Those of us who have had the opportunity to search with a metal detector in places where roads were once built know well that this is not an easy task, taking a lot of effort and time. I myself had to rewind dozens of kilometers, despite the presence of old maps and modern navigation aids, in the hope of somehow learning to determine where the concentration of finds is located without trampling these very tens of kilometers. I'm not talking about inns, worship crosses, crossings, we are talking about less obvious signs. For me personally, the conclusion was clear - only with legs! And if significant, large roads, say, from the 19th century, can still be calculated with the necessary accuracy, then with older ones the matter is much more complicated.

It’s good when you manage to find an intersection or possible watering holes, otherwise you just have to use your own imagination, examining places that are supposedly convenient for stopping, etc. Also, if it is possible to determine where exactly the road passed, I consider it necessary to search at a distance, at least a few meters from the road itself, and along both its sides. I understand how much time and effort it will take, but it gives results.

But my article is not actually about methods of searching along old roads. The fact is that while doing my research, I became interested in the very history of the Russian road.

I hope that some of the information collected will be of interest to readers of our site.

Since ancient times, in Rus', rivers were used for transportation. Especially in winter, such a road was convenient and safe. In spring and autumn, movement was possible in few places, and in summer you can’t run everywhere, through swamps and thickets.

For example, when in 1014 Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich was preparing for a campaign against Novgorod, he ordered to “tread the path and build bridges.” Bridges at that time were roads in swamps, etc. They laid branches and laid logs across the impassable mud. Even the Russian Pravda indicated such a bridge duty. That's where it's from Russian word"pavement".

Northern Rus', the Moscow side, for example, was called the Deaf Forest, where you couldn’t find a path at all. A curious case is well known in history when two armies, Moscow and Vladimir, going to battle with each other, simply missed each other and got lost. As a result, the battle did not happen.

However, closer to the end of the Tatar-Mongol yoke, things progressed noticeably. The major centers of Rus' were connected by roads under princely supervision. Although one cannot but admit that, in general, the road situation was not in the best way. And already the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan 3 created the Yamsk order, it was a postal message organized at a serious, state level. During the reign of Ivan 3, even foreign diplomats noted the high organization of the chase. And we all know how Western diplomats “loved” to praise Rus' and recognize our ancestors’ ability to do something no worse, or even much better, than in the West.

Of course, we are especially interested in the pits - postal stations and coachmen's villages of that time. Finding such a place is a huge success for any search engine.

Tsar Ivan the Terrible, having significantly increased the territory of the country, further developed the system of postal chasing and roads, respectively.

After the Troubles, unfortunately, the roads became much worse.

The time of Peter 1 has come. It is difficult to list all the innovations introduced by the emperor. Here are just a few. The position of zemstvo commissars was introduced, responsible for the condition of roads, the mandatory burden of peasants to participate in the spring and autumn repair of roads, and the appearance of the first milestones. Interestingly, when installing the pillars, young trees were planted between neighboring ones.

Under Alexander1, roads were divided into categories: main communications (state); large messages; provincial ordinary postal messages; county postal and trade communications; rural and field. To cover the costs of their construction, a toll was introduced on each revision soul plus merchant tax.

In 1847, a transverse profile for state highways was even approved, which provided for a 10-inch thick layer of sand on clay soils; Russia was the first in the world in this road innovation.

From 1840 to 1860, many roads were built, then construction began to decline noticeably, and from 1867 it almost stopped completely.

History of road business in Soviet period, of course, he wasn’t even interested. The topic is very voluminous. Thus, I have outlined the history of road construction in Russia in a very concise and general form.

In fact, there is a huge amount of readily available material on this issue. The topic will be extremely useful and fascinating to people who are not indifferent to their history.

While studying the history of roads in Rus', I was lucky to meet an interesting person who has been interested in traveling for decades. But not quite ordinary travel. He finds ancient roads and walks along them, regardless of whether the forests there are now dense or swamps. He is also looking for long-defunct villages and other populated areas, as well as temples. But he doesn’t dig, he just takes photographs. I hope this enthusiastic and knowledgeable person will not refuse to give an interview for visitors to our site.

Asia

East Asia

China

South Asia

Indian subcontinent

Brick paved streets appeared in India as early as 3000 BC.

