In 1835 quite comprehensive legislation was enacted, relieving the parish of some of the burden of road maintenance by entirely abolish ing statute labor and providing a money rate in its place. In 1878 a general act provided for taking over the turnpikes as their charters ex pired and in connection with the Act of 1888 provided for the care of these roads by the county and of all others by the district.
The greatest benefits to the turnpike roads, as well as to all the roads in general, how ever, came, not through acts of hut from the work of two individuals, Thomas Telford (1757-1834) and John Loudon Mae Adam (1756-1836). Their work consisted mainly in devising more scientific methods of con struction and maintenance. From 1800 to 1830, the methods advocated by these men, especially those of MacAdam, were largely adopted, not only in Great Britain but also in many parts of continental Europe and America. The types of construction developed by these engineers are still known throughout all English-speaking countries as macadam and telford.
In 1909 a further step in centralizing the road work of England was taken by Parlia ment in the establishment of a road board and providing national aid to the various county councils on roads carrying extraordinary traffic. In 1914 plans had been practically completed for further classification of the roads and for direct national aid and control on the more im portant roads of the kingdom. The war, how ever caused all these plans to be postponed.
The early settlers of the United States 'brought with them the institutions of the mother country. The history of the development of road building in the United States, therefore, bears a marked resemblance to that of England, especially in the movement from extreme lo calization toward centralized' control. Thus, the First road legislation in the 'United States, adopted by the House of Burgesses in Vir ginia in 1632, provided for the most extreme local control in the construction and mainte nance of the public roads. Moreover, in much of the road legislation passed by the several colonies provisions for means and methods of local self-control form a. striking feature.
Near the close of the 18th century the' toll road movement, then at its height in England, made its appearance in the United tates. Chatters were first granted to toll-road com panies in Virginia in .1772; and what is said to have been the first toll road in the United States was established in this State between Alexan dria and Sniggin's Gap in .1785. The Philadel phia-Lancaster turnpike which was begun in 1792 was the first toll road in the United States surfaced with broken stone.
The growth of the toll-road movement in the United States was at first extremely rapid and large amounts were invested. Almost in
variably, however, the rate of tolls levied soon betame a fertile source of complaint and dis satisfaction to the users of the road. In many cases the undertakings also proved unprofitable to the investors. Some States, especially Ken tucky and Virginia, assisted in the construction of toll roads, either by direct appropriation's or Indirectly through the purchase of stock in the companies. In general, however, direct State participation in toll-road construction proved both unprofitable and unpopular and was consequently ffiscontinued.
In 1806 the ever-growing demand fdr better means of communication with the West found expression in the adoption of an act by Con gress providing for the construction of a National Road from the head waters of the Potomac to the Ohio River, which should be free from tolls. This act was later extended so as to provide for the construction of this road to the Mississippi River at Saint 'Louis. Actual progress, however, was slow. The first section from Cumberland, Md., to Wheel ing, W. Va., was not completed and opened for traffic until August 1818. Gradu ally the construction was extended across Ohio and practically completed to Indianapolis. By this time, however, the rapid and successful development of railroad transportation had impressed Congress with the belief that the railroads were certain to supersede the wagon roads for all but the . most extremely local traffic. Consequently, ap propriations for the construction of the National Road became less and less and finally ceased in 1848 after the expenditure of nearly $7,000,000 of Federal funds. The road was only partially completed west of Indianapolis, and even the grading ceased entirely at a point near Vandalia, Ill.' With the coming. of the railroads Federal as well as direct State participation in road con struction or improvement ceased for nearly half a century. The appearance of the bicycle, however, in the latter part of the 19th century brought the need of better roads sharply to the public attention. A movement for more cen tralized direction found immediate favor as it was clearly impossible to secure any extensive, co-ordinated improvements so long as the various local bodies had unlimited control. The first definite result was• the adoption of State aid in road improvement by New Jersey in 1891, which was followed by Massachusetts in 1892. Then came the motor vehicle with the attend ant and ever-growing demand for better roads. The force of this demand can be readily under stood from the fact that on 1 Jan. 1919, there were 6,147,000 automobiles and motor trucks in use in the United States.