1970s photo date stamp11/5/2022 The bicycle’s rising popularity increased the pressure to improve roads connecting towns and villages. Roads were opened, roads were abandoned.īut this would begin to change in the 1890s-when the first automobiles appeared. Historians call this the “dark age of the road” where roads were being uploaded and downloaded among levels of government. Often local municipalities or townships sold the rights to operate a section of road, along with the right to charge tolls to recoup costs.ĭuring the latter half of the 1800s, Ontario roads were in a serious state of neglect and deterioration. Government eventually allowed municipalities and private companies to set up toll booths on turnpikes in an effort to improve the sorry state of road construction and maintenance. Later in the century macadam roads-a road surface made with small broken stones-would become the preferred technology. They were the preferred technology by the 1850s when split or sawn timber became more readily available but only survived a couple seasons or so without proper maintenance. Later, the more effective plank roads were introduced. While most roads were simple dirt tracks, early methods of road improvement included the notorious “corduroy” roads-rows of cut logs- which often gave bone-rattling, wheel-destroying rides which horses shied away from for fear of breaking their legs. 1800s: Corduroy, plank and macadam roads to the golden age of railroadsĪ couple going to Markham in a horse-drawn carriage, date unknown.īy the early 1800s, the government became more involved in the funding, construction and maintenance of roads for several reasons: to open new areas for settlement, to improve postal service, to foster commerce and to facilitate the administration of government and movement of the military. Roads of this era were primitive and often only usable in mid-summer when the earth was dry and hard enough for travellers on horseback, or in winter, when the packed snow allowed sleigh travel. In 1796, Yonge Street was built by the British military from Toronto up to Lake Simcoe. In 1793, soldiers and local settlers built what is believed to be the first section of roadway in Upper Canada-eight kilometres of bumpy trail between Kingston and Bath. When not travelling by water, most people simply got around on foot or horse. Many of the early roads followed these original portages and tracks cleared by the aboriginals. The forerunner of the modern road was the “portage”-rough trails detouring rapids or linking lakes that were vital paths for travellers using waterways. Lawrence River and Great Lakes were the early highways of Ontario. Up until the late 18th century the major transport routes were rivers and lakes, with the boat or canoe being the preferred mode for long-distance travel. First Nations, the first explorers, French and English military, fur traders, missionaries, surveyors and settlers all made the first footpaths across this province.
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