Editing Transport in Jersey (section)

==== History ====
Until the 19th century, Jersey's highway system comprised narrow and muddy tracks connecting homes and fields to the churches, mills and beaches. Around the turn of the 18th century, the number of roads are described as "[holding] no Proportion with the Bigness [of the island]". The sides of the road, unlike in England had "great Bulwarks of Earth ... from 6 to 8, and sometimes 10 Foot high". At the time there were three types of road: {{Lang|fr|Les Chemins du Roi}}, which, including the banks, were 16 feet wide; {{Lang|fr|Les Chemins de 8 pieds}}, which were 12 feet wide; and {{Lang|fr|Les Chemins de 4 pieds}}, which served only carriages on horseback.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Falle |first=Philip |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A40814.0001.001/1:15.1?rgn=div2;view=fulltext |title=An account of the Isle of Jersey, the greatest of those islands that are now the only reminder of the English dominions in France with a new and accurate map of the island |publisher= |year=1694 |isbn= |location=London |pages=64–66}}</ref>

In the early 19th century, the military roads were constructed (on occasion at gunpoint in the face of opposition from landowners) by the governor, [[George Don (British Army officer)|General George Don]], to link coastal fortifications with St. Helier harbour. These had an unexpected effect on agriculture once peace restored reliable trade links. Farmers in previously isolated valleys were able to swiftly transport crops grown in the island's [[microclimate]] to waiting ships and then on to the markets of London and Paris ahead of the competition. In conjunction with the later introduction of [[steamship]]s and the development of the French and British [[railway]] systems, Jersey's agriculture was no longer as isolated as before.