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Roman highways exist even to this day, raising questions about why modern roads appear to fail shortly after they're built.
Highway engineers provide a vital service, designing surface transport infrastructure such as roads, footpaths and cycleways.
The public interact directly with these systems when going about their daily lives. As such, poor road surface conditions attract loud criticisms.
All too often, the pothole has been used as a powerful metaphor for economic policy failure and lack of public sector investment. It’s often an emotional subject in local and national politics.
In a catch-22 scenario, repairing these potholes often causes delays and other inconveniences due to road closures, narrow lanes and diversions. This creates another form of motorist angst.
Are Roman roads better?
Although likely tongue-in-cheek – people have sometimes said that Roman roads are better quality than modern highways.
Those who advocate that we go back to the classical Roman techniques point to roads that have survived for millennia.
It’s a stark contrast to recently built roads which appear to fall apart in very short time frames.
Are these sceptics, right? And, as such, should we be building roads like the Romans did?
Is there evidence?
The starting point to address this is to determine if there’s undeniable statistical evidence that Roman roads do indeed outlive their modern equals.
Modern highway engineers can’t argue against the archaeological evidence that support the endurance of specific Roman highways for thousands of years.
But it must also be accepted that some of these ancient roads would’ve been washed away, leaving no traceable remains discoverable by this generation.
Therefore, the fact that some Roman roads are still in good condition doesn’t necessarily mean all their roads were robust.
It’s very likely that a vast majority of the Roman roads failed and disintegrated without a trace, and only the top, crème-de la crème still exists.
From carts and horses to heavy goods vehicles
Comparing Roman roads to modern pavement overlooks a key difference: the weight of the traffic they each had to support.
Roman roads mainly handled the weight of wooden carts pulled by horses, which is nothing compared to the massive trucks we have today, carrying heavy loads like shipping containers.
The wear and tear caused by these modern vehicles are far greater than anything Roman roads would have faced, making the comparison unfair.
Did the Romans consider sustainability?
Another aspect this misconception ignores is that sustainability is much more important in design in modern road pavement design.
There’s an emphasis on balancing material use against the design life of infrastructure.
Sustainability wouldn’t have been the priority of the Romans.
They probably over-engineered those pavement structures that remain.
These days, we think about achieving an overall best whole-life cost benefit that balances resource use and environmental impacts, cost, user amenity and so on.
What about utilities?
Roman roads didn’t have to contend with a concentrated network of underground utilities installed within or below their pavement systems.
These days, electrical cables, telecommunications, water, and gas are often buried within the roads, as these have become necessary amenities for contemporary living.
This situation means the utility companies regularly break up pavements to install new, or repair existing, utility service cables and ducts.
The breaking up introduces lines or regions of weakness within an otherwise continuous pavement system, and this leads to more rapid failing.
We’re travelling much faster
The speed of vehicles today far exceeds that of the animals pulling carts in Roman times.
This means modern roads need special materials on the surface to provide enough grip for rubberised and pressurised tyres, allowing vehicles to move safely and stop effectively when brakes are applied.
Unlike the rigid, cobblestone surfaces used by the Romans, modern roads are designed for a smoother ride but need maintenance more often.
The high speeds of today's vehicles also put more stress on the roads, causing them to wear out faster.
What's the future of roads?
Just as modern engineers adapted Roman pavement design for motorised vehicles, we now need to ensure that these designs are optimised for current and future road transport technological advancements, such as self-driving vehicles.
More than 90% of all transported goods within the UK use the road network to deliver vital items that support our livelihoods and survival.
As such, it’s crucial that all avenues are explored to ensure that the integrity of road infrastructure isn’t affected as we inevitably cruise at high speed towards a full self-driving vehicles regime.
After all, the recent passing of the Automated Vehicle Act 2024 confirms that the self-driving vehicle is no longer confined to the realms of science fiction, but an imminent and exciting reality.
