The Roman Roads Research Association | Hacker News Reader

The Roman Roads Research Association

romanroads.org

109 pointsbjourne10 comments

Many fine drives on British roads laid over or alongside Roman ones. The A68 is said to be one. Bits of the A1. Watling Street.

I tend to think "stick to straight lines" was more pragmatic genius than a curse. Doable with tools available for surveying of the time, easy to communicate to staff and labour.

Modern Australian roads in the bush have inexplicable kinks, 100km of direct, then a bend. I think Fred on the tractor got bored.

> Modern Australian roads in the bush have inexplicable kinks, 100km of direct, then a bend. I think Fred on the tractor got bored.

Or long stretches of monotonous driving can cause people to'self hypnotize' and 'zone out', so a bit of 'variety' very so often may help with alertness.

See perhaps:

> The Autovía del Olivar which unites Úbeda with Estepa in Andalucia in southern Spain. A geometric design saved on construction costs and improved visibility with the intention to reduce the likelihood of traffic incidents

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geometric_design_of_roads

Also maybe:

* https://ssti.us/2019/10/28/more-sharp-curves-make-roads-safe...

There is Spanish Youtuber called Isaac Moreno that is really worth checking out for anyone interested in Roman roads and Roman engineering in general.

https://www.youtube.com/@IsaacMorenoGallo

Prehistoric fields have also been identified with Lidar.

https://celtic-fields.com

I want to write a comment about living next to the Fosse Way but instead I have to point out that website is only missing the <blink> tag.

Very nice to see, given I live within a couple of hundred metres of Watling St. (Cricklewood Broadway)

Isn't this just the Roads Research Association?

It only covers Roman Empire Roads.

  Roman roads relied on thickness and rigidity, and sometimes needed excavations up to 2m deep. This meant they were long lasting but allowed nothing for temperature induced expansion or contraction. They were consequently prone to surface fissuring and uneven drainage.

Vs:

  The Chinese roads, on the other hand, were more akin to modern highways, being thinner and more elastic. They were built with a rubble sub-base onto which a layer of finely tamped gravel was added to produce a 'water- bound macadam'.

Other ancient road networks existed, but Rome and China were the big two from a civil engineering PoV.

Is that thing about 2m excavations actually true though? I read that it was actually a bit of a legend that started by somebody mistaking the construction process of foundations for villas with those of roads, and it just became assumed knowledge.

Obviously they were paved, but as I now understand it they were far simpler than the several layers I’d seen in history picture books in primary school! Otherwise the amount of material even a short stretch of road would need would be utterly impracticably huge.

From a civil engineering perspective, across thousands of km of Roman roads a statement like "and sometimes needed excavations up to 2m deep" would be true but uncommon.

( There's always going to be that vast length of bog, to long to justify going around, that needs crossing )

The main point here is that other large road systems existed at the same time as Roman roads.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com