The Cumberland Road (also known as the National Road) was the first highway built entirely with federal funds. It ran from Cumberland, Maryland, to Vandalia, Illinois. Its construction began in 1811 and ended in 1839. This book tells the road's story: the politics of creating the road, its building, and everyday life on and along the road.

The Interstate Highway System is the largest road-building project ever undertaken by any nation. First authorized in 1956, the system was still under construction when Rand McNally published this road atlas in 1971. The atlas described the interstates as "The Road of the Future." But, for much of America, the future had already arrived with trucks hauling goods, and families taking more long-distance vacations.

Andrew Carnegie's Keystone Bridge Company built the first Keokuk and Hamilton Bridge in the late 1860s, which stood until 1915 when the threat of a competing bridge forced the owners to reconstruct the deteriorating structure. The toll rates provided the bridge owners with the money to perform maintenance and major repairs to ensure the safety of the structure.