Paving Our Ways covers the international history of road paving in an interesting, readable and technically accurate way. It provides an overview of the associated technologies in a historical context.
It examines the earliest pavements in Egypt and Mesopotamia and then moves to North Africa, Crete, Greece and Italy, before a review of pavements used by the Romans in their magnificent road system. After its empire collapsed, Roman pavements fell into ruin. The slow recovery of pavements in Europe began in France and then in England.
The work of Trésaguet, Telford and McAdam is examined. Asphalt and concrete slowly improved as paving materials in the second part of the 19th century. Major advances occurred in the 20th century with the availability of powerful machinery, pneumatic tyres and bitumen. The advances needed to bring pavements to their current development are explored, as are the tools for financing, constructing, managing and maintaining pavements.
The book should appeal to those interested in road paving, and in the history of engineering and transport. It can also serve as a text for courses in engineering history.
Dr Maxwell Lay is an engineering consultant known for his international
contributions to road engineering and his acclaimed international road
histories. He is a member of the Order of Australia, former Executive
Director of the Australian Road Research Board, and past President of
the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria and the Australian Automobile
Association. He has been awarded the Moisseif Medal of the American
Society of Civil Engineers, the Peter Nicol Russell, Warren and Transport
Medals of the Institution of Engineers Australia, and the Gold Medal
of Roads Australia. He is the author of Handbook of Road Technology
(CRC Press, 2019).
Dr John Metcalf has worked in pavement materials and engineering at
the British Road Research Laboratory, Queen’s University in Canada,
and the Queensland Main Roads Department. He was Deputy Director
of the Australian Road Research Board and later was appointed Chaired
Professor of Civil Engineering at Louisiana State University. He was a
Fellow of the (UK) Institution of Civil Engineers and the Geological Society
of London and a member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. He is
an Honorary Fellow of the Institution of Engineers Australia.
Kieran Sharp worked for the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) as a
researcher in the fields of pavements, roads, and transport, and as technical
editor, for over 40 years. He was the first member of ARRB to receive an
Austroads Achievement Award. He is the Chair of the Technical Committee
of the Road Engineering Association of Asia and Australia, a member of the
Governing Council, and an Honorary Member. He was awarded the Roads
Australia Award for Technical Excellence in 2013.
