Westering in the Age of Automobiles


America's emerging highway infrastructure presented both a commercial and a mythical frontier. The highways acted as a commercial frontier because they increased access to undeveloped land. New kinds of businesses and communities specifically tailored to meet the demands of a mobile population could evolve alongside the new roads. The highways were also mythic spaces. Like America's western frontier, they acted as a cultural repository for ideas of adventure, self-discovery, and unbounded freedom.