Given the enormity of that number, it might be hard to imagine a time when our cities and countryside werent, at least partially, shaped by asphalt paving. The stabilized bases were generally 150 to 200 mm thick. 19th century cyclists paved the way for modern motorists' roads Car drivers assume the roads were built for them, but it was cyclists who first lobbied for flat roads more than 100 years. Further, the pavement section was about 350 to 450 mm in depth and generally specified in three layers. Apparently, blood (hemoglobin actually) is an effective air-entraining agent and plasticizer (given the mild Mediterranean climate the primary use was likely for workability). ZIP (Zone Improvement Program) Codes were created by the U.S. The simple answer is no, the Persians only had dirt paths they travelled on but not "roads" by definition being a paved path. Porter, O.J., Foundations for Flexible Pavements, Proceedings, Highway Research Board, Washington, D.C., December 1-4, 1942. The first modern asphalt facility was built in 1901 by Warren . Wheeled transport [ edit] Pavements built today can be engineered to meet a variety of needs-greater durability, enhanced skid resistance to improve safety; and, a smoother ride to satisfy the traveling public. An Act of 1751 prohibited wagons on turnpike roads with wheel rims less than 225 mm wide (a bit narrower than todays heavy truck tires). The term macadam is also used to indicate broken stone pavement [Baker, 1903]. Sirrine's system used the nonilluminated words "stop" and "proceed". Hubbard, P., Dust Preventives and Road Binders, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1910. In 1944, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had signed legislation authorizing a network of rural and urban express highways called the "National System of Interstate Highways." The first attempt of a cross-country road trip by automobile occurred in 1903, when a group of men in a San Francisco bar bet 31-year-old Dr. H. Nelson Jackson to drive his car from California to New York City in less than 90 days. (510) 894-1921 The final thickness was based on the weight of the traffic, the strength of the concrete and the soil support. This system, known as the United States Highway System or simply as "US" highways, was the first time in history that a national standard was set for roads and highways. How the Wheels Got Turning: A Historical Perspective on American Roads. Compare these results to contemporary compressive strengths of 34.5 to 137.9 MPa. As more time passed, people began to build more roads on routes that experienced lots of traffic. 1811 We may earn money from the links on this page. Always Paving Inc., 26010 Eden Landing Rd C1, Hayward CA 94545. With much of the 20th century punctuated by hot and cold wars, the need to move the military just as the Romans did led to the development of the modern superhighway, including the German Autobahn and American interstate system. Take for an example, renowned author of Little House of the Prairie Laura Ingalls Wilders account of a wagon journey through Topeka, Kansas in 1894: In the very midst of the city, the ground was covered by some dark stuff that silenced all the wheels and muffled the sound of hoofs. In the 1800s, most cobblestones arrived on ships from Europe as ballast. The earliest pneumatic tires had major shortcomings in strength and durability [Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, 1985]. Apparently, there is no record of traditional roads in the U.K. prior to the Romans [Collins and Hart, 1936]. Paving Woodward Avenue in 1909, photo courtesy Woodward Avenue Action Association. It was estimated that this system would support a load corresponding to 88 N/mm (500 lb per in. 96% of all paved roads and streets in the U.S. - almost two million miles - are surfaced with asphalt. Some of the first roads in the UK were built during 43 and 410 A.D., when 2,000 miles of paved roads were built for military and trade use by the Romans. High quality and very durable fine and coarse aggregates are crushed to an angular shape and properly sized prior to incorporation in the final product to provide additional stability to support heavy truck loading. Angle of transverse joint with the centerline: Most agencies used a 90 joint but 4 percent used a skewed joint of 60. Late 1800s Road Builders The road builders of the late 1800s depended solely on stone, gravel, and sand for construction. In summary, the structural design of asphalt and PCC pavements up to the 1950s (where this section stops) was a function of an evolutionary process beginning with the Romans then Telford and Macadam. U.S. Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration. This information reveals loads per unit width exceeding that existing on heavy highway vehicles today. In terms of todays costs, this would be about $7.00 per m2 per year or $26,000 per lane-kilometer per year. Table 1. As a side note, the term Tarmac was a proprietary product in the U.K. in the early 1900s [Hubbard, 1910]. How invented the first paved roads? These roads were still not as large or as high-tech as they are today until cars became popular. The year was 1909, and it was a big year in Detroit. Further, the need for more durable pavements was mandated by the changing vehicle fleet. https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-american-roads-4077442 (accessed March 4, 2023). 10 sieve. Bellis, Mary. The Federal Highway Act of 1921 transformed the ORI into the Bureau of Public Roads. This design led to the bitumen-based binding called Tarmacadam. This pavement was only 3.0 m wide and 67.1 m long (probably what we would call a test section today). Thus, asphalt concrete mixes thereafter were more oriented to the smaller maximum aggregate sizes. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. A 1916 report by Agg and McCullough to the Iowa State Highway Commission further illustrates some of the issues which held back the use of PCC as a wearing course. A variety of equivalency factors can be used depending on the pavement section which is defined by a Structural Number and the terminal serviceability index (for flexible pavements). The first paved roads in the world were in ancient Mesopotamia. The Romans eventually decided that their neighbors across the Mediterranean were a bit of a threat to the empire destroying Carthage in 146 B.C. The United States has more paved road than any other country in the world, with a grand total of 2,335,000 miles (3,757,015 kilometers). This was when Eisenhower, the Hero of the Highways, came into office as the 34th President of the United States. This added to the piecemeal approach to paving roads in London. It had a budget of $10,000 to promote new rural road development, which at that time were mostly dirt roads. https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-roads-1992370 (accessed March 4, 2023). Gray, B.E., Present Design Practice and Construction Developments in Flexible Pavements, Proceedings, Highway Research Board, Washington, D.C., December 5-8, 1939. How to Protect and Maintain a Parking Lot in the Winter, Get the Best Pavement Repair for Bridges with UNIQUE Paving Materials. Bicycle Mechanics Lead the Transportation Revolution, The Model T Ford Pressures Road Development, Military Needs Spur Development of the Interstate Highway System, U.S. Department of Transportation Established. Centuries later, in 1915, Canada's first asphalt paved roads were built in Ottawa, Ontario and Edmonton, Jasper and Camrose, Alberta. Roads were often named according to their termini-Blanco-San Antonio Road, for instance. Wallick, Robert D. and Stafford, John A., The Miller Act: Enforcement of the Payment Bond] Because of the original Miller Act and the following Little Miller Acts, almost every public works project, including building a paved road, requires a surety bond. The first known motorized bike was invented in the 1860s in France. The world's first traffic lights were installed near London's House of Commons (intersection of George and Bridge Streets) in 1868. The road network was important in maintaining the stability of the empire and its expansion. According to Collins and Hart (1936), the first use of PCC as a wearing course was in Edinburgh, U.K., in 1872 and Grenoble, France, in 1876; however, one source stated that the first PCC pavement was placed in Inverness, Scotland, in 1865. However, its important to note that new advancements take place in asphalt paving and concrete repair on almost a daily basis. At some point in the foreseeable future, instead of adding more lanes to highways, we may actually be able to reduce them as we shift to vehicles that can see and hear far more than human drivers, enabling them to drive closer together while still avoiding collisions, thus requiring less roadway. These stone paved streets date back to about 4000 B.C. Bateman, J.H., Highway Engineering, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1928. . By the late 1800s , America would be paving roads. Modern tarred roads were the result of the work of two Scottish engineers, Thomas Telford and John Loudon McAdam. "History of Roads in America and First Federal Highway." Paved roads allow for quicker travel and a smooth ride. Advocates for improved roads led by bicyclists turned local agitation into a national political movement. It's little wonder that until the early 20th century, travelling . (2021, February 16). This led to Congress passing the Federal-Aid Road Act eight years later in 1916. Krchma, L.C. Bellis, Mary. