WASHINGTON, July 29, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
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MONDAY, JULY 29: ASPHALT ROADS
Profile America — Monday, July 29th. Long before there were automobiles in the U.S., good roads were badly needed to get farm produce to market and to allow people to go visiting and shopping without battling mud. An American professor who had emigrated from Belgium — Edward de Smedt—invented an asphalt mix, which could be applied in sheets to make a smooth surface. His first trial occurred on this date in 1870 on William Street in Newark, New Jersey. Even though de Smedt's technique worked well, even by 1904, there were only 154 miles of paved highway in the entire country. Today, there are over a million miles of urban highways, including more than 59,000 miles of interstate roads and other freeways. You can find more facts about America's people, places and economy from the American Community Survey at www.census.gov.
Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 6621
www.famousbelgian.net/desmedt.htm
Historical Statistics of the United States: Colonial Times to 1970, p. 710
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012, t. 1089
Profile America is produced by the Center for New Media and Promotions of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
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