General Survey Act
The General Survey Act was a law passed by the United States Congress in April 1824, which authorized the president to have surveys made of routes for transport roads and canals "of national importance, in a commercial or military point of view, or necessary for the transportation of public mail." While such infrastructure of national scope had been discussed and shown wanting for years, its passage shortly followed the landmark Supreme Court ruling, Gibbons v. Ogden, which first established federal authority over interstate commerce including navigation by river. The president assigned responsibility for the surveys to the Corps of Engineers.[1]
Of the federally appropriated funds for surveys roads and canals of national importance President James Monroe allocated one third of the sum to surveying a military highway connecting Detroit with Fort Dearborn at Chicago, called the Chicago Road.[2] In a separate piece of legislation passed a month later, often called the first Rivers and Harbors Act, Congress appropriated $75,000 to improve navigation on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers by removing sandbars, snags, and other obstacles.[1]
Over the years, more appropriations were made and the system of roads and canals developed in other areas.
References
- ^ a b Improving Transportation, USACE
- ^ Footpathes to Freeway, The Evolution of Michigan Roadmaps, Kathleen Weessies, Michigan State University Library, May 17, 2007