Comparisons to the durability of modern roads at Reddit.
Reposted from 2016 to add this interesting video on how the Romans constructed their roads (via Open Culture, where there is another video and additional links)
The bit about the "side ditches" is new to me, and interesting. Perhaps there was a fee assessed for locals to use the roads and only limited access points. A corollary would be that these Roman roads could be enormously disruptive to any local economy.
cobblestoned streets last forever as well. of course, it is kind of funny to see how poorly the cobblestones are put back after some 'dig we must' happens. that skill is gone!
ReplyDeleteI-)
It's admirable that the road would last that long, but do we suppose it would have lasted that long if it were highway with automobiles?
ReplyDeleteTo compare a stone road with asphalt might not give us a fair comparison.
I am reminded of what was called the American Road (I think it might have been among the very earlies government outlays for such things). Like the Romans, the road bed was first prepared. Eventually stones were brought on site. Many of these stones were broken down into small gravel by the men working on the road. The larger stones were placed at some point. I'm not sure of exactly whether the small gravel was used to fill in spaces between larger stones or to simply make the roadbed more durable.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this one?
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Road