In early days the Indian had not only followed the watercourses
in his canoe but had made his way on foot over trails through the
woods and over the mountains. In colonial days, Englishman and
Frenchman followed the footsteps of the Indian, and as settlement
increased and trade developed, the forest path widened into the
highway for wheeled vehicles. Massachusetts began the work of
road making in 1639 by passing an act which decreed that "the
ways" should be six to ten rods wide "in common grounds," thus
allowing sufficient room for more than one track. Similar broad
"ways" were authorized in New York and Pennsylvania in 1664;
stumps and shrubs were to be cut close to the ground, and
"sufficient bridges" were to be built over streams and marshy
places. Virginia passed legislation for highways at an early
date, but it was not until 1669 that strict laws were enacted
with a view to keeping the roads in a permanently good condition.
Under these laws surveyors were appointed to establish in each
county roads forty feet wide to the church and to the courthouse.
In 1700, Pennsylvania turned her local roads over to the county
justices, put the King's highway and the main public roads under
the care of the governor and his council, and ordered each county
to erect bridges over its streams.

The word "roadmaking" was capable of several interpretations. In
general, it meant outlining the course for the new thoroughfare,
clearing away fallen timber, blazing or notching the trees so
that the traveler might not miss the track, and building bridges
or laying logs "over all the marshy, swampy, and difficult dirty
places."