Using the old Native American trails, white settlers to Alabama begin the first transportation system in the state. Early roads were simply dirt paths widened for wagons and animals. Later corduroy and plank roads covered the dirt helping to eliminate the muddy conditions that followed rain. River transportation and the first railroads also played a large part in the growth of Alabama’s transportation during this time. The invention of the automobile caused a revolution in the transportation world and increased the need for a better highway system.