ANATOMY OF A ROAD 1960s ROAD AND HIGHWAY CONSTRUCTION FILM 78004

Made in the late 1960s or early 1970s (probably 1971) to promote the construction of new highways and the cars that drive them, the ANATOMY OF A ROAD is an unapologetic paean to progress. As the narrator says, "Everyone will agree that we need good roads, an efficient system of highways and freeways and the reality of highway can give rise to a course of interesting individual opinions". The film contains a brief history of American roads from the National Pike to the superhighway.

The film was financed by General Motors.

"We should take personal interest in road construction because the roads are our road. All roads constructed meet our needs, accommodate our pattern of need, so it should continually be improved or expanded to keep pace with our population growth and our mobility. Before automobiles, highways were just service roads to transport goods to the market" as seen at mark 3:12. At mark 3:20, some historic roads were seen such as the Oregon Trail, the Indian pike. At mark 4:30, there are road and railway network pattern with highway numbers seen. Travelers will be confused with the highway number and in 1925; the America association of state highway officials came to their rescue. The entire cost of the highway program is entirely payed for by the users themselves. This is seen at mark 6:10. The trucking companies have been called the lifeline of America because they transport all materials needed by the public as seen at mark 6:25. Yet they combine to make up only one-fifth of the vehicles on the road today.
It is the responsibility of each state to plan and develop highway programs as seen at mark 6:35, more specifically the responsibility of the state highway department. They are the engineering department in-charge of selecting and planning the location, designing the highway, acquiring the highway, supervising the program and finally inspection and maintenance as seen at mark06:50. They decide on the priorities. At mark7:40, they explain their ways to determine traffic patterns. At mark 8:15, there are sensors which records the movement and also punch tapes as seen at mark 8:23. The data from any point is then received and information gathered from all the studies is them inputted into the computer and after this, it is stored, sorted, analyzed and finally organized into a sufficient rating book as seen at mark 8:50. The first step of planning involves aerial reconnaissance of the site in view as seen at mark 9:30. At mark 10:50, the engineers decide on the routes and they make estimates on all costs. At mark 11::18, the drilling team digs for core sections of the subsurface and at mark 11:55, various tests were done on the samples. The shear strength test was done at first at the laboratory for the shear resistance value which was obtained at mark 12:25. Subsurface profiles from the test were done. At mark 12:50, there is a public hearing which was delivered and questions and explanations were given. Once the routing is finalized, the federal bureau of roads must approve it before they proceed. Its their job to itemize the land and property parcels that will be bought by the states as seen at mark 13:40. They determine the fair value of the property in the market. At mark 14:26, a compensation is been given to the families affected by the construction.

The lowest bid wins the contract as seen at mark 15:30. Supplies and sub contractors are called to give prices of the supplies. At mark 16:40, all the bids are opened up in public and are read aloud. The project is now in the hands of independent contractors as seen at mark 16:50 while the state highway assign engineers to inspect and supervise the work. No mistake is to be made. At mark 17:50, machines are seen as the road construction begins. The contractor relies on his engineers, technician and equipment operators. He also relies on the suppliers. Most of all he relies on his men who gets the job done. Also on the subcontractor if needed. And finally he relies on the landscapers who specialize in restoring the landscape as it were. At mark 22:01, they find weaknesses on the design. Break away aluminum poles were also developed at mark22:33. Mesh screens were also installed. At mark23:15, is the traffic control room. The advantages of the freeways are seen at mark 23:40.

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD and 2k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com