Europe

Frankish Empire

Germany

Other examples of historic roads in England include the Long Causeway, a medieval packhorse route that ran from Sheffield to Hathersage, and the Mariners' Way in Devon. The latter was created by sailors in the eighteenth century, or earlier, traveling between the ports of Bideford and Dartmouth, Devon, which were linked by existing, walkways and pedestrian paths to form a direct route.

Scotland

Russia

Construction of the road was decreed by the Tsar two months after the Treaty of Nerchinsk, on November 22, 1689, but it did not begin until 1730 and was not completed until the mid-19th century. Previously, Siberian transport was mainly by river via the Siberian River routes. The first Russian settlers arrived in Siberia along the Cherdyn river route, which was replaced by the Babinovsky overland route in the late 1590s. The city of Verkhoturye in the Urals was the most eastern point Babinov's path.

The much larger Siberian route began in Moscow as the Vladimir Highway (medieval road) and passes through Murom, Kozmodemyansk, Kazan, Perm, Kungur, Yekaterinburg, Tyumen, Tobolsk, Tara, Kainsk, Tomsk, Yeniseisk and Irkutsk. After crossing Lake Baikal the road is divided near Verkhneudinsk. One branch continued east to Nerchinsk, and the other went south to the border of the post of Kyakhta, where it connected with the camel caravans that crossed Mongolia at the Great Wall Gate at Kalgan.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the route was moved south. From Tyumen the road flowed through Yalutorovsk, Ishim, Omsk, Tomsk, Achinsk and Krasnoyarsk before returning to the older route in Irkutsk. She still a vital artery connecting Siberia with Moscow and Europe until the last decades of the 19th century, when it was replaced by the Trans-Siberian Railway (built 1891-1916), and the Amur Country Road (built 1898-1909). The modern equivalent is the Trans-Siberian Highway.

middle Asia

North America

United States

A complex system of prehistoric trails is located on Tumamoc Hill near Tucson, Arizona, where archaeological traces have been discovered including petroglyphs, pot sherds, and mortar holes.

The difficult history of Enthusiastov Highway
Russia convict

The Enthusiasts Highway is well known to Muscovites and guests of the capital, but few people know sad story this old road. More history of the prison, and, incl.

Vladimirka. Hood. Isaac Levitan, 1892

This is the initial part of the path leading from the capital to Vladimir. Previously, the road was called the Vladimirsky tract. She has been mentioned in chronicles since the beginning of the 15th century, and among the people she received the nickname Vladimirka. Vladimir was the first big city On this mournful road there were various kinds of prisoners, the path of most of them lay in Siberia.

Initially, food, flax, and linen were transported along the Vladimir Road to the Izmailovo patrimony of the tsars, but at the beginning of the 17th century, the role of the road, which directly led to Siberia for hard labor, changed.

Vladimirsky tract, 1858

Along the big path that goes north,
What is called Vladimirka from ancient times,
The color of Russia is coming, the shackles are ringing,
And “Dubinushka” is sung loudly.

It was on other roads that “the bell rang monotonously,” but along this one, rattling shackles, thousands of Russian people walked to Siberia. Among them were participants in peasant uprisings, Decembrists, and other enthusiasts who did not like autocracy.

A.N. Radishchev. Artist V.N. Gavrilov. 1950-1954

There were quite a few enthusiasts. The lists of the Tyumen order on exiles from 1853 to 1862 included 101,238 people, from 1863 to 1872 - 146,380, and in 1890 - already 260,000 people.

The road “worked” all year round. Anton Pavlovich Chekhov wrote about Vladimirka: “In the spring thaw, hundreds and thousands of pairs of feet walked heavily along this sad, hopeless road...”.

___

Many prisoners believed that this path was harder than hard labor itself. According to the standards established from above, convicts had to travel 500 versts a month. It took from one and a half to two years to get to the Nerchinsk Fortress, and the saddest thing is that the travel time did not count toward the total time limit. People said: “Vladimirka groans, Vladimirka cries, Vladimirka suffers...”

Only at the end of the 19th century did the flow of prisoners on this road dry up. Prisoners began to be transported to the other end of the country along the Trans-Siberian Railway by train. Vladimirka lost its meaning, but lived among the people for a long time horror stories about her.

