Roads are vital for growth and development in any area. Dr. Charles Floyd, a University of Georgia economist, notes that Georgia roads were not paved even into the 1930s. It was Pres. Franklin Roosevelt who had the idea of an American state highway system. The four-lane divided roads in Germany known as autobahns were used as the model for interstate highways in America. Their construction began in the 1950s under the administration of Pres. Harry Truman. Drivers loved them, but small towns suffered as they were bypassed.