Richard DeLuca

Paved Roads & Public Money

Richard DeLuca

<P>Paved Roads & Public Money describes the evolution of transportation systems in modern Connecticut. It is the second book in a two-volume study that begins with the bicycle craze of the 1880s, and ends with the efforts of the Malloy and Lamont administrations to revitalize Connecticut transportation in the twenty-first century. The story includes aviation, highways, bridges, ferries, steamboats, canals, railroads, electric trolleys, and water ports in Connecticut and along the multi-state travel corridor from New York to Boston. Drawing on a wide array of primary material, Richard DeLuca examines how land, law, and technology have shaped the state and its transportation systems, giving special attention to the state's two largest transportation monopolies: the New Haven Railroad and the Connecticut Department of Transportation. The book focuses on key events in the development of transportation and legislation. It is arranged chronologically, and by highlighting themes from each period shows the implications of the state's transportation history on current debates about infrastructure and funding. It features 50 illustrations and three appendices: population by geomorphic region, a list of controlled access highways, and a list of notable highway bridges.</P>

Post Roads & Iron Horses

Richard DeLuca

<P>Post Roads & Iron Horses is the first book to look in detail at the turnpikes, steamboats, canals, railroads, and trolleys (street railroads) that helped define Connecticut and shape New England. Advances in transportation technology during the nineteenth century transformed the Constitution State from a rough network of colonial towns to an industrial powerhouse of the Gilded Age. From the race to build the Farmington Canal to the shift from water to rail transport, historian and transportation engineer Richard DeLuca gives us engaging stories and traces the significant themes that emerge as American innovators and financiers, lawyers and legislators, struggle to control the movement of passengers and goods in southern New England. The book contains over fifty historical images and maps, and provides an excellent point of view from which to interpret the history of New England as a whole. This is an indispensable reference book for those interested in Connecticut history and a great gift for transportation buffs of all kinds.</P>