ROMAN EMPIRE ROADS IN NUMBERS

Total length of roads (at the peak of the Empire)

Over 400,000 kilometers (250,000 mi). A fifth of all of the roads, or 80,500 kilometers (50,000 mi), connecting the 113 provinces to Rome, were stone-paved.

Types of roads constructed

Via terrena – plain country track consisting of levelled earth; via glareata – levelled tracks with a gravelled surface;. via munita – paved with rectangular blocks of the most suitable local stone, or with polygonal blocks of lava.

Default regulatory widths (latitudo legitima)

The Laws of the Twelve Tables – the ancient legislation, dated to approximately 450 BC, that stood at the foundation of Roman law and order – specified that a road shall be 2.45 m (8 ft) wide where straight and 4.90 m (16 ft) wide where curved. Actual widths: between 1.1 m (3.6 ft) and more than 7 m (23 ft ).

The most popular vehicle on the road was a standard chariot descending to the Romans from a greater antiquity. It carried a driver and a passenger. A chariot of two horses was a biga; of three horses – a triga; and of four horses –a quadriga. The tyres were of iron. When not in use, its wheels were removed for easier storage.

Modern day countries that were part of the Roman Empire or occupied by Rome for at least some amount of time –thus interconnected with the Empire's road system:

Portugal, Spain, Andorra, England, France, Monaco, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Italy, San Marino, Malta, Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Albania, Greece, Macedonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Cyprus, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Lybia, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco.