General George Wade (1673-1748) only began building roads aged 54 after investigating how serious the threat of the Scottish rebellion was. He reported back that the road conditions would make the journey difficult for troops and decided to help build roads in the Scottish highlands.
General Wade's roads were approximately five metres wide, however in some places; the width was doubled for the amount of wheeled traffic. This may sound wide compared to our roads today, however, the transport methods were very different then and the main way was horse and carriage. As many of his roads were built on the highlands; much of it was uphill, so when he built them he built traverses (zig zags). He also gave the roads firm foundations and built the roads to be cambered (curved) so that the water drained off either side into ditches.
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