Travel by road provides a lot of flexibility, convenience, speed and reliability whether at long or short distances in cities and towns. Hence it is the most preferred medium of transport in Ghana and other countries. Roads therefore connect cities to towns and villages. Road transport can then be described as the transport(movement of people and goods from one location to another) of passengers or goods on roads.
The history of road began with the development of tracks by humans and beasts of burden(horses, oxen, cattle, donkeys and camels). The first forms of road transport included humans carrying goods over created earth tracks or footpaths often following game trails such as the Natchez Trace during the stone age era. As commercial activities increased, the tracks were often flattened or widened to accommodate human and animal traffic. Some of these dirt tracks were however developed into fairly extensive networks allowing communication, trade and governance over wide areas. The Ican empire in South America and the Iroguns Confederation in North America are examples of effective use of such paths. Overtime as animals were domesticated, horses, oxen and donkeys became an element in track creation and transportation of goods and humans.
The travois, a frame used to drag loads which probably developed in Eurasia after the first use of bullocks for pulling ploughs is believed to be the first vehicle. Pack animals, ridden horses and bullocks dragging travois required wider paths and higher clearances than people on foot and improved roads were required. As a result of this, by about 5000 BC, roads such as the ridge-ways were developed along ridges in England to avoid crossing rivers. In Germany, such ridge-ways remained in their predominant forms of long distance roads till the mid 18th century. Later, animal drawn wheeled vehicles were developed in ancient Sumer in Mesopotamia around 5000 BC. These animal drawn wheeled vehicles served as attachments to travois to reduce resistance on roads. This invention gradually spread to Europe and India in 4000 BC and China in about 1200 BC.
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| A paved road in ancient times. |
With the advent of the Roman empire, there was a need for armies to be able to travel quickly from one area to another. To achieve this, the Romans built great roads using deep roadbeds of crushed stone as an underlying layer to ensure that they kept dry. Paved streets however came into existence in the Indus Civilisation around 4000 BC. With every increase in size and carrying power came the enhancements of roads, Developments like brick roads, the use of materials like sandstone blocks and basalt found their way into the road-laying industry as well. As far back as the 8th century, tar-paved roads such as roads in Iraq and Baghdad were found almost everywhere in the Arabian empire(Islamic Caliphate). During the industrial revolution, commercial activities increased and the need for improved roadways became very essential. John Loudon Mcdam(1756-1836) designed the first modern highways using inexpensive paving material of soil and stone aggregate. The 18th and 19th centuries also the massive use of roads , bridges and toll roads.However the turning points in the history of road transport came by with the invention of the bicycle, car, motorcycle and the bus. The earliest predecessor of the bicycle came in 1839, invented by Kirkpatrick Macmillan. In 1662, Blaise Pascal introduced the bus to the world though it was a horse-driven bus. The year 1862 also saw the invention of the motorcar with Etienne Lenoir's vehicle. In 1885 however, the motorcycle was invented by Gottlieb Daimler. In 2000 BC, the Minoans created a paved road of 50 kilometres that stretched between Knosses and Lebena, making it one of the noteworthy roads in the history of road transport.
The period 500 BC also saw the establishment of the Royal Road under the command of Darius The Great. This road was a highway in its time and enabled the traversing of long distances in a very short time. It was such designs of roads that went into the inspiration behind the scientific approach of Pierre-Marie Jerome Tresaguet whose work in 1764 went into changing road transport even more. Hence modern roads for transportation involves a lot of improvement in the society and also seeks to contributing for an easy life of transport.
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| A MODERN TARRED HIGHWAY ROAD IN PRESENT DAY(THE AKO-ADJEI INTERCHANGE HIGHWAY ROAD IN ACCRA,GHANA) |
