John Macadam

Northland Age, Volume 28, Issue 52, 20 June 1928, Page 7

John Macadam

Motorists and other users of the roads might do worse than erect a monument to the memory of John Loudon Macadam the inventor of modern roads. Although I have travelled far (says a correspondent of the Auto-Car) I have never seen a statue of him * but perhaps the best monument to his memory is the fact that his name is immortalised in the English language, for the word v is in everyday use. John Macadam began experimenting with roadmaking first in Scotland, and later near Bristol. this was done at considerable expense, which he himself bore, for sometime he encountered a

good deal of opposition, but nothing daunted him. He is said to have spent considerably more than £SOOO in experiments and travelled over 30,000 miles in his efforts to improve our roads. Parliament rewarded him with £IO,OOO and the offer of a knighthood, which later he declined. Macadam’s general conclusion was that roads should be constructed of broken stones, angular in form, and not more than six ounces in weight. At first Macadam’s theories were ridiculed, one pundit characterising his methods of roadmaking as “quack-macadamising.” His method has since been adopted by civilised countries throughout the world.