Billy Edd Wheeler was born in Whitesville, West Virginia, in 1932. He attended Berea College (didn't Mudcat's Catspaw attend there?).
I haven't seen any definitive explanation of the song, but I'd suppose it is automobile/truck roads because they are described as "dusty." I think the roads are a symbol for the mining and industrialization that ruined much of the Appalachians.
-Joe-