Roadwork today versus Roman Empire times

 

Sewer line replacement: road surface cut, 8-inch cast-iron pipe, fire-plug replacements [zip 49505]

Even 2000 years later much of the built landscape from Roman times can be seen in its original location, sometimes still functioning as road, bridge, aqueduct, retaining wall, or other engineering purpose. Other times the original structure is disassembled and pieces of stone end up in buildings of other centuries. Basic infrastructure like clean water supply and sewer removal of waste, efficient stormwater redirection, sturdy bridge and port facilities, and long-distance, durable road surfaces have stood the test of time. So for a person of that era to visit 2023 would be endlessly fascinating, no doubt, both for our tools and processes, but also to see how much has NOT changed in human needs and infrastructure functions.

Obviously, the petroleum powered machines, the vast amount of specialized steel found in many parts of the pipes, the equipment, and the non-power tools, as well, would amaze them. Image - a self-propelled vehicle. And the laying of hard road surfaces (and removing them) atop a roadbed that is more or less the same design as Roman Times would capture their attention, too. Maybe most amazing of all is the relatively small crew performing these tasks with the aid of massive machinery and fossil fuel engines (and plastics and other products coming out of petroleum). For ancient Romans to excavate sewer (or water) lines, replace pipes, then rebuild the roadbed and cover it with a hard surface would take hundreds of workers (slave or paid or corvee labor commandeered) and many more weeks than it does for the team of workers in 2023.

People speeding past in their modern, high-powered cars with windows up and air-conditioning or heating adding comfort to the trip, maybe entertained by radio or another medium, hardly think twice about road construction projects during the work season of March to November. But what goes unnoticed or taken for granted perhaps is equally important as the other things taken for granted, too: air, water, food, shelter, and so on.