Jean Chretien Baud, a former Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies (1834-1836), knew what the Dutch Indies needed after replacing Johannes van den Bosch as Minister of the Netherlands Colony in 1840: development of transportation.

Roads had been around since the beginning of the 19th century along the northern coast of Java. However, De Groote Postweg or the Great Postal Road, built during the reign of Governor-General Herman Willem Daendels