the.com/mainroad
the artery that decides whether a town breathes or quietly bleeds out
means A principal road that carries the main flow of traffic through or between places, usually larger and busier than the side streets feeding into it.
from A plain compound of "main" and "road," both deeply old English-rooted words. "Main" descends from Old English "mægen," meaning strength or power — the same sense that survives in "might" and "with all my main." "Road" comes from Old English "rad," a riding or journey, a cousin of "ride." So a mainroad is literally the strong way, the powerful route — the road that matters most. The fused spelling "mainroad" is less common than the open "main road," but the idea is as straightforward as the word: the big road, the one that counts.
- first paved
- Babylon's Procession Street, asphalt-sealed circa 600 BC
- all roads
- Rome built 80,000 km of them
- bypass effect
- a new highway can erase a town's economy overnight
- latin root
- from strata, meaning a paved layered surface
route 66 — us highway from chicago to los angeles, 2,448 miles, established 1926
great north road — historic uk road from london to edinburgh, primary route for 500+ years
appian way — ancient roman road from rome to brindisi, built 312 bc, still partly intact