Roads in Themiclesia

Roads in Themiclesia discussed in this article encompass roads meant for intercity or long-distance traffic by powered vehicles.

The Universal Road Register (徹道縣, r′it-lu-gwins; lit. "record of all roads") is registration and classification system for intercity roads in Themiclesia, maintained by the Department of Roads under the central Ministry of Transport. While the URR is technically the name of the registry only, it is now used as a byname for the entire programme of roadworks undertaken by the central government.

History

Medieval period

Themiclesian roads prior to the modern era were primarily maintained by the government for rapid delivery of messages between administrative centres by couriers on foot or horseback and for occasional convoys of goods or troops. The oldest of these roads date to the 3rd century. Commercial shipments tended to travel over waterways instead. Highways lead directly to gates of walled cities and transect what are now often modern urban cores. To serve public couriers, stage stations, where horses may be exchanged and food and lodging provided, dotted the routes. As part of defensive function, there were often checkpoints and bastions to monitor the traffic, which also served as places to assess internal tariffs or check for contraband and fugitives. Geographically, highways converged on the capital city of Kien-k'ang.  At a continuous gallop, couriers travelled in excess of 20 km/h; messages could reach Kien-k'ang from southern Nukkumaa in less than four days.

Such roads, often called postal routes (郵途) or royal roads (公道) were maintained by cities and provinces under the direction of the Chancery Department of Transit, which was the predecessor of the Royal Signals Corps. The administration and environs of the postal routes were complex and remain under intensive investigation by modern academics: they were used by civil and military couriers holding licenses issued by various authorities, mended by local corvée labour, garrisoned by conscript troops, stationed by provincial horse-administrators, provisioned by resources requisitioned from local communities, and tariffed by Exchequer officials under the central government. During some periods, the royal government opened inns (舍) along its routes or permitted garrisons to be used this way for a fee; where it did not, private lodges both legal and illegal appeared to serve travellers.

Early modern period

Starting in the colonies and then spreading to the metropole in the 1700s, private roads permitting the passage of vehicles (i.e. wider than footpaths) also appeared under royal or viceregal license. More often than not, these roads were subject to tolls, and at least from 1736 public servants also utilized such tolled roads. It has been argued that contemporary improvement of vehicles caused road voyage to become viable for less valuable goods, though the linking of local economy is also credited for this expansion of road networks, especially considering these roads did not serve an apparent defensive purpose. Private roads not only appeared between cities but also linked to royal roads, but in many cases exceeded the quality of royal roads during periods of government stringency. The private ownership of roads was not uncontroversial: some argued that they reduced royal revenues by escaping tariffed ports or allowed criminals to evade apprehension.

19th century

After 1850, the railway network became the preferred means for both personal travel and transport of bulk goods. Though for example the Lord of Ghwar (Prime Minister 1860 – 61) disliked the idea of relying on private railways for defence, the immense economy of rail transport forced his administration to accept it. As the railway network was completely private, the regular maintenance of roads undertaken by provincial and civic authorities was rapidly commuted to other forms of service or remitted altogether. In 1875, corvée labour was abolished entirely under the administration of the Chief Baron of Sng'raq, encouraged by the industrial lobby "to free labourers from rural confinement". This policy also received considerable support from the workers and farmers, as corvée labour was uncompensated. At the same time, the maintenance of royal roads was devolved to provincial administrations, which typically only maintained those roads actively used by merchants, who would lobby for their maintenance and tariff from whom funded its maintenance.

The focus of roadwork shifted from highways to country lanes connecting towns served by railways to those not served by railways. By 1890, however, railway companies had completed the main lines between cities and were building branches to improve the utilization of main lines and revenues. Encouraged by speculation and the general desire to disburden of the cost of road maintenance, a number of roads between cities were converted into railways or granted to railway companies, in expectation of more efficient passenger and freight service. Despite the surge of freight volume during the 19th century, most toll roads experienced declining revenues from both lost traffic or lowered toll rates to compete with railway tariffs. With the exception of bridges, all private toll roads had folded between 1870 and 1900, and the physical roads reverted to government ownership.

Despite the popularity of railways, new roads were still built during this period over terrain that made the building of railways difficult, especially in Prin Province.