The Appian Way, Rome's first great highway, was begun in 312 BC, and cars still drive on part of it today.

• ✓Wikipedia, "Appian Way"
• ✓Wikipedia, "Mile"
• ✓Appian, Civil Wars 1.120
• ✓Statius, Silvae 2.2
• ✓UNESCO World Heritage List (2024)

Cars still drive on this road. It was built in 312 BC. It's the Appian Way, laid to march Rome's armies south, and in time it ran three hundred and thirty-five miles, to the port of Brindisi. It lasted because of how it was built: tight-fitting volcanic stones over layers of gravel, with the surface arched so rain ran off into ditches on both sides. About ten miles of that Roman paving still survive outside Rome. Later, Romans lined it with a stone every thousand paces. In Latin, a thousand paces was "mille passus". That's where the word "mile" comes from. So every mile you drive started as a thousand Roman paces, counted along roads like this one. Subscribe for a fact every day.