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-american-roads-4077442. Public Roads, http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publicroads/96summer/p96su10.cfm] Then, in 1941, the Interstate Highway system construction was sidelined again as the US became more involved in World War II. He patented it in 1935 (US patent #2,118,318) and started the Magee-Hale Park-O-Meter Company to manufacturer his parking meters. Map of Roman Empire at its height in 125 C.E., showing the most important roads. An early Standard Oil Co. of California asphalt cement specification contained four original penetration ranges (at 25 C) of 31-40, 41-50, 51-60, and 61-70. And many miles had been smoothed and paved with small stones. Since the primary purpose of these roads was for foot soldiers, the roads were straight, but virtually without regard to grade. The Standard Plans and Specifications for the City of Seattle dated May 9, 1919 did provide for PCC as a wearing course. This law provided $25 million dollars to state agencies for the construction of highways. The goal was to construct an interstate system of two-lane, paved highways. In highway applications today, especially on the heavily trafficked, heavily loaded Interstate System, special care must be taken to ensure adequate performance of the pavement. for various materials ranging from very poor subgrade (CBR up to 5) to good crushed rock bases (CBR of 100). Table 1 provides an overview of a few of the flexible pavement design procedures available in 1949 [Gray, 1949]. Frederick J. Warren filed a patent for "Bitulithic" pavement, a mixture of bitumen and aggregate ("bitu" from "bitumen" and "lithic" from "lithos," the Greek word for rock). On top of this, the wearing course was placed (about 50 mm thick with a maximum aggregate size of 25 mm) [Collins, 1936]. Thousands of years before urban planning, motor vehicles, or even the wheel, the first roads appeared on the landscape. . It was only after President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 that the Interstate program got under way. On protection and testing of cement. It consisted of a thin, approximately 25 mm thick layer of sheet asphalt placed on top of the hot, uncompacted Bitulithic (Crawford [Crawford]). McAdam's design, called "macadam roads," provided the greatest advancement in road construction. Boorman, T.H., Asphalts, William T. Comstock, New York, 1908. As is illustrated by the Public Roads Administration in 1949, the traffic input into the evolving pavement design procedures of the day varied. Up to the early 1900s, the design emphasis was placed on the use of fixed standards occasionally modified for local soil conditions. This style of road became more common as time went on. penetration) which represents the bearing value of a crushed rock material (refer to standard curve 100% in Figure 5). The construction of the road coincides with the arrival of the first farmers in the U.K. about 4,000 B.C. Americans travel many miles on paved roads every day. The big reason for this was the energy crisis of the 1970s, which forced Americans to rethink the importance of conserving and recycling their natural resources. The asphalt was produced from a lake with a surface area of 465,000 m2 (46.5 ha or 115 acres) and a depth of about 24 m. It was estimated by Tillson in 1900 that this lake contained about 8,000,000 metric tons of asphalt (compare this against 1990 consumption in Europe and the U.S. of approximately 40,000 000 metric tons of asphalt binder). Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, Successful Commercial Selling, The Good Year Tire and Rubber Co., Sales Training Department, Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, 1985. The basic equation used for calculating AASHTO equivalency factors [after AASHTO, 1981]: = inverse of equivalency factors (where W18 = number of 18,000 lb single axle loads, : a function of the ratio of loss in serviceability at time t to the potential loss taken at a point where pt = 1.5, : function which determines the general shape of serviceability trend with increasing axle load applications, SN = structural number (formerly called a thickness index). A quote from the Agg and McCullough report is helpful: Expansion and contraction may cause longitudinal cracks but generally, for the ordinary width pavement, placed on a flat subgrade, the liability of cracking from this cause, is remote.. Research on how to create the highway system continued. Failure to achieve adequate strength gain prior to opening streets to traffic. How to Supercharge the Air Going Into Your Engine, The CT4-V Blackwing Is One of the All-Time Greats, Watch This Abandoned E39 M5 Get an AMMO NYC Detail, VW Dealer Apologizes for Slurs on Oil Stickers, Four Ferraris Stolen From New York Service Center. But the desire for paved roads was already in place long before the first affordable automobile. 