Page 27 - Unit 1: Introduction of Highway and Engineering

Civil Engineering Department | DCC3113 : Highway & Traffic Engineering

History Macadam Roads ( 1756-1838 )

• John Macadam, for the first time put forward entirely new concept of road construction
in 1826.

• He was a Scottish engineer and was surveyor general of roads in England.
• He designed road with cambered formation and small angular aggregate as road
material.

• He developed an inexpensive paving material of soil and stone aggregate (known as
macadam).

• He discovered that massive foundations of rock upon rock were unnecessary, and
asserted that native soil alone would support the road and traffic upon it, as long as it

was covered by a road crust that would protect the soil underneath from water and
wear.

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Prepared by : SITI ZURAIFA BINTI MD SAH, zuraifa@pmu.edu.my