In a message dated 4/2/2005 4:04:58 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, OHGALLIA-D-request@rootsweb.com writes: The people of this county are experiencing the annual tribulation at this season of being wholly without McAdamized roads. I am a very curious person so when I read that the people were suffering their annual tribulation at this seaon of being wholly without McAdamized roads, I had to research further. Interesting, this is also where the airport Tarmac came from "Tarmacadam"--read on! John Loudon McAdam John Loudon McAdam John Loudon McAdam (_September 21_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=September+21&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sb id=lc03a) , _1756_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=1756&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) - _November 26_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=November+26&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) , _1836_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=1836&g wp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) ) was a Scottish engineer and road-builder. He invented a new process for building roads with a smooth hard surface that would be more durable and less muddy than plain dirt, called 'macadamization'. He was born in _Ayr_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Ayr&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) , _Scotland_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=222 2&dekey=Scotland&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) . He moved to _New York_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&de key=New+York&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) in 1770 as a young man and made his fortune working at his uncle's counting-house with a successful career as a merchant and prize agent during the American Revolution. He returned to _Scotland_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Scotland&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) in 1783 and purchased an estate at Sauchrie, _Ayrshire_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Ayrshire&gwp=8&c urtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) . As an estate-owner and road trustee, he then commenced work on finding ways to improve the notoriously bad roads of Great Britain. His eventual conclusion was that roads needed to be raised above the surrounding ground, and carefully constructed from layered rocks and gravel. He wrote two treatises documenting his research, Remarks on the Present System of Road-Making (1816) Practical Essay on the Scientific Repair and Preservation of Roads (1819). In 1820 Parliament awarded him 2,000 pounds for his efforts and in 1827 he was made Surveyor-General of metropolitan roads. When he was appointed surveyor to the Bristol Turnpike Trust in 1816 he remade the roads under his control with crushed stone bound with gravel on a firm base of large stones. A camber, making the road slightly convex, ensured the rainwater rapidly drained off the road and did not penetrate the foundations. This way of building roads later became known as the _Macadamized system_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222& dekey=Macadam&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) . When a macadam road was built, side ditches were dug, and the road bed was laid with three layers of decreasingly-sized rocks, carefully pulverized "so as not to exceed 6 ounces in weight or to pass a two-inch ring." The finished road was compacted with a cast-iron roller, and the compaction process was completed by passing traffic. As a result of his success, McAdam was made surveyor-general of metropolitan roads in _England_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=England&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) . By the end of the _19th century_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=19th+century&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) , most of the main roads in Europe were built in this way. John McAdam died at Moffat, Scotland. The first macadamized road in North America was completed in 1830. Although macadamization was replaced by more modern techniques in the early 1900s, the name lives on. _Tarmac_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Tarmac&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03 a) was originally marketed as tar-macadam, because it was a macadamized road incorporating a binder of _tar_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Tar&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) . Modern road surfaces are still largely dependent on McAdam's discovery. Coal tar was first used to bind the stones together, hot-laid tarred aggregate or tar-sprayed chips providing an excellent road-metalling for the surface. Oil-based _asphalt_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Asphalt&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) from _Trinidad and Tobago_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Trinidad+and+Tobago&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) and from refineries was later used as a road surfacing, laid on reinforced concrete, but still owes a lot to McAdam as it is mixed with granite or limestone chippings. This process became known as _Tarmacadam_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Tarmac&gwp=8&curt ab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) (a short form of which is used to refer to airplane runways: "tarmac"). McAdam never really achieved the respect that was his due. He was paid the sum of £5,000 for works done for Turnpike Trusts around _Bristol_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Bristo l&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) , but a proposal for £5,000 from _Parliament_ (http://www.answers.com/main/ntquery;jsessionid=ota4hxkldxpd?method=4&dsid=2222&dekey=Parliament&gwp=8&curtab=2222_1&sbid=lc03a) as a grant for his expenses was first refused, then cut to £2,000, mainly due to professional jealousy. Corruption in roadworks was appalling; by his own efficiency, MacAdam exposed the abuse of road tolls by less scrupulous Turnpike Trusts, many of which were run at a deliberate loss despite high toll receipts. Travellers of all kinds respected McAdam, but those whose scams he had revealed remained his bitter enemies. His reputation has nevertheless survived, as the Scotsman who paved the way for development. 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