Highway Administration
| Date | 01 October 1928 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9299.1928.tb02833.x |
| Published date | 01 October 1928 |
| Author | William James Merrett |
Highway Administration
By
WILLIAM
JAMES
MERRETT
County
Engineer
and
Surveyov,
Durham County
Cotincil
[Paper
rcnd
before
the Northern Regional
Groiq5
of
the
Imtitzcte
of
Parblic
Administration]
ADMINISTRATIVE
AUTHORITIES
HE
first recorded attempt
at
scientific road construction probably
T
relates to the inclined road of polished stone, which, according to
Herodotus, was laid from the Nile to the site of the Great Pyramid of
Cheops (built about
3700
B.c.)
for transporting the stone used in that
structure. Other ancient civilizations possessed
a
fairly advanced
knowledge of roadmaking, whilst Babylonians, as early
as
604
B.c.,
made use
of
bitumen in road construction.
So
far
as
Britain is concerned, however, the first great national road
system was laid down by the Romans, and
i.t
is
upon the Roman system
that our modern road system
is
based. The roads constnicted
by
the
Romans were remarkable for observing
a
straight course from point to
point, regardless
of
obstacles which might easily have been avoided.
After the Romans left Britain (about
411
A.D.)
the roads, in common
with the rest
of
the country, fell into a bad way. At that time the
liability for road construction and repairing was on the local landlord,
who does not appear to have treated the obligation seriously, with the
result that the roads became mere
grass
tracks, for the main part serving
only particular districts. The peril
and
discomfort of travelling in those
days
was
so
great that the people
of
the country were content to live and
die in the vicinity
in
which they were born, and travelling was practically
restricted to the nobility and the clergy.
In
1555,
a
general Highway Act was passed whereby the office
of
Highway Surveyor was
first
created. This Act required the inhabitants
of
a
parish to perform what was
knotvn
as
"
Statute Duty,"
a
sort
of
compulsory labour, to keep the highways in repair. The' appointment
of
Highway Surveyor camed no remuneration,
and
the majority
of
those
who held the appointment knew nothing about road construction. There
was, therefore, little
or
no
systematic development
of
our
highways during
this
period, and
it
is
apparent, from the
state
of
many
of
the older roads
still in existence, that the practice
in
those days was to avoid
all
engineer-
388
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