🛣️ Can someone build roads without seeing them?

On this road under us, our wheels roll smooth and flat. Somebody had to build it! Road building is how people make strong paths for wheels to roll on. So here's a puzzle: can someone build a road without seeing it? Long ago, before there were cars, a boy named John Metcalf lived in England. When he was six, a bad sickness took away his sight.

He learned to play the fiddle, a little violin, and played music for his living. But John wanted to do something bigger. He wanted to build roads! People probably thought that was as silly as a fish riding a bike. But John did it anyway! He knew a good road needs a strong bottom, like the blocks at the base of a tower.

He knew the top should be rounded, so rain runs off to the sides. Then mud can't swallow the wagon wheels. He built about 180 miles of roads, mostly in the north of England! Count the crosswalks we pass. Blind Jack built roads so long you could drive them for a whole afternoon. Today, a statue of him stands in the town of Knaresborough.