Tarmac Group centenary in 1953, Tarmac was processing over two million tons of slag a year, its road surfacing had developed into a significant civil engineering business, and its Vinculum subsidiary "had become one of the major precast concrete undertakings in the country." Under Robin Martin's leadership, Tarmac moved from being an important regional force to a national roadstone and contracting business. Acquisitions played a major role in Tarmac's growth. While leading the roadstone division, Martin had been responsible in 1959 for the acquisition of local competitor Tarslag and Crow Catchpole, which gave it a greater presence in the south east. In
History of road transport the trusts and restrictions on the width of wheels - narrow wheels were said to cause a disproportionate amount of damage to the road. The quality of early turnpike roads was varied. Although turnpiking did result in some improvement to each highway, the technologies used to deal with geological features, drainage, and the effects of weather, were all in their infancy. Road construction improved slowly, initially through the efforts of individual surveyors such as John Metcalf in Yorkshire in the 1760s. British turnpike builders began to realise the importance of selecting clean stones for surfacing, and excluding vegetable material and