In May, 1911, the state government passed the Sproul Road Act which provided the major emphasis for the development of a modern state highway system in Pennsylvania. The Highway Department assigned state roads a number which appeared on internal department maps, but linking the various numbered road segments into continuous routes apparently didn't occur to them. An integrated state route system did not appear until 1925 and was overtaken by the US route system in 1926.

The Federal Aid Road Act signed by President Wilson in 1916 was the first effort by the Federal government to fund road building since the National Road in the 19th century. It was designed to coordinate the building of main roads across state lines much as state road bills, such as the Sproul Road Act, did across county lines.

Henry Ford launched the Model T in 1908, and by 1912 there were almost a million cars on the road. Gulf was the first oil company to distribute free road maps in 1914. Around 1917 saw the beginning of the Auto Trails system of creating routes initiated by Rand McNally.

	1910 THE PENN - JERSEY AUTOMOBILE RED BOOK 1910 VOL. IV, published by W. Nuneviller Company, Philadelphia. This is a 132 page booklet containing maps, ads, and road directions. Pennsylvania is divided into 12 districts with a map for each district and road directions between towns; the same for New Jersey. The title is probably an imitation of 'The Automobile Blue Book'. Later on came 'Green Guides' put out by Clason, and there may have been other colors. The maps are crude, as the Map Image shows, just lines between towns. Note the ad for the Hotel Empire in New York, which is still in business.
	1911 COMPLETE MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA SHOWING PRINCIPAL AUTOMOBILE ROADS ELECTRIC LINES - RAILROADS, engraved and published by the Geographical Publishing Co., Chicago. The map is copyright 1905 but 1910 census data are used in the gazetteer on the verso, so it likely dates circa 1911-15. Major auto routes are crudely shown in broad green bands without road names or route numbers, as shown on the Map Image , and overlaid on an older map (c1905) without roads to make it look up to date. The publisher was struggling to keep up with the times. Electric lines refers to trolly car lines. The 18 x 28 inch map folds into a 7 x 3.5 inch paper folder to which it is attached.
	1912 GOOD ROAD MAP EMBRACING PARTS OF MONTGOMERY - DELAWARE AND CHESTER COUNTIES PENNA., copyright 1912 and published by A. H. Mueller, with a pasted tag saying E. P. Noll & Co. Map Publishers and Mounters, 21 N. Seventh St., Philadelphia, Pa. The map has a linen backing and folds into a 6 X 4 inch paper cover with 'GOOD ROAD MAP' printed on top, and written in ink 'DEL. CHEST. & MONT. CO.' and stamped in red ink 'PENNA.' from E. P. Noll & Co. The map shows major roads in heavy black and secondary roads in double line. Rail lines and towns are also indicated. Only the title area of this 31 x 22 inch map is shown here.
	1913 MENDENHALL'S GUIDE AND ROAD MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA WITH DISTRICT MAPS. Copyright 1913 by C. S. Mendenhall. This is a later version of the map shown for 1905. It is a 28 page booklet with detailed driving instructions between selected cities and small scale maps of Easton-Allentown and Lancaster. A large colored map (39 x 28 inches) is attached to the back cover with main routes hand marked in red. The map has insets of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie, Harrisburg, Scranton, and Reading. It is similar to the 1905 map but updated. The stamp on the cover says the map was sold by the Retail Dept. of Rand McNally & Co., New York City.
	1914 SOUTH WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA ROAD MAP, published by Walker Lith. & Pub. Co., Boston; copyright 1914 by the Automobile Club of Pittsburgh, which was founded in 1903 and formed the nucleus for today's West Penn AAA. This is a heavy folded linen cloth which opens out into a large map 50 x 36 inches. The map panels are glued to the cloth with spaces between so folding does not damage the paper. This map would have been expensive to produce and the $2.00 price on the cover was likely for members only. The map depicts western Pennsylvania from Uniontown north to Mercer and from Blairsville west to the Ohio line. There are no route numbers or trail markings. As the Map Image shows, the road network is highly detailed and shown by double line, with 'improved' roads in red. The image depicts the area just west of Pittsburgh with the Ohio River at the right.
	1915 AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF PITTSBURGH STRIP MAPS. This is a set of 13 maps, twelve 9 x 4 inch strip maps, one of which is shown here, and a 22 x 17 inch map copyright A.B.B. CO., that is, the Automobile Blue Book Company. The strip maps open out to 9 x 8 or 9 x 12. The maps predate trail markings and contain written directions for travel. The large A.B.B. map refers to Volume 2 and 3 of the Blue Book for further directions. The maps came in a 9 x 4 inch brown envelope marked 'ROUTE SHEETS.'
	1916 JOHN WANAMAKER. The map has no title, just copyright 1916 by John Wanamaker. It covers eastern Pennsylvania, Maryland, and all of New Jersey and Delaware. Wanamakers is, of course, the famous department store in Philadelphia and they wanted to be sure their customers could find Philly. One would think it would be hard to miss. Only a small section of this large 38 x 24 inch map is shown here.
	1917 THE AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF PHILADELPHIA ROAD MAP OF NORTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA, C.S. Hammond & Company, New York 1917. This large 42 x 28 inch map is printed on heavy paper and folds into the green and gray 8.5 x 4 inch paper cover shown with the title “Hammond’s Auto Route Map of Northeastern Pennsylvania.” The area covered extends from the state line west to Montrose and south to below Stroudsburg. Blank verso with a scale: 1 inch = 2 miles.
	1918 THE ASSOCIATED TOURS SEASON 1918, Promoted by the Automobile Club of America, Routes Compiled by the Bureau of Tours. Copyright 1918 by The Automobile Club of America. This is a large (40 x 52 inch) wall map covering the area from Maine to northern Maryland and west almost to the Ohio line; Mercer is included but not Sharon. Tour routes are shown in red and other routes with black double lines. There are no route numbers. Tours in Pennsylvania follow today's routes US 30 and US 40, and one from Philadelphia to Binghamton. Towns with participating inns are shown in large type, as are the inn names. Blank verso with a scale: 1 inch = 16 miles. There are wooden rods at top and bottom.
	1919 GOODRICH ROAD MAP OF PENNSYLVANIA, published by the Goodrich National Touring Bureau, copyright B. F. Goodrich Co., Akron. There are neither trail markings nor road names on this 24 x 19 inch map. 'Improved' roads are shown in dark line as the Map Image shows, along with a grease stain. Goodrich began publishing route books in 1912 and maps around 1917. Goodrich also set up route markers similar to Rand McNally's Auto Trails markers; one can be seen on the cover of this map.

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