The New Road: I-26 and the Footprints of Progress in Appalachia (Center Books on the American South)

Rob Amberg’s examination of the construction of a nine-mile section of Interstate 26 is a moving study of the effect of road building on landscape and culture. In 1994, Amberg began documenting the progress of the largest earth moving project in state history through the most rural and rugged reaches of Madison County, North Carolina. Using oral histories, narrative writing, and photographs, The New Road explores the inherent tensions and contradictions faced by an Appalachian community trying to balance progress and preservation.