Before the Revolution, the railroad led to a transportation revolution. However, even the great nineteenth-century railroad building boom left most areas isolated. In the early 1920s, France had eight times as many kilometers of railroad per square kilometer as Mexico did, while the United States had five times as many.29
After the Revolution, road building created another transportation revolution. Calles initiated a massive road-building program that integrated isolated rural areas into the national economy and facilitated sanitation and health programs. A variety of interests—including construction companies, auto manufacturers, and auto dealers—lobbied for increased highway construction.30
Mexico’s first highway, from Mexico City to Puebla, was completed in 1926. That same year work started on the Pan American Highway, which would link Mexico City to the United States. However, it would be decades before roads posed a serious challenge to the railroad. As late as 1930, Mexico only had 868 miles of paved road, probably less than the City of Los Angeles.31
During the 1930s, agrarian expert Eyler Simpson described Mexican goals and needs as “roads and schools, Fords and books.” Cardenas shared this view, devoting 26.6 percent of government investment to road building, literally paving the way for subsequent development. Between 1930 and 1940, road mileage increased from 884 miles to 6,156. During this same period, the number of motor vehicles increased from 85,535 to 149,455. By 1940, highways linked eleven of Mexico’s twelve largest cities. Of the twelve, only Merida remained isolated.32
By reducing transportation costs, new roads facilitated a consumer invasion that included Frigidaires and Palmolive products. They also increased personal mobility, taking villagers to the city. Many, especially the better educated, never returned.33
Road building facilitated an expansion of tourism. In 1920, only 8,000 foreign tourists, almost all from the United States, entered Mexico. To increase this number, in 1928 the Mexican government formed a commission to promote tourism. The commission placed ads in U. S. media and worked diligently to generate favorable stories concerning Mexican tourism. A flood of U. S. tourists ensued. The number of visitors further increased as auto ownership in the United States became widespread and Europe was closed to tourism due to war. In 1939, 139,010 foreign tourists, of whom 86.1 percent came by car, visited Mexico. That year U. S. tourists spent $52 million. This increase in tourism led to a boom in hotel and service-related construction.34
Elaborate celebrations marked the opening of new highways, just as they had marked the opening of new rail lines in the nineteenth century. To celebrate the completion in 1939 of the Pan American Highway from Laredo, Texas, to Mexico City, a celebrity motorcade wended its way from the border to the capital.35
World History
