Every object is said to have an associative value.
Skyscrapers represent ambition.
Picket fences represent domesticity. The Statue of Liberty represents America. At a certain point, the lines that define the actual and the symbol become blurred, such that it is difficult to pinpoint when the ideas were associated with the objects. As new and greater road-systems are added year by year they are more splendidly built. They are handed down generationally, taught to us in school, or subtly presented by the media.