Were Roman Roads more Durable than Modern Highways?

YouTube ^ | February 4, 2022 | Garrett Ryan, Ph.D

[SunkenCiv]

This video explores the famous Roman roads, and investigates why - after 2,000 years of wear and tear - they seem to be in better shape than most expressways in modern America.

Chapters:
0:00 Introduction
0:59 The Roman road network
2:23 Building the roads
3:25 Traffic on the roads
4:48 StartMail (paid ad)
5:53 Cuts, bridges, and tunnels
7:58 Longevity of the roads
9:16 Comparing ancient and modern roads
10:39 Conclusion

Were Roman Roads more Durable than Modern Highways? | February 4, 2022 | toldinstone

[SunkenCiv]

The rest of the Roman Roads keyword, sorted:

• Ruins of bustling Roman town discovered in UK [South Northamptonshire, which may be just north of North Southamptonshire] [02/06/2022]
• Ancient Roman Road Discovered Under The Waves of Venice [07/23/2021]
• Spalding dig uncovers evidence of Romans transporting salt from road site [10/07/2020]
• Trekking The Roman Road To Scotland [05/31/2020]
• All roads DID lead to Rome [11/26/2019]
• Roman road discovered during digging in German city Aachen [11/09/2017]
• Long-lost Roman roads discovered on flood maps: Hi-tech Lidar data... [01/12/2016]
• Like being there: Walking through an ancient Roman town [06/23/2015]
• Archaeologists discover Britain's longest road to be 10,000 year[s] old [06/14/2014]
• 'Roman' roads were actually built by the Celts, new book claims [10/13/2013]
• Iron Age road link to Iceni tribe [08/15/2011]
• Big noses, curly hair on empress's coffin suggests deep cultural exchange on Silk Road [09/20/2010]
• Well-preserved Roman road found in southern Serbia [06/24/2010]
• Ancient Roman road map unveiled [11/26/2007]
• Ancient Roman Road Found In Netherlands [01/06/2007]
• Road sees first traffic for 1,400 years [07/28/2006]
• Egnatia Digs Reveal Roman Road Secrets [07/28/2005]
• Scientists Discover Ancient Sea Wharf (Marine Silk Road) [12/30/2004]
• Roman roads in Britain [10/16/2004]
• The Voyage around the Erythraean Sea [09/12/2004]
• Archaeologists Find Silk Road Equal [06/12/2002]

[SunkenCiv]

[dsrtsage]

The ones built before the democrats took over, murdered Donaldus Trumpicus… ahhhh Caesar and opened the gates to the visigoth hordes because they thought they would get more votes from a barbarian underclass, were better

[HighSierra5]

They’d probably fail if you had a convoy of big rigs rumbling across them.

[waterhill]

A lot of them are still around, so there is that.

[SunkenCiv]

---

Did Nero find the Source of the Nile? Ancient Roman Exploration in Africa
February 9, 2019 | Dr Raoul McLaughlin

---

[snip] I was particularly anxious to learn from them why the Nile, at the commencement of the summer solstice, begins to rise, and continues to increase for a hundred days -- and why, as soon as that number is past, it forthwith retires and contracts its stream, continuing low during the whole of the winter until the summer solstice comes round again... Some of the Greeks, however, wishing to get a reputation for cleverness, have offered explanations of the phenomena of the river, for which they have accounted in three different ways... One pretends that the Etesian winds cause the rise of the river by preventing the Nile-water from running off into the sea... The second opinion is even more unscientific... that the Nile acts so strangely, because it flows from the ocean, and that the ocean flows all round the earth. The third explanation, which is very much more plausible than either of the others, is positively the furthest from the truth... that the inundation of the Nile is caused by the melting of snows. Now, as the Nile flows out of Libya, through Ethiopia, into Egypt, how is it possible that it can be formed of melted snow, running, as it does, from the hottest regions of the world into cooler countries? ...I will therefore proceed to explain what I think to be the reason of the Nile's swelling in the summer time. During the winter, the sun is driven out of his usual course by the storms, and removes to the upper parts of Libya. This is the whole secret in the fewest possible words; for it stands to reason that the country to which the Sun-god approaches the nearest, and which he passes most directly over, will be scantest of water, and that there the streams which feed the rivers will shrink the most. [/snip]

• Herodotus, "The Histories" Book II -- Euterpe | tr by George Rawlinson

---

[SunkenCiv]

Especially if they crashed the gate doing 98...

[aMorePerfectUnion]

Aliens. Alien technology is the answer.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

The State, in it’s infinite wisdom requires California roads be built out of crappy materials. They can repave a road and, in short order, there will be potholes the size of garbage cans. The new paving materials peel off the older roadway underneath at an alarming rate.

Our roads here last a couple of years at best, not millennia.

[SunkenCiv]

Yup.

[snip] modern-day Watling Street neatly divides into two convenient sections. From the coast at Dover to London, it is the A2 sometimes called the Great Dover Road. From London, the A5 follows Watling Street north to its original end in Wroxeter, just outside Shrewsbury. [/snip]

https://britishheritage.com/travel/watling-street

[oldasrocks]

Roman roads were not built by the lowest bidder.

[SunkenCiv]

https://www.google.com/search?q=roman+roads+still+in+use

https://www.thetravel.com/do-roman-roads-still-exist/

https://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/lifestyle/cars/10-roman-roads-still-used-uk-motorists-today-424296

https://www.dievole.it/en/blog/roman-roads/

https://www.quora.com/Are-Roman-roads-still-in-use-today

[SunkenCiv]

Is it even possible? Yes, it is.

Is it even possible? Yes, it is.

[Farmerbob]

Roman road building was not meant to be a never-ending jobs program.

[Dead Corpse]

Yes. Next question...

Modern roads are a Union driven joke.

[SunkenCiv]

How long did messages take to cross the Roman Empire? As we'll see in this video, the answer depended on the season, the sender's connections, and luck...

How quickly could a Letter cross the Roman Empire?
December 17, 2021 | toldinstone

[I want the USA back]

Did 18 wheelers speed over them?
Thousands of cars?
Oh, horses and chariots. Oh, so that’s why they lasted a long time.

[PAR35]

Roads started failing so badly when the feds raised the weight limit from 64,000 to 80,000 pounds. Highway contractors hit the jackpot.

[thesearethetimes...]

One of the coolest things - in Pompeii - small chips of reflective/fluorescent stones for nighttime 😏

[dainbramaged]

Roman roads usually did not have curves, they used angle points. According to historians, the reason was that practicality that characterized the Romans. In this case, although they knew how to engineer curves, they preferred short stretches of straight lines that changed direction according to the needs of the terrain: straight stretches permitted a better visualization of the signaling beacons.