGRA and the Austin Automobile Club, provides an entertaining look at road conditions in the interim. Between Laredo and Waco, drivers were directed by an unnamed route (Highway 2) to Austin and by the Meridian Road/King of Trails (Highway 2) via Taylor, Granger, and Temple to Waco. According to the guide, one could not or should not travel between Belton and Waco. From Waco to the Red River, the suggested (unnamed) route (Highway 6) ran through Hillsboro, Waxahachie, Dallas, McKinney, and Denison. One could or should travel between Hillsboro and Burkburnett via Fort Worth (Highway 2) but not between Fort Worth and Denton or between Denton and Denison. One need not bother with Gainesville—it was not even listed. Once a desired route was identified, the guide provided detailed, if often incomprehensible, directions. The twenty-one-mile stretch of road between Laredo and Webb Station, a future section of I-35, was described as follows: [Mile] (0.0): LAREDO. Jarvis Plaza and Customs House. Go west on Matamoros St. 1 block. (0.1) Turn right on Santa Maria St., brick church on left. (0.4) Cross R.R. and straight ahead. (2.2) Turn left on end of street with road. (2.4) Turn right along R.R. (4.5). Turn left across two R.R.s then right along R.R. (5.0) Turn right across two R.R.s and then left along R.R. (5.3) Pass road on right. (7.0) Curve left across R.R. and then right along R.R. (10.0) ORVILLE. Straight ahead along R.R. (16.7) Pass road on left. (20.9) WEBB. Station on right. Straight ahead along R.R. The extent to which the Texas State Highway Guide assisted military maneuvers during World War I is unclear. Otherwise, wartime constraints limited U.S. road-building activities to just thirteen miles of federal-aid roads by March 1919. The first federal-aid road, a 2.6-mile segment between Richmond and Albany, California, was completed in January 1918, at a cost of $53,939— nearly $21,000 per mile. The project included grading, culverts, and a fiveinch base of portland cement concrete topped with an inch and a half of bituminous concrete. Another landmark event had occurred in 1917 when the first center stripe was applied to a rural road in Marquette, Michigan.1 OFF-RAMP: TRUCKS As if U.S. roads were not bad enough, wartime freighting activities had shifted a sizable portion of the nation’s distribution system from railroads and horse-drawn wagons to heavy trucks. The trucks damaged existing roads significantly, and to some observers, the benefits of the new vehicles were unclear. Still, the war stimulated a revolution in truck technology. The U.S. Army owned only twelve trucks in 1911, three of them parked at Fort Sam Houston, but General Pershing’s deployment of a hundred trucks to supply an unsuccessful pursuit of Pancho Villa in 1916 was a turning point. Thousands of trucks were utilized by Pershing’s Motor Transport Corps in Europe, jump-starting an entire industry. To eliminate repair problems associated with over 200 different model types and some 60,000 different parts, the U.S. Army selected the White Motors light-duty truck for its Standard A vehicle and provided its own design for the heavy-duty Standard B. Other successful military trucks included the Mack AC (“Bulldog”), FWD, and Nash Quad.2 Galvanized by government contracts, U.S. truck production soared from 24,900 vehicles in 1914 to 300,000 in 1918. Of course, this expansion dealt a ∑ederal Dollars for Roads 157 near-fatal...