It was the 1950s, and post-war prosperity was changing everything. Detroit was pumping out sleek new Fords and Chevrolets that were faster and bigger than ever before. It was a time of great optimism, a time of great hope. The era of the automobile had arrived, and the world would never be the same.
Like everyone else in North America, New Brunswickers fell in love with their cars and the freedom of movement this new, automotive age allowed. But those sleek new cars needed sleek new roads, and in the 1950s, New Brunswick’s roads were anything but sleek.
The book, Shoulder to Shoulder, is the story of how a group of visionary contractors and businessmen joined together in 1958 and, through the creation of the Road Builders Association of New Brunswick, ushered in the province’s golden age of road building. It is the story of big men with big ideas and big cars, men who drove themselves at full throttle, pushing everything to the limit. Through hard work, determination and luck, these colourful characters helped transform a decrepit network of winding, half-paved roads into one of the most modern and efficient highway systems in Canada.
[Lane MacIntosh, Shoulder to Shoulder, Road Builders Association of New New Brusnwick, Fredericton, NB, December, 2009. Image shows The Road Builders Association of New Brunswick, board of directors, 1959. From left to right: Roscoe Snodgrass, Winston Steeves, Doug Brewer, Arthur Ormiston (president), Ashley Colter (honourary president), Lyn Phillips, Jack Esson and Val Dexter]
