Overview

The roads within America's national park system reveal a wide range of technological, aesthetic, and philosophical concerns. Their design and construction epitomize the central challenge of national park management: how to balance environmental protection with public access. The Historic American Engineering Record (HAER), a division of the National Park Service, has spent more than a dozen years documenting the history of this vital aspect of the national park experience. America's National Park Roads and Parkways brings together 331 measured and interpretive drawings commissioned by HAER to illustrate the physical characteristics, design strategies, construction practices, and visitor experiences of roads in national parks from Acadia to Zion and parkways from the Blue Ridge to the Natchez Trace. Also included are non-Park Service projects that utilized similar design strategies, including the Bronx River Parkway and the Columbia River Highway. The book documents thirty-one projects, explaining how roads shape visitor perceptions, highlighting key characteristics of individual park road systems, and connecting their design and construction to the broader history of American engineering and landscape architecture. More than a documentary record of historic design and construction practices, this book has practical applications for engineers, landscape architects, and cultural resource specialists in guiding design decisions, interpreting historic sites, and informing contemporary debates on preservation and environmental protection.

Full Product Details

9780801878787

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Reviews

Davis has probed deeply into the origins and evolution of the parkway - as a transportation artery, as a work of municipal landscape art, and as a potent symbol of broader social and cultural values. Everyone who enters a national park or drives a historic parkway should bring a copy of this book as a companion. - David Schuyler, Franklin & Marshall College

Author Information

Timothy Davis is the senior historian for the Park Roads and Parkways Program of the Historic American Engineering Record (HAER). Todd A. Croteau is program manager for HAER's Park Roads and Parkways Program. Christopher H. Marston works at HAER.

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