Who will stop all this madness that has consequences no man understand. No man, no land!

Autoroutes Francaises

http://i.imgur.com/QL1eNAr.png

(roads in black are completed, roads in red are to be under construction in the second phase)

It was the first of its kind in the world. A long line of pavement stretched to the horizon, four lanes with a grassy divider in the middle. As far as the eye could see it cross the landscape, and one could see rather well from a podium erected for the various dignities celebrating the completion of the first stage of the French Autoroute system. No other nation had built such a system of highways to the extent France had, not in such short time certainly! It had been four years since the French Republic had started work on building a network of highways across France, and in that time tremendous progress had been made, linking together much of the Hexagon.

Albert Lebrun, the President of the French Republic, was there for the formal inauguration of the first stage of France's autoroute system. He gave a brief speech talking about the great march of progress made by French civilization, as France was linked together both in form and in spirit by its roads. A number of other delegates spoke after that, including project managers, parliamentary representatives, and even a few automobile company delegates. The gist was clear; a great and monumental stride of progress for the French nation was in place.

Soon thereafter the newly opened stretch of Autoroute saw the first cars flowing through. Formally the Autoroute had no speed limit, although generally car's power levels limited them effectively. Routes travelled to their destinations effiicently and straightly, but also with curves and small detours to take into account the natural beauty of France - for this too was one of the ideals of the Autoroute, to bring the French people back into touch with their land and their nation. Financing for it is to be provided by fuel taxes and taxes on aother automobile related matters, as well as general allotments for building. In general the maximum grade was limited to some 5 degrees, except in some parts of Southern France where it was instead limited to 8. Nor are there any intersections, againin improving the speed of travel on the routes. Networks of rest stops and filling stations dot the sides, enabling travel across all of France.

While the first section of the roads are complete, the second project, Section B, calls for further extending the road network to incorporate more cities, more connections, to bring France together as one under one of her greatest public works programs. This is to be completed by 1939-1940. The creation of the current infrastructure has been a great boom to the French economy and section B will only extend it. With already great strides being made in regards to motor vehicle production (improving further off previous levels, France of course has long been one of the premier automobile manufacturers in Europe)