How Did Roman Roads Build Bridges

The fourth factor was the amazing engineers, inventors, and architects in the Empire. By 200 AD the Romans had built 53,000 miles of roads throughout the Empire. The very first was built in 312 BC. They also invented sewers, central heating systems, and the first types of concrete. (Mahoney, 2001)

     In addition, to the Roman government, the modern world has been influenced by Roman architecture as well. In every country and every state these days you will find roads or some type of paved road system. This derived from early Roman architectures. The Romans were the first to set up a highly advanced concrete road system that would aide in traveling. Although not as sophisticated as today's roads, the concrete used was not much different from what is used today. In fact the Roman constructed roads are still intact today. Along with road

To this day, many paths that these roads followed are still being used, which proves that a lot of time and effort were put into these roads to achieve such a high quality and durability.

These technological achievements credited to the Romans were rather only improvements made by the Romans to inventions previously discovered by earlier societies. Concrete is the only invention that can solely be credited to the Romans. As stated earlier the remains of the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius were discovered by Romans, as well as the idea of mixing these remains with water. Aside from concrete, all technological achievements credited to the Romans were only improvements on ideas borrowed from others (Boatwright). Roads can be dated back to Mesopotamia. The earliest roads served the sole purpose of allowing wagons and chariots to easily pass through cities. Some were built from brick and asphalt or limestone slabs, but it is not until the Roman improvement to make roads deeper and more durable that roads received national recognition. Although early societies in Mesopotamia had created roads long before the Romans, the Romans borrowed this technology and improved it to increase the productivity of their own expansion (Roads). India is known to have some of the

To continue, the Roman empire allowed the advancement of technology because of how most of the documents concerning the Roman empire talked about how Government officials spoke positively about the advancements in technology. In Document #6 the high official, Plutarch, talk about how the Roman political leader Gaius Gracchus put a lot of time into the advancement of the roads in the empire. Plutarch talked about how Gaius made constant improvements to the roads like placing pillars of stone at certain points along the road as a distant marker to help travelers and merchants to judge distances. As well as creating stepping stones to help horse-back riders mount their horses. This all relates to the Advancements of technology as the distance pillars show the creation of easier distance tracking and mapping of the area as engineers had to have made the pillars and placed them in certain places that accurately represents the distance. Not only this but the stepping stones are a sign of advancements uses for the pillar as they are used for the creation for distance pillars,

The Romans engaged in various forms of public works, whether constructing amphitheaters or aqueducts, the Romans funded infrastructure all across the Empire. Aqueducts greatly improved water supplies, roads made trade and travel easier, amphitheaters spread Roman culture, and military fortresses protect Rome and its people. The Romans contribution to local infrastructure all but insured their

The way that this was faster is because it cut through several different towns and lead out into those towns.It made it a way to not have to go into the the land that they were cutting through, they only had to go through part of it on the Silk Road.

Roads and canals will shorten distances, effortless way to get somewhere, and facilitate commercial and personal communication. The first roads in America were developed by early settlers. “The National Road was the first highway built entirely with federal funds. The road was authorized by Congress in 1806 during the Jefferson Administration” (“The National Road” par. 1). The first 10 miles of roads were built. Wagons were slow and very difficult to use on dirt roads because of the weather. In 1811, the federal government opened the national road connecting Cumberland, Maryland to Ohio River. Road improvements may have made it possible for more people to live in a specific area, because access between that area and major job location centers is facilitated by the improved roads. Around 1821, there was around 4,000

In document 8, the “flowing aqueducts” of the Roman Empire greatly increased the ability for people to live in very condensed areas, and therefore making the empire more efficient by allowing more people to live in smaller areas. The elected officials in each respected empire noted that, because of the technological advances, the empress benefited. Thus showing that the ideas of man to invent and reinvent are not always broken causes. Document 6 states that, the romans had very advanced roads built, roads built to last thousands of years. “For the roads were built to carry straight through the country without wavering and were paved with quarried stone and made solid by tightly packed sand.” This quote shows that, because of how technologically advanced the Romans were, they were able to build these roads, roads that still last

One of the most visible changes in landscape was the construction of Roman roads. Prior to this, Britain used unpaved track ways for their communications. The Roman created straight, paved roads which could be used in all weather conditions. The development of Over 9,000kilometres of roads meant communication and travel from one area of Britain to another was made substantially easier. Although they were mainly designed for a military purpose, it had a positive impact on trade as it became easier to transport goods.

The roads ended up reaching all the way to Modern Day Egypt and Northwestern Europe. Document 4a explains Rome’s need for good roads. “Roads meant that orders, troops, and supplies could be sent quickly throughout the empire.” Rome was able to be quick and efficient in war because they chose to develop their geography to their advantage. Document 4b shows the intelligent way. Romans built their roads. They made three layers: large stones, small stones, and cobble, making it curved, with ditches on either side for drainage, to prevent

Like normal roads, the National Road began to deteriorate over time and because of that, the federal government stopped funding the road and it was abandoned at Vandalia, IL for “political and practical reasons”. Originally the plans called for it to stretch from Baltimore to St. Louis but the rapid growth of railroads led to the project being abandoned. Even though it never quite reached the final goal, it did eventually stretch 800 miles. Now, present day National Road is now part of U.S. Route 40. Roads today are either under construction or in need of construction. In the year 1811, Washington and Jefferson advocated on the idea to aid western expansion, so work on the “National Road” or “Cumberland Road”. This is the first road that was surveyed by Congress in 1806-7 and built from 1811-37. This road branched from the Cumberland, MD. In order to create this massive road, it had to under very crucial

Greek didn’t have the technologies to make these roads. Another thing Rome was good at was making bridges. If Rome had to cross a river to get to a battle, they built a well-made bridge and marched their soldiers across it. The Greeks, although advanced, were not advanced enough to be able to build these great wonders quickly and efficiently.

The very first roadway that Rome created was by way of military campaign. The Romans fought with the Samnites for over 50 years, during this time they had to continuously adapt and critique their army style and skills. The Samnites at one point during these years was joined by the Etruscans and the Gauls. Rome’s only way out was to form colonies with in the south . Yet most of the land was very rough terrain. The Romans at that point, by order of Appius Claudius Caecus in 312BCE constructed the Via Appia; this roadway originally ran southeast from

These roads were so well built that some of them are still in use by modern travelers. Romans knew that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line and built their roads incredibly straight, stretching for miles without a single turn. The use of stone in building roads enabled people to travel during inclement weather while dirt roads may remain too muddy to travel upon for many days after a hard rain. The Ancient Romans also knew of a road building technique that escapes the builders of modern roads in states such as Florida. This technique is known as crowning, this involves making the center of the roads higher than the sides, with a gradual slope to allow water to run off the sides instead of collecting in the middle. By the time the great Roman Empire fell, the Roman Army had built roads connecting all of their empire to Rome.