Where does macadam come from? Part One
Pathways, footpaths, tracks, road, motorway, railways so called infrastructures are ”Industrial arteriae” which we cannot live without.
Gravel, crushed stone, aggregates are the simplest products made from stone. It is used mostly in construction industry and contemporary world cannot be imagined without it. Its production is unique to specialised industry with high-end technologies. Nowadays, stone aggregate producers are required to meet high standards as for stone quality and purity of its granule size. This field is connected with a lot of industries such as machine industry, mine industry, and chemical industry and it offers many interesting job opportunities.
A bit of history – The Romans
Let’s dive into history. The question is whether the gravel was used when repairing the then roads. Yes, for sure. For repairs it was used that material which was near at hand. It probably used first of all sand or gravel which resulted from the natural weathering of rocks. It was no purposeful production.
The Roman Empire showed us the importance of building new quality roads with infrastructure and how to keep them in a good condition. It had high quality demands for building and maintaining its roads for they were of military and strategic importance.
It is likely that the Romans were the first who laid down clear principles and requirements for building roads including their maintenance which have been followed up to this day. They put an emphasis on solid and stable foundation with closed surface. Every road was slightly concave-shaped and around the edges there were drains for water.
They used everything in their reach. Even for a slave state building roads was costly and time-consuming activity but it was worth it. Some Roman roads have been used up to now. Building roads was a task for an army. Each soldier was trained in basic building skills and in his standard equipment there was a spade.
The Middle Ages did not influence building roads much. In the Middle Ages Roman roads were in use still. When a new road was built, its foundation were laid on soil without further maintenance. It would be nice of us not to mention that in the 15th century first gravelroads were introduced. Due to huge costs this method of building roads did not make a breakthrough in the then society.
Source: www.lomyatezba.cz
