Getting out of the Mud: The Alabama Good Roads Movement and Highway Administration, 1898-1920 by Martin T. Olliff

Abstract

Reviewed by: Getting out of the Mud: The Alabama Good Roads Movement and Highway Administration, 1898-1920 by Martin T. Olliff Kari Frederickson Getting out of the Mud: The Alabama Good Roads Movement and Highway Administration, 1898-1920. By Martin T. Olliff. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 2017. 247 pp. $49.95. ISBN: 978-0-8173-1955-7. In 1831, an Englishman venturing along the Alabama section of the Federal Road declared it to be "the very worst I have ever traveled … The ruts were axle-deep, and huge crevices occasionally occurred, in which, but for great strategy on the part of the coachman, the vehicle must have been engulfed … Stumps of trees often … brought the whole machine to a standstill; trees which had been blown over by the wind sometimes lay directly across the road, and it was with difficulty that the united exertions of the passengers succeeded in removing them" (18). Some eighty years later, the conditions of Alabama roads had barely improved. Frank Mayes, editor of the Pensacola Journal, sent dispatches from his 1911 path-finding tour that took him through Alabama. The team encountered trouble near Blount Springs: "The pike out of Birmingham was good, but after leaving that the roads were of all kinds—sandy in some places, rough in others, soft, slippery, and steep in others, and extremely dangerous at some points." Near Blount Springs, he reported, "We rounded the side of the mountain on a narrow ledge that afforded less than 12 inches between the outer track and a 50-foot precipice below. If it had rained at this time, a skid would have been practically inevitable, but the Lord was good to us that day and the road had almost dried when we reached it" (20). In this deeply researched and engagingly written book, Troy University-Dothan historian Martin T. Olliff examines the myriad obstacles encountered by good roads [End Page 61] advocates as they sought, in his words, to pull Alabamians out of the mud. A number of factors contributed to the lousy condition of state roads, among them a lack of engineering know-how, as well as constitutional prohibitions to and general ambivalence towards state-funded internal improvement projects. The push for better roads in the state reflected and drew strength from a broader national movement. A growing chorus of voices across the nation began demanding better roads. The surging popularity of bicycling in the late nineteenth century and the agitation of the League of American Wheelman (LAW) for higher quality roads provided a model of organization and advocacy for Alabama's good roads advocates to emulate. Joining the LAW were various farmer advocacy groups who complained that farmers paid a "mud tax" imposed by the inefficiency and extra expense of having to haul their goods over poor roads—a cost they passed on to consumers. Finally, the expansion of automobile ownership created yet another group clamoring for improved roadways. Whereas agriculturalists advocated for farm-to-market roads, automobilists and their chief advocacy group, the American Automobile Association, pushed for the development of long-distance highways. These various groups were represented, to lesser or greater degree, within the state of Alabama. Alabama quite unexpectedly became a leader within the larger good roads effort. The good roads movement within Alabama involved a diverse array of groups and individuals, including local chambers of commerce, heritage groups like the Daughters of the American Revolution and the United Daughters of the Confederacy, newspaper editors, and urban automobile clubs; most vocal and effective among these groups was the Alabama Good Roads Association (AGRA). Believing that a quality road system was key to economic growth, AGRA advocated for both farm-to-market and long-distance roads that connected Alabama communities across county lines. The group lobbied for improved funding and road construction at the county, state, and national levels. It successfully sought a change to the state constitution in 1907 that allowed for a certain percentage of [End Page 62] the state convict fund to be spent on road construction and maintenance, and pushed for the creation of the Alabama Highway Commission in 1911, effectively transferring much of the energy and responsibility for better roads from...