1900. they've been used in many different societies to create paved roads, which were a huge step up from dirt paths . Illustration of Equivalent Wheel Loads (from Hveem and Carmany [948]). You might think that government funding came about after cars were invented and gained popularity. The concept was to produce a mix which could use a more fluid binder than used for sheet asphalt. The road to Giza is the world's oldest known paved road. Prophetically, Frank Seiberling, who was Goodyears first president, told the U.S. Chamber of Commerce meeting in Chicago just five days after that first 23-day Wingfoot Express run to Boston that, The introduction of the motor truck into our commercial life sounds the death knell for the short line railroad.. company, a trademarked name made from the initials of Park-O-Meter. The impact of rubber tires can be illustrated by English law. CA License #1036777 | Copyright 2023 Always Paving Inc. All rights reserved. History of Roads in America and First Federal Highway. The Very Beginning The first paved roads in the world were in ancient Mesopotamia. Who invented roads? The first to use a yellow light. The famous Champs-Elysees of the 1600s was covered with asphalt in 1824 signifying it as the first modern road in Europe. They were invented by J.P. Knight. As a result, Roosevelt wanted to rush the construction of highways after the war. Man-made asphalt consists of compounds of hydrogen and carbon with minor proportions of nitrogen, sulfur, and oxygen. If private companies pay for something to be built, the common law has always ensured that the private agency pays everyone who provides materials. https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/back0506.cfm]. Eventually, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the AASHO Road Test produced the equivalent single axle load concept. (A fine aggregate or modified Topeka asphaltic concrete is mentioned in a 1926 Standard Oil Co. of California publication [Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, 1985]. These moduli were used in the formula shown as Note 1 in Table 1.4. Many gravel roads were later built over with planks. These structures had crowned (sloped) surfaces to enhance drainage and often incorporated ditches and/or underground drains. She is known for her independent films and documentaries, including one about Alexander Graham Bell. The oldest constructed roads discovered to date are in former Mesopotamia, now known as Iraq. Modern tarred roads were the result of the work of two Scottish engineers, Thomas Telford and John Loudon McAdam. Baker, I.O., A Treatise on Roads and Pavements, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1903. Other compressive strengths he reported (presumably pre-1890s) ranged from 1.4 MPa (1 month age) to 9.7 MPa (1 year age). due to a lower tensile strength, the cracks which do form are more numerous but narrower. Rose, A.C., When All Roads Led to Rome, Bureau of Public Roads, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C., 1935. It appears that the first tar macadam pavement was placed outside of Nottingham (Lincoln Road) in 1848 [Collins and Hart, 1936; Hubbard, 1910]. Located on the west bank of the Nile, southwest of central Cairo, at over 4,600 years old, it was used to transport the enormous blocks of basalt for building . Disc brakes were invented in 1889 by Elmer Ambrose Sperry, an American inventor and entrepreneur. Joints: Expansion joints were not needed if contraction joints were frequently spaced (short panels). Because of this, engineers of the 18th century began to build roads with many layers. . Meanwhile, two other bicycle mechanics, brothers Wilbur and Orville Wright, launched the aviation revolution with their first flight in December, 1903. The first indications of constructed roads date from about 4000 bce and consist of stone-paved streets at Ur in modern-day Iraq and timber roads preserved in a swamp in Glastonbury, England. In downtown areas the roads were Later, when America was settled, gravel and paved roads were built throughout the country. Hveem and Carmany in a 1948 paper showed that the thickness of surfacing and base was proportional to the tire pressure and the number of load applications. As small groups of people combined into villages, towns and cities, networks of walking paths became more formal roads. It was not until 1907 that crude oil-based asphalt surpassed natural asphalt production [Krchma and Gagle, 1974]. The first uses of this road asphalt were in Battery Park and on Fifth Avenue in New York City in 1872 and on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington D.C., in 1877. (Note: original asphalt prices from Byrne in 1896.). Concrete's invention was made possible by the development of cement, and to trace the history of cement, we must trace the use of its components. Transportation innovations boomed in the 19th century, includingsteamships, canals, andrailroads. Actually, many historians have given Goodyear credit for launching the interstate trucking industry in 1917. Contact Us today for a quote. Sports Cars That Make Great Daily Drivers in 2023, The Stars of "The Fast & The Furious", Then & Now, Peek Inside the Coolest Sci-Fi Movie Cars, What It's Like to Be a Mechanic in the Daytona 500, The Most Luxurious Cars You Can Buy in 2023. Some of those roads remain in use more than 2,000 years later, and the fundamental techniques form the basis of today's roads. After everything of value is removed, the leftovers are made into asphalt cement for pavement. Ibid.]