From Office of Infrastructure: History of Highways link

after a century: “Secretary Gallatin urged, ‘shorten distances, facilitate commercial and personal intercourse, and unite, by a still more intimate community of interests, the remote quarters of the United States.’”

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“…spectacular transcontinental trip made by Dr H. Nelson, a prominent surgeon, from Burlington, Vermont, in a 20-horse power Winton touring car, which he purchased from a private owner in San Francisco… the first to complete the cross-country journey in a motor car, Dr Jackson left the Golden Gate City on May 23, 1903, accompanied by…”

“In 1913 no State, nor probably any county, could boast a complete highway system. As the motor vehicles rolled from the assembly lines and out into towns and through the countryside in growing numbers… The Lincoln Highway.”

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1893 Good Roads Movement > Office of Road Inquiry, Dept of Ag, from Statute: “To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to make inquiries in regard to the systems of road management throughout the United States, to make investigations in regards to the best systems of road-making, and to enable him to assist the agricultural college and experiment stations in disseminating information on this subject, ten thousand dollars.”

Federal Aid Road Act, Woodrow Wilson, 19160711