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How up are you on the history of our road system?
Take the test and find out!
1. Early English dirt roads were created by digging two parallel ditches and throwing the removed earth onto the area between the ditches, thus elevating it. This method of construction created what was commonly known as:
(a) The Big Muddy
(b) An Excuse For A Road
(c) The Need For More Stable Road Funding
(d) The High Way
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2. In 1666, Maryland's first road law is enacted, and it requires:
(a) HOV lanes
(b) Tolls for luxury wagons
(c) That all road users help maintain the roads by volunteering their labor
(d) Counties to create roads passable by horse or foot
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3. It’s 1808 and private roads are big in Maryland. They're called “turnpikes” because:
(a) “Freeways” implied “no charge” and everyone knew that wasn't going to happen
(b) The name “toll road” was already taken
(c) A pike (pole) was turned to provide access when the fee was paid
(d) They weren't really called turnpikes. We just made that up.
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4. Thomas Jefferson signed legislation in 1806 that commissions the nation’s first:
(a) Traffic jam
(b) Roadside rest stop
(c) Toll plaza
(d) Interstate road
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5. The National Road begins in Cumberland, Maryland and connects the East Coast with the Ohio River Valley. It is credited with:
(a) Opening up what was then considered “The Wild West” to commerce
(b) Popularizing blue grass music
(c) Helping travelers learn to spell “Appalachians”
(d) All of the above
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6. Before it was called Route 40, it was The National Road. Before that it was called Braddock’s Road. Before that, it was called Nemacolin’s Path because that was:
(a) The name of the surgical procedure necessary for all travelers who dared risk it
(b) The little wind-up thingy that entertained the road builders on break
(c) The Native American Chief who helped establish it in the first place
(d) The only name they could think of that almost rhymes with semicolon
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7. The “tractor-trailers” that carried the biggest loads on Maryland's roads from 1750 to 1850 were known as:
(a) Conestoga wagons
(b) Stogies
(c) Pirogies
(d) Tractor-trailers
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8. By the early 20th century, the turnpike companies are mostly gone. They are the victims of competition from:
(a) Microsoft
(b) Star Trek fans
(c) C&O Canal boat operators
(d) Railroads
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9. In 1908 the State Roads Commission is established for the purpose of:
(a) Figuring out who came up with the idea of building roads out of oyster shells
(b) Taking responsibility for planning a state road system
(c) Competing for funding with other state agencies
(d) Downsizing
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10. The problem with building “macadamized” roads was:
(a) It required a greater skill level than the road builders typically possessed at the time
(b) All the people named “MacAdam” who thought they'd become part of the roadbed
(c) The stones for the top layer needed to be small enough to fit into a person’s mouth
(d) Both A & C above
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11. The name “automobile” originated:
(a) Because the initially favored term “horseless carriage” characterized this new vehicle mostly by what it wasn't
(b) In France
(c) At about the same time as the word “car”
(d) All of the above
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12. At the dawn of the 20th century, these two groups formed an odd alliance promoting better roads in Maryland.
(a) Farmers and bicyclists
(b) Merchants and railroads
(c) Oyster dredgers and quarry owners
(d) Automobile manufacturers and bankers
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13. Henry Ford did not invent the automobile. But he pioneered the:
(a) Development of “new car smell”
(b) Drive-thru wedding ceremony
(c) Assembly production process
(d) Zero-day weekend
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14. What has always been the greatest natural challenge to Maryland’s roads?
(a) Fire
(b) Water
(c) Firewater
(d) Taxpayers
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15. Maryland’s first paved state road:
(a) Is today known as US Route 1
(b) Was known in the 1930s as “Billboard Boulevard,” with an average of 39 billboards per mile
(c) Was a destination in itself when it was completed in 1915, as a uniquely long stretch of paved highway
(d) All of the above
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16. From 1908 until 1917, Maryland was the envy of other states and a national model for its:
(a) Dance moves
(b) Ability to shuck oysters without bleeding
(c) Highly advanced road system
(d) Helmet laws
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17. World War I demonstrated that even good roads can go bad when:
(a) They start smoking and hanging out in bars
(b) The vehicles using them change
(c) Cannons are fired at them
(d) The tolls go up
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18. In 1922, the first state tax on gasoline was enacted to raise revenue to build and maintain roads. What other significant event in Maryland road history occurred?
(a) Driver’s tests were instituted
(b) Horses were banned from paved roads
(c) Construction started on the first road built specifically for the automobile
(d) Ground was broken for the first drive-in movie theatre
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19. US 50 spans from Ocean City, Maryland to Sacramento, California. As one of the longest highways in the United States, it is known as:
(a) America’s Backbone
(b) America’s Tailbone
(c) America’s Great Road
(d) The East-West Wonder
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20. Because water is such a pervasive element in Maryland's landscape, the state has been known as an innovator in:
(a) Rustproofing
(b) Snow removal
(c) Bridge design and construction
(d) Underwater vehicle recovery
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21. Opened in 1940, the Susquehanna Bridge on US Route 40:
(a) Is the oldest toll facility operating in Maryland
(b) Was designed by specialists in railroad bridges
(c) Was the first bridge across the Susquehanna at that point that could successfully handle the nation’s wider, taller trucks
(d) All of the above
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22. The National Interstate Highway System was championed by President Dwight D. Eisenhower:
(a) Because he'd seen the value of good roads when his troops used the Autobahn during the invasion of Germany
(b) Linking the concept of atomic war and the building of highways
(c) Tying in perfectly with Maryland Governor McKeldin's half- billion dollar plans to significantly expand Maryland’s roads
(d) All of the above
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23. When it opened in 1952, the Chesapeake Bay Bridge was commonly acknowledged as one of the great engineering and esthetic accomplishments of the 20th century. It also:
(a) Gave every one of its users the willies when they sneaked glances over the side while crossing it
(b) Cost $45 million and raised the fears of Eastern Shore residents that they would be overrun by tourists
(c) Ended the political career of its greatest proponent, Governor William Preston Lane, Jr. after he was labeled a “big spender”
(d) All of the above
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24. When President John F. Kennedy attended the ribbon cutting at the opening of the Northeast Expressway (I-95 in Maryland) on November 14, 1963, it was:
(a) The only time a president has attended the opening of an interstate highway
(b) His last public appearance in Maryland before he was assassinated eight days later
(c) The first stretch of I-95 completed
(d) All of the above
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25. The Maryland Department of Transportation was established in 1970 to ensure:
(a) That Maryland’s crabs would always travel safely on their way to being eaten
(b) That no one would ever again propose building a road out of crushed oyster shells
(c) A more equal balance between road-building and other forms of transportation
(d) The State Highway baseball team would always have a worthy opponent
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