What is "plank road"

Plank \Plank\, n. [OE. planke, OF. planque, planche, F. planche, fr. L. planca; cf. Gr. ?, ?, anything flat and broad. Cf. Planch.]

1. A broad piece of sawed timber, differing from a board only in being thicker. See Board.

2. Fig.: That which supports or upholds, as a board does a swimmer.

   His charity is a better plank than the faith of an intolerant and bitter-minded bigot.
   --Southey.

3. One of the separate articles in a declaration of the principles of a party or cause; as, a plank in the national platform. [Cant]

   Plank road, or Plank way, a road surface formed of planks. [U.S.]

   To walk the plank, to walk along a plank laid across the bulwark of a ship, until one overbalances it and falls into the sea; -- a method of disposing of captives practiced by pirates.

A plank road is a dirt path or road covered with a series of wooden planks. Plank roads were very popular in Ontario, the U.S. Northeast and U.S. Midwest in the first half of the 19th century. They were often built by turnpike companies.