Shackling those arrested on Sakhalin. Photograph of I. Pavlovsky, brought by Chekhov from a trip to Sakhalin. 1890

The Bolsheviks, on the initiative of the first People's Commissar of Education in the history of the country, Anatoly Lunacharsky, renamed part of the Vladimirsky tract to the Entuziastov Highway in memory of those revolutionaries who were destined to travel this road into exile.

The name stuck and has survived to this day. Today it is one of the largest Moscow highways.

Road construction in our country developed in several ways that differed from the West due to the lack of easily accessible stone materials for development. The main sources of stone were collecting boulders from fields and mining gravel in glacial deposits. In the second half of the 18th century. The network of postal routes from Moscow alone reached about 17 thousand km. Despite such a length of roads and the great need to improve transportation conditions, road construction technology in Russia at that time was limited to draining the road strip and strengthening it with wood materials.

Decree on the construction of the St. Petersburg - Moscow road

The beginning of road construction in Russia can be considered in 1722, when on June 1 a Senate decree was issued on the construction of a road between St. Petersburg and Moscow. The road was built as a dirt road. The decree of May 20, 1723 said: “... And in swampy places, lay fascines and fill them with layers of earth until the height is level with the natural earth and then pave, without putting logs under the bottom and beyond that the bridge pour a little earth over.”

Primitive construction technology did not contribute to good results in the harsh conditions of northwestern Russia. This led to the fact that road construction managers began to pave certain sections of the road with stone. In December 1722, the Senate finally decided that “in the right places and where there is enough stone, one half of the mentioned roads, in consideration of the strength and conservation of forests, should be paved with stone on such soil so that the stone does not soon fall off and hollows are not created.” and the road would not be damaged...” Since that time, Russia has adopted a policy for the construction of stone pavements on main roads.

The development of trade and industry in Russia required maintaining roads in good condition. On the most important state highways, crushed stone became the main type of road surface.
The original technology did not include any special compaction of the road surface. The idea of ​​abandoning the compaction of crushed stone surfaces by movement and switching to compaction with a roller did not immediately gain recognition and only in the 40s of the 19th century began to be considered mandatory.

Captain Baranov's design

In Russia in 1786, for roads with carriageways, the two-layer construction of road pavement under Captain Baranov was approved as mandatory: the bottom layer is crushed stone of a “small size” chicken egg", and the upper one, 2-4 inches thick, is made of durable stone material, which during construction had to be "pricked more tightly with hand-made women and leveled with rollers, iron and stone." When rolling, it was recommended to use “rollers of insignificant weight at first, but increase their weight as rolling progresses.” At the same time, “the roller could only be useful if its weight gradually reached 300 pounds of weight per box of stone.” The latter construction operation was recommended much earlier than it was introduced into construction practice for crushed stone pavements in France by Polonceau in 1830.

After 1860, the volume of road construction in Russia began to decline: until 1861, approximately 230 km of paved roads were built per year, and in the next 20 years the volume of construction decreased to 25-30 km per year. Only after 1890, in connection with the expansion of the construction of strategic roads in the western provinces, the volume of construction increased to 300-350 km. During this period, between 730 and 1,320 km of railways were put into operation annually.

In the period before World War II, the construction of road pavements from concrete became widespread - for all countries, the transverse profile of a concrete pavement was typical from slabs of constant thickness 18-24 cm connected by metal pins, laid on a sandy or gravel base or a thicker “frost-protective layer” that protected from swelling. It was assumed that a thick concrete slab, distributing the pressure from car wheels over a large base area, could compensate for the heterogeneity of the subgrade soil. However, operating experience has shown that the difference in the deflections of the central part and the edges of the slabs when vehicles pass by leads to the accumulation of residual deformations of the soil under the transverse joints and the formation of a cavity there, which is filled during rainy periods with water, liquefying the soil of the subgrade. In the concrete of a slab that does not experience full support from the soil base, fatigue phenomena begin to develop, leading to the formation of cracks.

