Tarmac Group of the 1980s, British housebuilding was accounting for half of group profits but it was not the only activity to have been expanded. An alternative profits centre had been built up in the United States, starting in 1984, with the staged acquisition of Lone Star Industries; by the end of the decade Tarmac was operating across seven states in the United States. Construction in the United Kingdom had also grown and Tarmac was involved in such prestige projects as the Thames Barrier and the Channel Tunnel. However, the expansionary nature of the group did not leave it well placed to
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