Editing Road transport (section)

===New road networks===

As states developed and became richer, especially with the [[Renaissance]], new roads and bridges began to be built, often based on Roman designs. Although there were attempts to rediscover Roman methods, there was little useful innovation in road building before the 18th century.

[[File:Highgate wide.jpg|thumb|The [[Great North Road (Great Britain)|Great North Road]] near High gate on the approach to London before [[turnpiking]].  The highway was deeply rutted and spread onto adjoining land.]]

Starting in the early 18th century, the [[British Parliament]] began to pass a series of [[Act of Parliament|acts]] that gave the local justices powers to erect toll-gates on the roads, in exchange for professional upkeep.<ref name=webb157 >Webb. English Local Government. pp. 157-159</ref><ref>Statute [[15 Cha. 2]]. c. 1.</ref> The toll-gate erected at Wade's Mill became the first effective toll-gate in England. The first scheme that had trustees who were not justices was established through a turnpike act{{which|date=January 2024}} in 1707, for a section of the London-[[Chester, England|Chester]] road between Foothill and [[Stony Stafford]]. The basic principle was that the trustees would manage resources from the several parishes through which the highway passed, augment this with tolls from users from outside the parishes and apply the whole to the maintenance of the main highway. This became the pattern for the turnpiking of a growing number of highways, sought by those who wished to improve flow of commerce through their part of a county.<ref name=webb157 />

In 18th century [[West Africa]], road transport throughout the [[Ashanti Empire]] was maintained via a [[Roads of the Ashanti Empire|network of well-kept roads]] that connected the Ashanti capital with territories within its jurisdiction and influence.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7_qNAgAAQBAJ&dq=Asante+great+roads&pg=PA73|last1=Thornton|first1=John Kelly|author-link=John Thornton (historian)|year=1999|title=Warfare in Atlantic Africa, 1500-1800|page=73|publisher=[[Routledge]]|isbn=9781135365844|access-date=2023-02-22|archive-date=2023-04-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411081922/https://books.google.com/books?id=7_qNAgAAQBAJ&dq=Asante+great+roads&pg=PA73|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Eisenstadt|first1=Shmuel Noah.|author-link1=Shmuel Eisenstadt|last2=Abitbol|first2=Michael|last3=Chazan|first3=Naomi| author-link3= Naomi Chazan| title= The Early State in African Perspective: Culture, Power, and Division of Labor|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ec8J7IJ6lIsC&dq=Asante+Empire+eight+roads&pg=PA86|year=1988|publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|pages=86|isbn= 9004083553}}</ref> After significant road construction undertaken by the kingdom of [[Dahomey]], [[toll road]]s were established with the function of collecting yearly taxes based on the goods carried by the people of Dahomey and their occupation.<ref name="Herskovits (Vol. I)">{{cite book|last=Herskovits|first=Melville J.|title=Dahomey: An Ancient West African Kingdom|year=1967|publisher=Northwestern University Press|location=Evanston, IL|edition=Volume I}}</ref> The Royal Road was built in the late 18th century by King [[Kpengla]] which stretched from [[Abomey]] through [[Cana, Benin|Cana]] up to [[Ouidah]].<ref>{{cite journal | last=Alpern|first= Stanley B. | title=Dahomey's Royal Road | journal=History in Africa| volume=26 | pages=11–24| year=1999 | jstor=3172135| doi=10.2307/3172135 |s2cid= 161238713 }}</ref>

The quality of early turnpike roads was varied.<ref>''Parliamentary Papers'', 1840, Vol 256 xxvii.</ref> Although turnpiking did result in some improvement to each highway, the technologies used to deal with geological features, drainage, and the effects of weather were all in their infancy. [[Road construction]] improved slowly, initially through the efforts of individual surveyors such as [[John Metcalf (civil engineer)|John Metcalf]] in [[Yorkshire]] in the 1760s.<ref>[http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/IndustrialRevolution/transport/roads.htm The Turnpike Trust] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140525232850/http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/IndustrialRevolution/transport/roads.htm |date=2014-05-25 }} Schools History.org, Accessed July 2011</ref> British turnpike builders began to realize the importance of selecting clean stones for surfacing while excluding vegetable material and clay, resulting in more durable roads.{{sfn|Lay|1992|p=72}}<ref>{{cite web|last=Oxford|first=Robert|title=How old is that route?|publisher=[[Institution of Civil Engineers]]|date=3 September 2003|url=http://www.ice.org.uk/downloads//BS-History_of_Routes.pdf|access-date=2007-01-19|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213746/http://www.ice.org.uk/downloads//BS-History_of_Routes.pdf|archive-date=27 September 2007}}</ref>