Haiti's roads, on Yarrington's account, were shaped by a quarrel over the meaning of a word. Rival Haitian understandings of liberté, the article contends, organized an ideological contest that governed how the country's transport infrastructure did and did not develop.

The span under examination runs from independence in 1804 to the arrival of the United States Occupation, which lasted from 1915 to 1934. Only the opening of the abstract is available, so the fuller argument about mobility and urbanization is not represented here.