History records a wide variety of techniques used in building highways, we take a few examples of such construction
Roman road with four straight layers with specific characteristics,
1. The first layer in the form of sand or mortar,
2. Layer of both a large stone and then with a layer of gravel mixed with lime,
3. Layer is a thin layer of the surface of the last lava similar to flint.
thickness of the way from 0.9 to 1.5 m.
The design of this Roman road which until now has been an inspiration advent of modern road technologies
The Indus River Valley, has been building a road of bricks cemented with bituna (asphalt material) to keep them dry
In the islands of Malta there are parts of the road are carved so that the vehicle does not slide off. . It can be said, the use of bituminous materials has been known since the 3rd millennium BC this region, as evidenced in Mahenjo Daro, Pakistan, there is a water reservoir made of bricks bertambalkan asphalt.
In Northern Europe the hassle with wet soil in the form of "porridge", chosen a path of wood logs mounted on a twig, and then on top of wood arranged to intersect transversely through the obstacles.
A Scotsman named Thomas Telford (1757 - 1834) to draft the highway, where a large flat stone is placed face up or standing and is now known as the Telford road base. This construction is very strong, especially as road base, and very labor intensive because it must be made by hand one by one. Many roads are good quality with Telford construction, but practically no time-consuming.
Therefore no subsequent construction by John Loudon Mc Adam (1756-1836). Road construction in Indonesia known as Macadam road was born thanks to the spirit of making a lot of roads with a low cost. The road in the form of crushed stone that is set solid and backfilled with gravel. Macadam road is very practical, crushed stone held not need to be one by one and each lock as a whole.
At the end of the XIX century, along with the widespread use of bicycles, in 1824 built asphalt road, but by placing the blocks asphalt. Historic road that can be seen in the Champ-Elysess, Paris, France. Bersipat asphalt road over plastic or shrinkage can be a good flower to weather changes and as more water resistant binder.
In Scotland, present concrete roads are made of portland cement in 1865. Now many highways with concrete construction (minimum 29 cm thick) and hold up to more than 50 years and is very strong once great burden.
Modern Asphalt is the work of Belgian immigrant Edward de Smedt at Columbia University, New York. In 1872, he successfully engineered the asphalt with a maximum density. Asphalt was used in Battery Park and Fifth Avenue, New York, 1872 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington DC in 1877.
At this time at least 90% of the main roads in urban areas always use asphalt materials.