. Traffic congestion became a huge problem. Built for wagons the width of the roads was 12 feet or more. Paved roads have come a long way since they were first made in 4000 B.C. Phillips, Developments in Brick Pavements in the United States, Public Roads, Volume 19, No. Asphalt concrete is mainly made by adding asphalt cement to sand and rock. Macadam realized that the layers of broken stone would eventually become bound together by fines generated by traffic. It was estimated by Boorman in his 1908 book that about 33,000,000 m2 of standard asphalt pavement existed in the U.S. and 85 percent of this used Trinidad Lake asphalt as the binder. The asphalt road that Laura Ingalls Wilder encountered more than 125 years ago may bear little resemblance to the roads of today. Sound familiar? When did asphalt roads become common? Coles, J.M., The Worlds Oldest Road, Scientific American, November 1989. Baker, I.O., Roads and Pavements, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1903. When were paved roads invented? Once the program got started, it became popular, and the demand for rural paved roads grew. In all, the Romans built 50,000 miles (80,000 km) of a paved highway, mostly for military reasons. The route of the National Road followed a similar path to a military road (Braddock Road) carved out by George Washington and General Braddock in 1754-55. In 1846, the City of London decided to replace its wood paving slabs with granite [6], which incidentally lead to many a "robust struggle" as people were allowed to just walk off with the old wooden blocks, and many did so for their home fires. Crawford, C., The Rocky Road of Mix Design, Hot-Mix Asphalt Technology, National Asphalt Paving Association, Washington, D.C. Eckels, S., Distribution of Wheel Loads Through Various Rubber Tires, Proceedings, Highway Research Board, Washington, D.C., December 13-14, 1928. Rural voters lobbied for paved roads with the slogan, "Get the farmers out of the mud!" Strangely, a Scottish man named John Metcalfe, born in 1717 and blinded at age six, built many miles of roads and bridges in Yorkshire, England. By 1872, De Smedt had engineered a modern, "well-graded," maximum-density asphalt. Today, with more than 70 million metric tons recycled each year, asphalt pavement is Americas most recycled product. Further, the aggregate was crushed with about 20 percent passing the No. Around 1920, William Potts a Detroit policeman invented (unpatented) several automatic electric traffic light systems including an overhanging four-way, red, green, and yellow light system. Curves A and B show the minimum pavement thicknesses for light and medium-heavy traffic. In the Kansas tests, samples either 70 by 200 mm or 125 by 350 mm were used depending on the maximum aggregate size. The evolution of pavement design will emphasize the U.S.A. and the U.K. a bit more than for other parts of the world. The Miller Act of 1935 protects agencies involved in federally funded federal projects, but it does not apply to public projects funded by state governments. Measurements were made on solid rubber, cushion and pneumatic tires. The first step in the production of the Interstate Highways we use now was the Federal Highway Act of 1921. Oglesby, C.H. 1870: America's First Asphalt Road The first application of asphalt paving took place in Newark, N.J in 1870. Weight, Horsepower, and Wheel Characteristics of Vehicles on UK Roads 1809 Jaster, J., G.F. Schlesinger, J.S. http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blcar3.htm] Because cars grew more common after this, roads became more important. Soon after the Nottingham project, tar macadam projects were built in Paris (1854) and Knoxville, Tennessee (1866) [Hubbard, 1910]. When Were Paved Roads Invented? The law that really got Texas farmers "out of the mud" was the Colson-Briscoe Act of 1949, which . Actually it was a plant mixed material, but was applied to the road surface cold. Tarmac consisted of crushed blast furnace slag coated with tar, pitch, portland cement and a resin. Paved roads have come a long way since they were first made in 4000 B.C. Information provided by the United States Department of TransportationFederal Highway Administration. Did you know, the word asphalt comes from the Greek work asphatos, which means to secure? Modern road-construction techniques can be traced to a process developed by Scottish engineer John McAdam in the early 19th century. Barber, Soil Displacement Under a Circular Loaded Area, Proceedings, Highway Research Board, Washington, D.C., December 3-6, 1940. States focused on building several small roads instead of interstate highways as a way to provide as many jobs as possible. These stone paved streets date back to about 4000 B.C. according to Tillson [1900]. They generated high noise levels, were rough and labor intensive (slave and statue labor often used). The test provides a quick method of comparing base and subgrade materials. The recommended test was to use a bearing block directly on a compacted sample. It is unknown who came up with the idea. (over 6,000 years before the Romans give or take a few hundred years) (Brown, 1987). This law authorizedPaved Roads in America the Bureau of Public Roads to fund state highway agencies. Named after its creator, Daimler Reitwagen was founded by Gottlieb Daimler and Wilhelm Maybach, two German inventors. Military requirements for long, unobstructed stretches that could be used as emergency runways for aircraft paid a dividend for civilian drivers who could now cross countries at high speeds in relative safety. What was the name of the first National Road? 