Why were roads built in Rome?

The Romans developed the famous stone-paved roads for military purposes. They facilitated the movement of soldiers to the front of wars or to garrisons they build in areas they wanted to keep under control and the transport of suppliers to the troops. The first network was developed around Italy, which is where Rome first expanded. They were centred on Rome because that is where the deployment of troops started. As Rome expanded beyond Italy, other stone-paved roads which were not centred on Rome were built around the empire.

The Romans did not build roads only for military purposes. The stone paved roads constituted 20% of the 400,000 Km (250,000 miles) network of roads which was built in the Roman Empire. The Romans also built gravelled roads (the via glareata) and level earthen roads (the via terrena). Many of these roads linked part of the empire without being centred on Rome as well.