A history of roads in Virginia: Getting organized for better roads

An early Virginia roadway crew stops work to pose for a photograph.

Two governors in this period gave strong support to the mushrooming good roads movement. They were Andrew Jackson Montague, the state’s chief executive from 1902 to 1906, and his  successor, Claude A. Swanson, who served until 1910. Their recommendations to the General Assembly in 1906 helped set the state government’s course in road development for the years ahead.

Meeting in Richmond, the legislature created the first State Highway Commission, giving final approval to the legislation on March 6, 1906. A state highway commissioner was appointed by the governor with General Assembly confirmation. Legislation required that the commissioner be a Virginia citizen, as well as a “civil engineer and a person well-versed in road-building.”

Legislation also dictated that the commission was to include three professors of civil engineering, one each from the University of Virginia (U.Va.), Virginia Military Institute (VMI), and what was then Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute at Blacksburg. These commission members were chosen by the boards of visitors at the respective institutions.

Gov. Swanson appointed Philip St. Julien Wilson, a Powhatan County native and a civil engineering graduate in the class of 1886 at VMI, as the first commissioner. Wilson was 38 and serving as assistant city engineer for Richmond at the time of his appointment.

Joining Wilson on the first commission were William M. Thornton, dean of the engineering department at U.Va.; Col. T. A. Jones, civil engineering professor at VMI; and Col. R. A. Marr, dean of engineering at Virginia Agricultural and Mechanical College and Polytechnic Institute.

The law specified that the commissioner “shall have a general supervision of the construction and repair of the main traveled roads in the state; the Commissioner may recommend to the local road authorities of any county, and to the Governor, needed improvements in the public roads; he shall supply technical information on road building to any citizen or officer in the state, and from time to time publish for public use such information as will be generally useful for road improvement.”

While the counties kept the responsibility for actually making the improvements, they now had a new state agency to which they could turn for help. For example, they could apply to the commissioner for civil engineering advice, and if he concluded that a proposed project would be permanent and on a main road and that it was practical, his office would prepare detailed plans and specifications and, at the county’s expense, assign a civil engineer to supervise construction.

The 1906 legislature also established the state convict road force as a source of labor. “All prisoners convicted of a crime and sentenced to either hard labor on the public roads or to imprisonment in jail and all persons imprisoned in jail for the non-payment of fine and costs, shall, when delivered upon order of the superintendent of the penitentiary for such purpose, constitute the state convict road force,” the statute read.

For some years before, convict labor had been available to the counties for road work, but not more than half of the counties used it. After the 1906 legislation, the convict labor was channeled to roads that would benefit the whole state.

The commissioner also encouraged county officials to look beyond their own borders to the importance of working toward a coordinated, statewide highway system because still, to the frustration of early motorists, an improved road in one county might shrink to a rutted trail or disappear entirely in another. Boat or train remained the most certain means of traveling long distances in reasonable comfort.

In the commission’s first annual report to the governor and General Assembly in October 1907, Wilson shed light on the first year’s operation:

“This department being newly established some time was necessarily required for organization and preparation for carrying out the provisions of the law to the best advantage,” he wrote. “Efforts along this line proved that men in the state who were familiar with the work of permanent road improvement were difficult to secure.  Competent engineers and foremen are obtainable, but comparatively few with any experience in modern highway construction, and without the services of such men road work cannot be carried on to the best advantage.”

Moreover, he added, “Much preliminary work had to be done by the county authorities before they were actually ready to begin work. The problem of raising the necessary funds to defray the counties’ portion of the expense was, in most instances, a difficult one, and met with many obstacles and delays. The machinery and equipment furnished by the counties has been, in several instances, very inadequate for the proper handling of the work.”

For some months, he wrote, “great difficulty was experienced in securing prisoners from jails for service in the state convict road force, and the number of convicts in the state penitentiary who, under the law, were available for road work was very limited. As a consequence, the organization of the first force was not completed until October 1906, and it was not until well on in December 1906, that we were able to put to work as many as five forces of about 50 men each.”

Wilson observed that while criticism had been voiced in several quarters “about the undesirability, even inhumanity, of using convict labor on public works, all of which may have been justified,” the fact was that “the men in the road camps seem satisfied, and many have expressed to me a preference for this work to remaining in jail.”

The commissioner, after barely more than a year on the job and engaged in what had become largely a mission of public education, also commented on the inadequacy of funds available for road maintenance. It was a problem that had plagued the turnpikes a century before, and it would continue for another decade. “This is a matter of the greatest importance, as even the best constructed roads require frequent, though not expensive, attention to keep them in good condition and to prevent the extensive and costly repairs that the lack of such attention will necessitate,” he wrote. “I would suggest than an amendment to the law be made to the effect that state aid will be extended to the construction of a road only upon condition that the county applying for such aid agree to make suitable provision for the up-keep of the improved road.”

The first improvement project completed with the help of the commission was the road between Williamsburg and Jamestown Island. Most of the road was surfaced with gravel and a mixture of sand and clay; about two miles were macadamized.

The General Assembly in 1906 had appropriated $16,000 to support the fledgling road program for the period from July 1, 1906, when the legislation became effective, to Feb. 28, 1908. It was to pay the salaries of the small staff—the commissioner, his assistant, a bridge engineer, a draftsman, a clerk, and a stenographer—and to furnish the offices and to purchase supplies.