<P> Wheeled - transport created the need for better roads . Generally natural materials cannot be both soft enough to form well - graded surfaces and strong enough to bear wheeled vehicles, especially when wet, and stay intact . In urban areas it began to be worthwhile to build stone - paved streets and, in fact, the first paved streets appear to have been built in Ur in 4000 BC . Corduroy roads were built in Glastonbury, England in 3300 BC and brick - paved roads were built in the Indus Valley Civilization on the Indian subcontinent from around the same time . Improvements in metallurgy meant that by 2000 BC stone - cutting tools were generally available in the Middle East and Greece allowing local streets to be paved . Notably, in about 2000 BC, the Minoans built a 50 km paved road from Knossos in north Crete through the mountains to Gortyn and Lebena, a port on the south coast of the island, which had side drains, a 200 mm thick pavement of sandstone blocks bound with clay - gypsum mortar, covered by a layer of basaltic flagstones and had separate shoulders . This road could be considered superior to any Roman road . </P> <P> In 500 BC, Darius I the Great started an extensive road system for Persia (Iran), including the famous Royal Road which was one of the finest highways of its time . The road was used even after the Roman times . Because of the road's superior quality, mail couriers could travel 2,699 kilometres (1,677 mi) in seven days . </P> <P> From 268 BCE to 22 BCE, Ashoka built roads, edicts, water wells, education centres, rest houses and hospitals for human and animals along the highways across Indian subcontinent and planted trees like banyan and mango groves for the benefit of travelers . </P> <P> With the advent of the Roman Empire, there was a need for armies to be able to travel quickly from one area to another, and the roads that existed were often muddy, which greatly delayed the movement of large masses of troops . To solve this problem, the Romans built great roads . These' Roman roads' used deep roadbeds of crushed stone as an underlying layer to ensure that they kept dry, as the water would flow out from the crushed stone, instead of becoming mud in clay soils . The legions made good time on these roads and some are still used millennia later . </P>

When did they start using asphalt for roads