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The onset of roads in the history of El Salvador, dating from 1528, the date on which it was founded by the Spanish Village of San Salvador, in which they took fifteen days to trace the streets, square and church, then the streets from different villages were only reinforced earth and main stone, as the transport vehicle were used bogies or horses.
Modernization of transport infrastructure that began with the railroads, could also be seen in major cities of San Salvador and Santa Ana. The carts and carriages carrying people from one point of the city to another were replaced first by trams animal traction and then with electric trams. Already in the 1920s they were asphalted the main streets of San Salvador, and improvement of the streets also due to another fundamental consideration: the arrival of the car back in 1915 and a few years later, the truck and bus.
Thereafter the growth of urban and interurban road infrastructure has been increasing rapidly, according to the expansion of industrial centers, production, services as well as housing, proof of this is the expansion of the "urban sprawl" in the city of San Salvador, which has always been considered the main source of economic growth, this generates demand for services, especially communication and transport, because without them can not be achieved mobility products for marketing, in addition to directly influence the costs of items through the amounts for production.
In 1905 it is created an office under the name of Officer Corps Engineers. In this office he corresponded the Directorate General of Public Works and report directly to the Ministry of Public Works, except that the road works were carried out by the Ministry of Interior. This corresponded immediate technical inspection in the execution of all works without being nationals assist it with funds from the public treasury, assigning functions execution and maintenance of public works, and the construction and maintenance of buildings for service public, and in general, all the works of beautification and improvement of the populations of the Republic, among others.
In 1916 the Executive considering the urgent need to have good communication regarding traffic at the time, as well as commercial, industrial and agricultural individual needs of the country and considering that this should be for its great importance, object management and special study, totally separate from the large number of jobs had entrusted the officer corps of Engineers and Department of Public works, issued the decree establishing the Directorate General of Roads, which would function as a technical entity - Advisory , attached to the Ministry of the Interior and Public works, which would be responsible for everything related to the roads of the Republic, bridges and works that relate to them.
It was not until 1917 that a legislative decree creating the Ministry of Development and Public Works, which later assume all the duties entrusted to the former offices of road regulation is issued.
In 1920, the Directorate General of Public Works in the field of Public Works had a section of Roads, as well as a section of Architecture, Sanitation and Water, and a section of Roads, Bridges and causeways.
In 1936, the Department of Public Works was composed of the Department of Hydraulic and Water Service Maintenance and paving the Capital and the Department of Construction and Architecture.
In 1948, the Ministry of Development and Public Works had the Highways Agency.