Map Indicating Main Automobile Roads Between Canada and United States

Building an international road network in North America during the Great Depression.

This brightly colored road map of the United States and Canada was compiled by the latter’s National Development Bureau under F.C.C. Lynch in 1931. It highlights the primary automobile routes in operation between the two nations just a few years into the Great Depression. Cities, geographic features, political boundaries, and National Parks are noted, but otherwise, information is limited.

Despite being of Canadian origin, the map depicts the American highway network as incredibly robust when compared to that of its northern neighbor. Ontario, in particular, is nearly bereft of automobile roads. Though Canada’s road construction did lag behind the U.S., the image may have been crafted deliberately to provoke the audience into encouraging greater spending on roads.