Roman roads

    The Romans were in Britain from the years 43 to 409 AD. In this period they brought many things to the islands. One of the things they are most well known for is their roads.
    The Romans were prolific and efficient road builders. Lines of communication were an important part of holding together their huge empire. Messengers, armies and supplies all moved much faster on carefully-planned and well-built roads.
    Since the Romans were in Britain for nearly four hundred years, it's not surprising that there is still a good deal of evidence of their road-building activities. Up until the 1960s, when motorway building became widespread, many of the main roads in Britain followed the same routes as Roman ones. The straight lines that were such a characteristic of Roman road systems are still visible all over the countryside. And many of the roads still have their old names.
    One of the main arteries of Roman Britain was called the Fosse Way, running right across the country from south-west to north-east. Later, Roman engineers built a 112-mile (180km) link road that went north to join up with another major route, Watling Street. That link road came to be known as Icknield Street, and a stretch of it still exists north of Birmingham, untouched by modern road builders.

Vocabulary:

    1 visible: can be seen.
    2 major: big, important.
    3 main arteries: most important roads.
    4 efficient: to a high standard, without waste.
    5 evidence: proof, something that shows something happened.
    6 motorway: a high speed road
    7 widespread: very common
    8 prolific: if you do something a lot, you are this