Routes of Conflict: Building Roads and Shaping the Nation in Mexico,1941–1952

This essay explores the social, political, and economic impact of road building in Mexico during the Second World War and early Cold War years. It examines the evolution of federal road-building policy alongside regional case studies of construction efforts in the states of Veracruz and Nuevo León to highlight how local politics were influenced by broader transnational processes related to the U.S.—Mexico bilateral relationship. The author argues that road building was an essential component of Mexican economic modernisation in the 1940s and early 1950s, which facilitated new rural—urban market connections and established the development of key commercial industries in the country.