Asphalt Roads

The 1st road use of asphalt occurred in 1824, when asphalt blocks were placed on the Champs-Elysees in Paris. Modern road asphalt was the work of Edward de Smedt at Columbia Universuty in New York City. In 1872 he had engineered a modern, 'well graded' maximum-density asphalt. The 1st uses of this road asphalt were in Battery Park and on Fifth Avenus in New York in 1872 and on Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington DC by 1877. Today, 96% of all paved roads in the Us are surfaced with asphalt.