A new study challenges the common view that Roman roads were built in consistently straight lines. It finds that ancient highways often follow less linear routes than the modern road network, indicating that the practical realities of construction shaped their alignment.
The outlet reporting on the research frames the work as a reassessment of how Rome’s famous infrastructure was planned and built. Rather than implying that Roman roads lacked purpose or connectivity, the study highlights that their geometry varies and does not match an oversimplified “straight-line” expectation. In this coverage, the main angle is the contrast between historical routes and today’s more gridlike patterns, using the study’s findings to question earlier assumptions about uniform straightness across the empire’s road system.
