How history has made some roads special

Posted by Bill on Tuesday, February 9, 2010   |   No Comments

Roads, more than the rail lines or the airways, are at the heart of travel. I am going to devote a few posts to historic roads, what we can learn from them and why we should save them. This is the second post in an eight-part series.

Saving historic roads begins by identifying what makes them worthy of preservation. Factors to be considered include the physical design, the goals and expectations that drove the original construction, intended uses, physical setting and distinguishing design details.

What kind of roads are preserved?

According to preservationists, there are three fundamental categories of roads: aesthetic, engineered and cultural routes.

The aesthetic is obvious—a historic road designed and built to provide a unique experience for the traveler in terms of scenic beauty, recreation, leisure or commemoration.

Engineered routes are historic roads built specifically for efficiency in moving people, goods and services. The most common designed roads, engineered routes were built to bring commerce to remote areas, relieve congestion and provide vital linkages.

Necessity and tradition drove the creation of cultural routes. These historic roads may once have been footpaths, routes that skirted the base of a mountain or that wound through passes in the high country. They are routes evolved by the culture, habits and history of the people living in the regions they traverse.

Why preserve?

Roads may be worthy of historic designation because of their design, the technology employed in their construction or their association with famous places, people or events.

National Park Service designs for the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Natchez Trace Parkway and the roads through Montana’s Glacier National Park are examples of historically significant road plans. All three set important standards that would be studied and emulated throughout the nation.

Technological advances made many of our historic roads notable for their ability to reach formerly inaccessible terrain or conquer natural barriers or hazards. Steel technology, macadam surfacing and the first high-speed limited-access highway are examples.

Some roads are worthy of historic designation because they are associated with famous persons, events or cultural elements. Broadway, Bourbon Street, Beale Street, Sunset Strip and U.S. Route 66 are all examples. Another is the stretch of Alabama roadway between Selma and Montgomery, memorable as a flash point in the Civil Rights movement of the 60s.

Determining eligibility

Under the direction of the National Park Service, the National Register of Historic Places—most commonly referred to as the National Register—is often the most promising avenue for recognition of historic roads, buildings, bridges, structures and affiliated landscapes.

To be eligible for National Register listing, an asset must be “associated with an important historic context (period of significance) and retain historic integrity of those features necessary to convey its significance.” It must also meet at least one of other important criteria.

• Criteria A – “Associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of history.” (Example: Route 66 for its connection to westward migrations during the Dust Bowl years.)
• Criteria B – “Associated with the lives of significant persons in our past.” (Example: Mount Vernon highway because it is associated with George Washington.)
• Criteria C – “Embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction.” (Example: The Blue Ridge Parkway, notable for its artistic values.)

Photo: Natchez Trace Parkway. Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division, Historic American Buildings Survey or Historic American Engineering Record, Reproduction Number HAER MS-15-58.

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