John McAdam. Portrait of John Loudon McAdam (1756-1836), Scottish pioneer of road technology. McAdam had made his fortune in the United States. On his
John McAdam. Portrait of John Loudon McAdam (1756-1836), Scottish pioneer of road technology. McAdam had made his fortune in the United States. On his return to Scotland he began to study various road surfaces. In 1815 he was made Surveyor General of roads in Bristol and by 1816 was implementing his road design. It had a raised foundation of earth and was capped by a surface of crushed stones and sand compacted by road rollers. These macadamized roads were widely adopted in Europe and McAdam was made surveyor-general of British metropolitan roads in 1827. His design was unable to bear the weight of 20th Century heavy trucks and has since been largely abandoned.
Size: 3543px × 4978px
Photo credit: © Science Photo Library / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: construction, inventor, john, loudon, macadamized, mcadam, portraits, road, surname
