![]() He also crusaded for creation of State highway agencies staffed with engineers instead of the farmers, local politicians, and business promoters who built and maintained many of the country’s roads despite not understanding the modern engineering practices he advocated. Page continued the promotional activities of his predecessors, but he also emphasized the Office of Public Roads’ scientific evaluation of road building to gather the technical data-the lifeblood of the Progressives-from which sound conclusions could be drawn. He embodied the Progressive Era, prominent in the early 20th century for its reliance on experts rather than political machines, to address problems caused by industrialization, urbanization, immigration, and corruption in government. After graduating, Page served as a geologist and testing engineer for the Massachusetts State Highway Commission, as well as director of the testing laboratory of the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard (1893–1900). Page was from Virginia, graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1889, and was one of the first to graduate from the highway engineering program that his uncle, Professor Nathaniel S. Page became director of the renamed Office of Public Roads in 1905. When General Stone’s successor, Martin Dodge, established a road materials laboratory, he selected Logan Waller Page to head the scientific effort. General Stone led the agency through 1899, with time off for Army service during the Spanish-American War in 1898. Office of Road Inquiry in the Department of Agriculture on October 3, 1893. General Roy Stone, a Civil War hero, founded the U.S. What we are doing in Washington is simply to set up a watch, to keep an eye on the whole country, and report what is going on.” ![]() As General Stone put it in October 1894, “This country is so big that a great deal goes on that we don’t all know about. Over the next decade and a half, the agency’s mission evolved, but its leaders never lost sight of its original mission of gathering and distributing information on road management systems and the best methods of road-making. By December 1893, he had completed Office of Road Inquiry Bulletin No.1 ( State Laws Relating to the Management of Roads. General Stone focused the tiny agency with a tiny budget on making inquiries and preparing publications. Congress had appropriated $10,000 for the Department to inquire about “the system of road management” in the country, investigate “the best method of road-making,” prepare publications on the subject, and disseminate the information. Office of Road Inquiry in the Department of Agriculture. ![]() On October 3, 1893, General Roy Stone, a Civil War hero, began the work of the U.S. And yet its mission, in 1918 as in 2018, can be traced to the statutory mission of the country’s first Federal road agency. To reach this 100-year milestone, Public Roads has had to evolve with changing times. With this issue, the Federal Highway Administration’s magazine reaches 100 years of providing information on every aspect of highway development and the role of highways in the country’s transportation network. Over the course of 100 years, the only constant is change. ![]() Census Bureau, rural areas cover 97 percent of the Nation’s land area but contain only 19.3 percent of the population (about 63 million people). Today, the population has more than tripled to 327.2 million. When the first issue of Public Roads was published in May 1918, the country’s population was 103.2 million, with about half (nearly 52 million) living in rural areas. population and the shifts in urban and rural living. ![]() Change is also apparent in the sheer numbers marking the increase in the U.S. families and individuals travel and where they travel to. The issue included a list of every State's progress during the first 18 months of the Federal-aid highway program.Ī century of change has affected nearly every aspect of life in the United States-from technological advances to recreation and work habits. 1, featured the first Federal-aid highway project in Idaho. As the magazine celebrates its anniversary, let’s take a look back at its evolution. ![]()
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