Follows the development of roads in the United States--and the new forms of transportation that used them--from the National Highway of 1805 through railroads and paved roads for bicycles and automobiles to the interstate system.

Swedish-born engineer and inventor Captain John Ericsson was ahead of his time. His sleek fire engine could shoot gallons of water as high as ninety feet. His steam locomotive could fly down the tracks at the unheard of speed of thirty miles per hour. But was such a quantity of water necessary? Was such speed advisable? Neither the starched lords of the British Admiralty nor the snooty London Fire Brigade were ready for his strange and wonderful inventions....