Quote Originally Posted by wm View Post
Important parts of the Roman Imperial road network are still operative today (or at least the routes those Roman roads first followed). This re-emphasizes my point that if the road network is important enough to the economy/economic well being of the people, they will do a lot to defend/maintain it on their own.
My wife and I spent November 2007 driving around southwest Spain, including a trip to Gibralter, where we drove on some of those roads.

Plus, our house in Germany was just north of the Limes, where there are still roads, walls and a couple of Roman fortifications still standing, or reproduced.