| 312 BC | Rome | Roman statesman Appius Claudius begins the construction of the first great Roman road, the Via Appia (Appian Way), which links Rome with the military centre of Capua. Cambered, flanked with a curb, and with solid foundation layers, its construction serves as the standard for road building for the next 2,000 years. At the height of the Roman Empire (about 200 AD) 85,000 km/53,000 mi of road have been built. |
| c. 120 | UK, Roman Empire | The Romans begin an extensive programme of road building in England. |
| 1201 | Switzerland, Italy, Europe | The St Gotthard Pass is opened through the Swiss Alps, connecting the Uri and Ticino regions and establishing a major overland commercial route between Italy and northern Europe. |
| 1775 | France | French engineer Pierre-Marie-Jérôme Trésaguet describes his three-tier method of road building which separates the hard-stone surface from the rubble base and provides good drainage. |
| 1815 | UK | Scottish inventor John Loudon McAdam begins building roads around Bristol, England. Comprised of two grades of large crushed stone for good drainage and to support the load, and covered by a surface of compacted smaller stones to form a pavement to withstand wear and tear and to shed water to the drainage ditches, they are the most advanced roads built to date. |
| 1868 | UK | The world's first traffic lights are installed in front of the House of Commons, London, England, to help pedestrians cross the street. They consist of red and green gas lamps which are alternately raised and lowered. |
| 1903 | United Kingdom | The problem of traffic congestion in London, England, leads to a review of the road network and extension of the recently opened underground system. |
| 10 September 1919 | Germany | The ‘Avus’ autobahn opens in Berlin, Germany. The world's first controlled access motorway, it is 10 km/6.2 mi long. |
| 1920 | United Kingdom | British roads are classified as A or B, and numbered. |
| 1 October 1940 | USA | The first modern limited-access toll highway in the USA, the Pennsylvania Turnpike, officially opens. It creates an economic boom along its route and heralds a new era in transportation in the USA. Other states begin constructing highways soon afterwards. |
| 24 June 1954 | USA | New York State Thruway is opened, a 894-km/559-mi long highway stretching from New York City to Buffalo, New York. |