USSR times

If you trace the chronology of the development of roads in the USSR and Western countries, it is easy to see that the technology lag was 10-20 years. For example, taking into account the preparations for the attack by Nazi Germany, Russia began construction of the Moscow-Minsk highway, which differed sharply in its technical parameters from previously built roads. The highway was designed for a speed of 120 km/h. Its roadway was still without a dividing strip 14 m wide and provided for the movement of cars in two rows in each direction. By technical specifications it corresponded to the US highways of the 30s and the Cologne-Bonn road completed by that time in Germany.

The difficulties of obtaining stone materials, the severity of the climate and the significant diversity of climatic conditions predetermined the creative development of crushed stone road pavement designs in Russia. A significant difference in road pavement designs in Russia was the abandonment of mandatory requirement J. McAdam on the creation of road pavement from crushed stone that is homogeneous in composition, size and strength.

The middle zone of the European part of Russia, where the construction of crushed stone coverings was carried out, is poor in stone materials, because The bedrock is covered with thick layers of glacial sediments. The main source of stone materials was the collection of boulders in the fields. Therefore, the idea soon arose of laying large crushed stone of weak, but cheap local rocks in the bottom layer of clothing. A number of highways were built in this way in the western provinces. At first, like McAdam, the crushed stone layers were given a thickness of 25 cm (10 inches), but then, having made sure that good compaction of the crushed stone layer by passing only extends to a depth of about 10 cm, and deeper the crushed stone remains in a weakly compacted state, they switched gradually in order to reduce costs to a thickness of 15 cm in a compacted state. This turned out to be possible due to the lower loads on horse-drawn carts in Russia compared to those used in England. In unfavorable ground conditions, where abysses could be expected, the crushed stone layer was thickened to 9-12 inches, but since this greatly increased the cost of construction, the lower part of the stone layer began to be replaced with sand. This is how the St. Petersburg-Moscow highway was built.

Breakthrough of crushed stone covering

In Russia, the idea of ​​increasing the cohesion of crushed stone pavement began to be realized only after the introduction of artificial compaction of crushed stone placers with rollers. To fill the pores in the upper most compacted layer, they began to use smaller material - wedges and seedings, pressed by the weight of the roller into the unfilled spaces between the crushed stones and creating wedging. In Russia, it was considered mandatory to use crushed stone from the same rocks for this purpose as for the main placer, since the use of soft, easily crushed rocks, while facilitating rolling, provided a low-resistant, quickly deteriorating coating.

The peculiarity of crushed stone coverings was that they needed daily supervision and repair, since the knocked-out crushed stone began a rapid increase in further destruction.

In 1870, the first proposal for a method for calculating the thickness of road pavement was published. Based on the idea of ​​the transfer of pressure from particle to particle in crushed stone coatings, E. Golovachev came to the conclusion that “the pressure of the wheel applied to the coating through a small rectangular area... spreading in the crushed stone layer at the angle of repose...”.

Progress in the construction of crushed stone coverings in comparison with the technique recommended by McAdam was best formulated in 1870 by E. Golovachev, who wrote that “... starting in the forties, when they became convinced of the complete need to study not only the strength of crushed stone, but and the properties of its dust, which provides the greatest connection between the crushed stone, add fine material to the crushed stone to fill the gaps, roll the highway artificially until it is completely compacted, in order to save the amount of stone material that should have, under the previous system of rolling the highway along the way, turned into dust and fragments to fill the gaps between the crushed stones, without which they could not obtain the proper immobility and stability, which actually ensures the strength of the crushed stone embankment, when watering the crushed stone with water was introduced to facilitate rolling and to better compact the crushed stone layer of steel in other places along with the crushed stone hard rocks that form the basis of the crushed stone embankment, also use an admixture of crushed stone of soft limestone rocks.

The use of geosynthetic materials was typical for road construction in Russia only at the very end of the 20th century, and then to a very limited extent.