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SEWashington, DC 20590 (Naturally, the thinnest pavements were not always used.) These bonds guarantee that sub contractors and suppliers are paid and the project is completed at no additional cost to the taxpayers. All historians know that it was founded between 1867 and 1868. The mixture consisted of 30 percent graded crushed rock or gravel (all passing 12.5 mm sieve, about 58 to 62 percent sand (material passing 2.0 mm and retained on 75 m), 8 to 12 percent filler (material passing 75 m sieve). Equivalent Wheel Load (EWL) constants were developed to more easily summarize the available truck traffic (classified by the number of axles). She is known for her independent films and documentaries, including one about Alexander Graham Bell. It now provided funding for a system of paved two-lane interstate highways to be built by statehighway agencies. The Sumerians used meticulous brick-making skills, forming identical mud bricks for building. The test result was a plot of bearing stress versus indentation of the block into the sample. Roman roads in some countries have been up to 2.4 m thick. One of the longest plank roads, it had been built . The hydraulic lime was produced by heating limestone above 850 C thereby driving off CO2 and converting the limestone to CaO. The first pneumatic tire used on a motor vehicle was in 1895 in a race from Paris to Bordeaux [Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, 1985]. That sounded ambitious, but it was unfunded. of width). What's the oldest interstate highway? Because states were hiring many different people and businesses to build roads, the government needed a way to ensure that all contributors to the roads would be paid. Seed, H.B., C.K. Porters paper and a discussion of it by A.C. Benkelman further reinforced the concept of limiting pavement deflections for design purposes. The Office of Road Inquiry (ORI) within the Department of Agriculture was established in 1893, headed by Civil War hero General Roy Stone. William Lanchester improved and patented the design in 1902, but it was not until the 1950s that disc brakes became popular and eventually standard on most passenger vehicles. Axle load equivalency has been one of the most widely adopted results of the AASHO Road Test. By the time the war ended, the roads commonly used by the public were in disrepair. Rudus: The third layer was composed of rubble masonry and smaller stones also set in lime mortar. The first of the great Roman roads, the Via Appia (Appian Way), begun by the . Special criteria often apply to the sand or fine aggregate component and the rock or coarse aggregate in the mixture. Lester Wire of Salt Lake City, Utah invented (unpatented) electric traffic lights in 1912 that used red and green lights. Building or expanding modern roads is a complex undertaking that can cost anywhere from $2 to12 million per mile depending on the number of lanes and the location. The Office of Road Inquiry (ORI) within the Department of Agriculture was established in 1893, headed by Civil War hero General Roy Stone. Carlton Cole Magee invented the first parking meter in 1932 in response to the growing problem of parking congestion. Venturing any farther meant traversing unpaved, unmarked roads. Call Us To order UPM High-Performance Cold Mix asphalt repair material for pavement and pothole repair, or other UNIQUE concrete & asphalt repair products for driveway repair, road repair and other asphalt maintenance needs - Contact UNIQUE Paving Materials today. Other states felt that, because it was a national project, the federal government should pay for more of it. At the turn of the century (1900), cements were categorized as natural or artificial. Natural cements were made directly from specific rock. Patent 727,506 Asphaltum and its Manufacture, Patent 727,509 Method of Constructing and Laying Street Pavements or Roadways, Patent 727,510 Street Sheet Pavement or Roadway, Patent 727,511 Street Sheet Pavement or Roadway, Patent 727,512 Renewal of Old Street Pavements, Lack of understanding about the need for longitudinal and transverse joints. Table 2. Today, 96% of all paved roads and streets in the U.S. - almost two million miles - are surfaced with asphalt.