HISTORY OF CONCRETE PAVEMENT

The first concrete highway constructed in the United States was a 24-mile long, nine-foot-wide, five-inch-thick strip of concrete pavement built near Pine Bluff, AK,, in 1913, five years after the introduction of the Model T Ford. By 1914, Portland cement concrete had been used to pave 2,348 miles of roadway in the U.S.Highway construction received a significant push forward two years later when President Woodrow Wilson signed the first Federal Aid Highway Act directing the federal government to help states finance road building.
In 1919, Oregon became the first state to level a fuel tax on gasoline to finance road construction-still, today, the primary method of financing road building and maintenance.
In the 1930s, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, built on a railroad right-of-way, was the first major intercity turnpike, or tollroad, completed in the US and was constructed of concrete.
Significant technical and design developments during the 1930s and 40s made concrete paving faster, less expensive, and increased its durability. Highway departments began to use soil cement-gravel mixed with cement-as a subgrade for highways. At this time, contractors also changed their method of creating pavement joints. Rather than forming the joints when the concrete was fully plastic by lumping it up to either side of the joint, contractors began sawing the concrete once it was partially hardened to create a smoother joint. This change in procedure helped create more even highway surfaces.
The invention of the slip-form paver in 1949 was another milestone in the development of concrete paving technology, as it allowed read crews to pace wide sections of concrete continuously, and therefore far more efficiently than before. Slipforming is now used for highway paving projects in almost every state in America.
Many consider the construction of the Interstate Highway system, during the 1960s and 70s, to be the heyday for concrete paving, and road building in general. But even as thousands of miles of concrete highways were formed, research and development continued improving methods of placing and maintaining concrete.
Editor's Note: (With special thanks) Most of this copy was drawn from Cement and Concrete: Reference Guide, "published by Portland Cement Association, 1997.  MORE>>