How The Ancient Romans Constructed Roads

Everyday, we probably get into our cars and drive off to work or school drop off or wherever we’re headed without a second thought to the roads we’re driving on.

Along the way we might even pass road works underway, but again, we probably don’t really think much about it – except for maybe how annoying the traffic backup is.

But we take for granted how easy roadwork is these days. Back in the days of the Romans, things were more complicated.

Romans built roads, but they weren’t made of cobblestone, and they weren’t built by peasants. In fact, it took a whole team of laborers and skilled engineers to come up with the roads that traveled the whole of the Roman Empire.

It started out with choosing an area of land. Once the Romans knew where the road was going to be built, they had to clear the way. This meant deforestation of any vegetation or trees in the way. Then, the topsoil was removed until there was a solid bottom. This would be the foundation on which the road would be built.

The building of the roads was a multi-layer constriction. First, markers were laid down, followed by large stones, then smaller stones were used to fill in the gaps.

On top of this was poured gravel, sand, and clay to make a surface level. And voila! A smooth road. Pretty cool, right?

Watch the video below:

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