The National Asphalt Pavement Association has announced the publication of its new 302-page hardbound book about the history of hot-mix asphalt, Paving the Way: Asphalt in America. As the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Interstate System approaches in 2006, this lavishly illustrated, engagingly written book would make a timely gift for anyone involved in the transportation industry.
The book starts where hard-surfaced roads started – with the Romans. After Rome, the narrative moves to 18th-century Britain and France, where McAdam and Trésaguet left their marks on the art and science of road building. The reader learns how early experiments in building roads from iron, granite, bricks, cobblestones and wood pointed up the excellence of asphalt as a surfacing material.
Figures from asphalt history including the Asphalt Tycoon, the Warren family and Sheldon G. Hayes come to life in the book’s pages. The book sings the praises of roads such as Route 66 and the Interstate System, and it celebrates the achievements of heroes such as the Navy Seabees who paved the way to victory in the Pacific Theater in World War II.
Paving the Way: Asphalt in America will be available beginning Dec. 1, 2005. Advance orders for the book, priced at $25 per copy plus shipping, are being accepted at NAPA’s website, www.hotmix.org; via the toll-free order line at 888/468-6499; and by fax to 301/731-4621. The book was written by Dan McNichol, author of The Big Dig and The Roads That Built America.
