History: The Birthplace of Modern Road Building

With Detroit being the birthplace of the automobile, who better than Wayne County to give birth to the modern road?

Most people are not aware that the modern era of road construction began right here in Wayne County. In fact, much of the road-related technology we take for granted today was invented by the Wayne County Road Commission.

For example:

The first mile of concrete road, 1909. When the Wayne County Road Commission paved Woodward Avenue in 1909 from McNichols to Seven Mile, it was the first time a road was paved with concrete. While not as durable as the bricks that had been used, concrete was easy to lay and considerably less expensive. Nearly 90 years later, concrete remains the industry standard.

The first center line painter, 1911. In it's early incarnation, this innovation was little more than a paint brush strapped an arm on the back of a truck. Later versions were refined, such as one that dribbled paint onto a painting wheel that rolled along, marking the line as the truck slowly moved along.

The first snow plow, 1912. Like the centerline painter, this innovation seemed less than impressive at first - a board fastened to the front bumper of a truck. The idea, however, was refined and the world's first snow plow was born.

The first modern road maintenance facility & testing lab, 1910. The County's Wayne Yard on Michigan Avenue was the first road maintenance facility and included a testing lab for the concrete road building industry it created. The old complex will be demolished this year to make way for a new, $4 million state-of-the-art engineering facility.

The first superhighway, 1942. The Davison is America's first limited access, below-grade superhighway built as part of the war effort. In fact, the freeway even lured German engineers to view the design, which reportedly helped inspire the world-famous Autobahn. [County road employees were not surprised recently when reconstruction began this spring on the aged freeway and the contractor needed to use dynamite to break out areas of the pavement. This is particularly impressive since the Davison, in all its 52 years, never received a major surface improvement.]

Cars and roads in America also share an important link: Henry Ford was one of Wayne County's first Road Commissioners and is often credited with spearheading the "Good Roads" movement of the early 1900's that led to the creation of Michigan's Road Commissions.

Perhaps the largest industry spawned by the advent of the automobile, road construction has been a huge employer for the nation. In fact, Over the next three years, more than $1.9 billion will be spent in Southeast Michigan on road construction, most of which is performed by private companies.

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Robert Conrad
Director