Introduction. 3

1. Roads in Kievan Rus. 4

2. Territorial growth of Russia and road development. 6

3. Large road construction projects of the 18th–19th centuries. 7

4. Russian roads in the twentieth century. 9

Conclusion. 14

List of used literature... 15

Introduction

Anyone who thinks that roads appeared on our planet recently is very mistaken. There have always been roads, even when man himself was not yet on Earth. Animals, for example, always ran to a watering hole along relatively safe roads trampled by them, without the risk of falling into a deep hole or drowning in a swamp. But a man came. He was no longer satisfied with the spontaneously formed narrow paths passing through forests and mountains. The man had to move not only himself, but also come up with something so that the carts he made would not get stuck in the mud during the autumn thaw. And the man began to build roads. At first it was just narrow and long strips paved with cobblestones or pieces of sandstone. But, over the centuries, roads have been improved, and today they are multi-lane structures with their own infrastructure, with interchanges, bridges over water barriers, carved into the mountains and many kilometers of tunnels lying under water. All these are roads.

The history of road construction itself is like a long and winding road. In this work we will look at the history of one of its sections - the history of Russian roads.

Roads are one of the most important elements of a state's infrastructure. The economic prosperity and defense capability of the country directly depends on the degree of development of the road network.

Unfortunately, throughout history, Russian roads have left much to be desired. To some extent, this is explained by the peculiarity of the natural and geographical conditions in which Russian civilization was formed. Due to the harsh climate, the presence large quantity various kinds of obstacles - forests, wetlands, road construction in Russia has always been fraught with significant difficulties. Unlike Western countries, which arose on the site of one of the greatest ancient civilizations - Ancient Rome and inherited from it, in addition to Roman law and architecture, an excellent road system, Russian civilization, being peripheral, arose on a rich but undeveloped territory, which also explains the peculiarities of its development transport system.

The formation of the Old Russian state dates back to the end of the 9th century. Due to the fact that most of the territory of Rus' was occupied by impenetrable forests, rivers played the role of roads; all Russian cities and most villages were located along the banks of rivers. In the summer they swam along the rivers, in the winter they rode sleighs. According to the testimony of the 10th century Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenitus, even the collection of tribute by the Kyiv prince (polyudye) was carried out in winter time. In November, the prince and his retinue left Kyiv and toured the territories under his control, returning in April. Apparently, during the rest of the year, many Russian territories were simply inaccessible. Land communication was also hampered by bands of robbers who hunted on forest roads. The Kiev prince Vladimir Monomakh, who ruled at the beginning of the 12th century, in his “Teaching” addressed to his children, recalled the journey “through the Vyatichi” - through the land of the Vyatichi - as one of his exploits. The first mention of road works dates back to 1015. According to the Tale of Bygone Years, the Kiev prince Vladimir, preparing to go on a campaign against his son Yaroslav, who reigned in Novgorod, ordered his servants: “Tread the paths and pave the bridges.” In the 11th century, the authorities tried to legally define the status of “bridge workers” - masters in the construction and repair of bridges and pavements. The first written set of laws in Rus', “Russian Truth,” contains a “Lesson for Bridge Workers,” which, among other things, established tariffs for various road works.

The absence of roads sometimes turned out to be a blessing for the population of the Russian principalities. Thus, in 1238, Batu Khan, who destroyed the Ryazan and Vladimir-Suzdal principalities, was unable to reach Novgorod due to the spring thaw, and was forced to turn south. The Tatar-Mongol invasion played a dual role in the development of the road system of Russian lands. On the one hand, as a result of Batu’s campaigns, the economy of the Russian principalities was thoroughly undermined, dozens of cities were destroyed, a significant part of the population died or was taken captive, which ultimately led to a reduction in trade and the desolation of roads. At the same time, having subjugated North-Eastern Rus' and made it an ulus (part) of the Golden Horde, the Tatars introduced their postal system, borrowed from China, into the Russian lands, which essentially was a revolution in the development of the road network. Along the roads, Horde postal stations began to be located, called pits (from the Mongolian “dzyam” - “road”). The station keepers were called coachmen (from the Turkic “yamdzhi” - “messenger”). The maintenance of the pits fell on the local population, who also performed underwater duties, i.e. was obliged to provide his horses and carts to the Horde ambassadors or messengers. Horde officials traveling along Russian roads were issued a special pass - paysatz.

