According to Wikipedia, they also repaired the damaged/destroyed bridges. Strange omission from the article.

"The convoy broke and repaired 88 wooden bridges" [1]

[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcontinental_Motor_Convoy

The most remarkable part of that is that they were willing to risk breaking bridges then broke them then fixed them on their own without being sued into doing so by the municipalities that owned the bridges. It truly was a different time.

Not sure why you're so shocked. This was standard practice back in the day for measuring & testing bridge capacity; you'd build the bridge then drive a bunch of heavy trucks over it until it breaks, then rebuild the bridge. That's just how things were done.

Reference: https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1986/11/26

Sounds like modern day software development.

MVB. Minimally Viable Bridge.

I said it was remarkable though upon reflection I guess that was mostly sarcasm. I guess I mostly wanted to call attention to the fact that that's how things were done back then and that things <gasp> actually got done.

The post you're replying to is citing the father from Calvin & Hobbes, so I suspect it's sarcastic.

And yet, as evidenced, there's actually some truth to it! Who knew, eh?

It was a propaganda effort to get funding for road building. (That's what it means when they say the idea was “to develop a through route from coast to coast for motor transport”.)

Breaking bridges helped demonstrate the need.

Fixing bridges avoided lasting negative feelings towards the demonstration that could backfire politically.

That, together with his 1944 tour of the German autobahn.

EDIT: 1945, as observed down-thread.

Pretty sure that was 1945.

Well I think it should be clear that they were already thinking about it... the trip was more of a publicity stunt / experiment / illustration.

They largely knew it would be a difficult messy situation, and probably was a really good illustration of the challenges that needed to be solved.