emment passed the Federal Highway Act of 1921 and

emment passed the Federal Highway Act of 1921 and required each state to identify seven percent of its total road mileage as “primary,” as only those roads would be eligible for federal funding. This is where the term primary roads came from. The roads selected were usually the ones that connected county seats. And in 1920, Mr. G.P. Coleman, of the Virginia Highway Commission, spoke at the Virginia Good Roads Association meeting in Richmond and stated that, “our plan, then, should include the raising of from $65 to $75 millions of dollars, to be utilized, if possible, in a six-year period.” So six-year plans are nothing new.

How roads were built and maintained changed over time. In Virginia, from 1657 to 1894, every able bodied man between the ages of 16 and 60 worked at least two days each year on the roads. In 1894, the Supreme Court of Appeals declared statutory labor laws unconstitutional, so the counties shifted to the use of property taxes for road construction and upkeep. How did Virginia handle things when state and federal money first became available for road improvements?

Listen to RSt.J. Wilson, former State Highway Commissioner of Virginia, testifying before Congress on Dec. 22, 1913. “We have a small amount of state [Virginia] aid each year which is apportioned among the counties, and the state pays one-half of the cost of the road on the condition that the counties pay the other half. The final say as to specifications and plans is with the state highway department. The location of the road is with the counties, our idea being that the people representing the local community are in a better condition and position to know what roads are of importance and what are to be improved than a central office at Richmond could be. The county board of supervisors, each magisterial district having one member of that board, decides what road is to be improved, and the highway