2. Territorial growth of Russia and road development

The XIV–XV centuries in the history of Russia are the time of the formation of a single centralized state. The Principality of Moscow unites the lands of North-Eastern Rus' around itself; at the end of the 15th century a new name appears single state- "Russia". The growth of Russian territory continued in the 16th–17th centuries. TO end of XVI century, Russia included the Volga region, the Urals, and Western Siberia. Due to the growth of the territory, roads in Russia have acquired special importance; along them, messengers from all the outskirts of the state delivered news of invasions of foreign troops, riots and crop failures to Moscow. The central government showed special concern for the development of the Yam post, inherited from the Tatars. In the 16th century, the Yamskaya chase was established in the Ryazan and Smolensk lands. The first surviving travel document issued to Yuri the Greek and Kulka Oksentyev, sent “to the Germans,” dates back to the reign of Ivan III. In it, the sovereign ordered that at the entire distance from Moscow to Tver, from Tver to Torzhok and from Torzhok to Novgorod, ambassadors should be given “two carts to carts from every pit to the bottom according to this letter of mine.” In another charter of Ivan III - dated June 6, 1481 - the position of the official responsible for the condition of postal stations and roads - the Yamsky bailiff - was mentioned for the first time. The pits were located at a distance of 30–50 versts. The coachmen were obliged to provide horses for all those traveling with a princely charter; for their service they were exempt from taxes - the sovereign's tax and all duties - and, moreover, received support in money and oats. Local peasants had to keep the roads in good condition under the supervision of coachmen. At the choice of the headman, two people from the plow (the territorial unit of tax payment) went out to clear roads, repair bridges and renew gates through marshy sections of the road. Under Ivan the Terrible, in 1555, a single body for managing road affairs was created - the Yamskaya Izba. Already at the beginning of the 16th century, the first descriptions of large Russian roads– “Russian road builder”, “Perm” and “Yugorsky” road builders. By the end of the 16th century, “exiled books” appeared with descriptions of small regional roads.

3. Large road construction projects of the 18th–19th centuries.

During the Peter the Great era, supervision of roads passed to the Chamber Collegium, the central tax department, which also collected road taxes. Locally, in the governorates and provinces, roads were entrusted to zemstvo commissars, elected by local landowners and subordinates of the Chamber Collegium. The largest road construction project of Peter the Great's time was undoubtedly the construction of a “pre-prospect” - a straight road from St. Petersburg to Moscow. Work on the construction of the “preparatory” road continued until 1746. Road work was in charge of the Office of State Road Construction, headed by General V.V. Fermor.

Catherine II, already at the beginning of her reign, decided to give the road business the character of an important state task. It strengthened the status of the State Road Construction Office as a central institution. A decree of February 18, 1764 ordered her to “make efforts to bring all state roads to the best condition.” In 1775, a provincial reform was carried out. Most central departments, including the Office of the Construction of State Roads, are gradually being eliminated, their powers are transferred to the provinces and districts. The provincial authorities were supposed to deal only with the completion of state roads, and their maintenance was transferred to the district authorities - the zemstvo police officer and the lower zemstvo court. They were instructed to “exercise vigilant supervision and care to ensure that roads, bridges and crossings... are maintained in such good condition that there is no stop or danger for travelers”, so that “no one digs up bridges and roads, blocks them or shifts them from one place to another.” places to another... and so that everywhere on the roads and bridges there is cleanliness, and that dead cattle and carrion, from which the harmful spirit comes... are not lying around anywhere.”

Throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, road departments were subject to constant reorganization. In 1809, Alexander I approved the Institution for the management of water and land communications. According to it, the Expedition of Water Communications and the Expedition of Construction of Roads in the State merged into the Administration of Water and Land Communications (since 1810 - the Main Directorate of Communications - GUPS), which was entrusted with all the national significance communications. The management was located in Tver, headed by the chief director and the council. Under the chief director there was an expedition, which included three categories (departments), of which the second dealt with land roads. The empire was divided into 10 communication districts. At the head of the district was a district commander, subordinate to whom were managing directors who supervised the most important parts of the communication routes and were especially busy drawing up projects and estimates. Track security has also been improved. It was assigned to special district police teams subordinate to the district commanders. The teams consisted of a police chief, rangers, non-commissioned officers and privates. Their task was not to fight criminal crime, but to ensure that “roads, bridges, ditches, etc. were not damaged, that side canals were not blocked, that the roads themselves were not narrowed by buildings, fences, or covered.”