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From the day humans took their first tentative steps and created the world's first pathways, transport routes and roads have been an integral part of our long journey towards civilisation.
Although they did not know it at the time, our primitive ancestors were true pioneers, laying the foundations of a transportation system which was to become the life blood of global development.

It was probably the Romans who built the first significant network of roads. It is on record that in 312 BC Appius Claudius built a highway which ran from Rome to the south of Italy. Even in those days the strength of a road was very important and some of the early roman roads are still in existence 20 centuries later.

But while the Romans often relied on slave labour to construct their roads, the road builders of later centuries turned to very specialised road building equiipment. The development of many types of specialised equipment are, quite literally, milestones in civil engineering history.

The production of steam rollers in Britain in the 1860s, for example, and the introduction of the first three-wheeled roller with chain and pivot front steering marked the birth of what is today a very sophisticated compaction market.

Later, in the 1920s in the United States, what is believed to be the very first self-propelled scraper was produced and, although it was years ahead of its time, the machine revolutionised earthmoving in road building.

The first self-propelled graders with their crawler or wheeled tractor units were also significant, as was the first articulated grader which was also built in the 1920s.

The History of Road Building Equimpment charts all these developments in detail and covers the evolution of road pavers, concrete and asphalt production plants, road cleaning machinery, bridge building systems, crushing and screening equipment, and much more.

stickertje voorin het boek, zie foto 3.

hardcover 1998 Engelstalig.