Catherine and Roman stone roads.

Historical information about the route

The Ekaterininsky tract is called the famous road from Moscow to Siberia, passing through Vladimir, the Urals and beyond. The exiles were taken to Siberia along it, goods were delivered (even from China), the army of Ivan the Terrible went along it to take Kazan.
However, it is well known that Catherine the Great ordered that other roads be brought into proper condition. Where there were no roads, she ordered to build, where there were - to reconstruct. So, one of the pieces of such a road, connecting directly Alexandrovskaya Sloboda (Alexandrov) and Pereslavl-Zalessky, has been preserved to this day almost in its original form. Along the entire route, a large embankment with drainage ditches on the sides has been preserved, running straight through the fields and forests of the Yaroslavl and Vladimir regions.
The route starts from Pereslavl-Zalessky from the village of Yam.

Further, our path will pass through the places where once there was the village of Samarovo, in which only the remains of a brick church have survived to this day.
The village was bought from Ivan Ovtsa by the Grand Duke of Moscow Simeon the Proud and is mentioned in the will of the last 1353 as a palace village. Such was it under Tsar Ivan the Terrible. Until 1558, the village of Samarovo in the Nikitsky camp was in the possession of Ivan Ivanovich Bryukhov. This year, Ivan the Terrible gave the village to the patrimony of the Danilov Monastery, in whose possession it was until the secularization of 1764. In the Time of Troubles, during the invasion of the Poles, part of the Samara peasants was attracted by them to the siege of the Trinity-Sergius Monastery, and some were killed, and the remaining houses were killed by the same Poles. “That village,” says a sentinel book of 1609, “thieves burned Lithuanian people, and 74 peasants were whipped.” From the fire there was a wooden church and 5 Bobyl yards, after the killed peasants, all Russian military people took away bread in the threshing floors and from the field, and the wives and children of the killed peasants went missing around the world. One peasant was captured by force by the landowner Mikhailo Fedoseev and planted on his estate. The rest of the surviving peasants dispersed. By 1627-28 the village was restored. In 1558, the Church of the Holy Righteous Joachim and Anna was already listed in Samarovo. In 1773, the church burned down and in its place a new wooden church was built in the same year, also in the name of the holy righteous Joachim and Anna. In 1814, instead of a wooden church, the existing stone church was built. There are two thrones in this temple: in the cold one in the name of the holy righteous Joachim and Anna, in the warm chapel in the name of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker
Source:www.wikipedia.ru
After the tract of Samarovo we will find ourselves in the Vladimir region. The village of Ryumenskoe (we will go around the bypass road) is one of the oldest in the region. In the center of the village is the Orthodox Tikhvin Church of the Icon of the Mother of God.
It is known that Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich in 1468 bequeathed the village to Princess Maria Yaroslavna. From that time until the end of the 17th century, the village of Ryumenskoye was among the palace villages. In 1688 the village was granted to boyar F.P. Saltykov and passed through the female line, first to Prince Caesar I.F. Romadanovsky and then Count Golovkin. In 1742, it was taken to the treasury and soon granted by Empress Elizaveta Petrovna to Major General Alexei Shubin. It is also known about the village of Ryumenskoye that by the 1870s, “the number of inhabitants was 410, 63 courtyards, a church, 6 villages adjoin the village. In addition to arable farming, the inhabitants are engaged in making wooden utensils. The brick Tikhvin Church was built at the expense of the local landowner Shubin in 1806-1808 on the site of the wooden church of Kozma and Damian.

Excerpts from Starodubtsev's book "Svechinskaya Land".

The old inhabitants of the village of Pronino recalled how in 1889 Tsar Alexander III rode along the Siberian Highway in a wagon harnessed by more than one trio of horses.

An old resident of the village of Borozdino told the villagers that many parties of convicts passed through the Ekaterininsky tract to Siberia. Local old-timers knew an unmarked grave near the village of Skurihiny, where 12 convicts were buried.

Transportation along the tract was carried out in that distant time not only on swift-footed, but also hardy horses. Every 25 miles there were stopping stations (stage). Such a place, for example, was the village of Pronino, Kruglyzhsky volost, Kotelnichesky district, Vyatka province, where there was a hut and a yard for the stage. As a rule, each such station was headed by a "Stationmaster".

Until the founding of the Svecha station and the construction of the railway, the center of economic and social life continued to be the northern part of our region, along which the royal road ran from St. Petersburg to Siberia. The so-called Ekaterininsky tract, built during the time of Empress Catherine II, still has old traces in the face of dilapidated birches and other trees that have been preserved and long outlived their age, which were planted without fail along its roadsides by the local population in the 18th century and in subsequent time.

From the memoirs of Alexei Efimovich Suvorov:

My childhood was spent 2-2.5 km from the Village of Borozdino. This route passed through the village of Chernovskoye, the villages of Sodom, Bacherikovshchina, Duvalovo, Empty Posad, Staritsa, Mosino, Korolevo, Borozdino and beyond ... In the village of Chernovskoye, a two-story brick building was built for the postal station, where the change of horses took place (later the building was given over to the hospital ). The main street of the village was paved with stone, which is still preserved in sections.

People living on the Shabalinskaya land, from generation to generation, carefully keep and pass on “by inheritance” the memories of a meeting with the crowned lady. The Russian Empress Catherine the Second in 1787 passed through the territory of the Chernivtsi district, where the highway passed at that time. Wait a while, he began to be called Ekaterininsky. The route started from Vologda, and then went to Nikolsk-Ustyug - Klyuchi - Chernovskoye - Staritsa - Kotelnich - Perm and further to Siberia.

More than two centuries ago, the passage of the queen across the Vyatka land was considered a miracle comparable in its significance only to the second coming of Christ.

All honest people were preparing for this event. On the church (above the altar) a portrait of the august was mounted. young birch trees were planted on both sides of the road.

Every time I come here with an inexplicable trembling in my soul. Nature itself is mesmerizing. The places here are reserved: with bluish moss and pine forest, with flowing clear water of Vetluga, with its unique bends.

Everything in the world is perishable. Only memory is immortal...

A gilded carriage drawn by eight horses was accompanied by armed guards. The servants were driving: doctors, ladies-in-waiting, cooks. There were numerous wagons with luggage - food, kitchen utensils, clothes. In the village of Klyuchi, the guest lingered a little to drink tea. Baptized, at a respectful distance, the people waited for her. As the carriage approached, the people fell on their faces. The men took off their hats. The bells rang solemnly. A prayer service for the health of the empress was served in the local church.

Ekaterininsky served the people for 111 years. Mileposts rose along it, and inns were located every 15-20 km (Vokhomskaya, Polysaevskaya, Staritskaya, Chernovskaya stations), where seconded officials changed horses.

Yes, the Ekaterininsky tract remembers a lot in its lifetime. Political prisoners are coming. The rattling of shackles and chains.

In the village of Pustoy Posad, not far from Staritsa, a rooming house was built where the convicts slept on straw. Heat and stuffiness, cold and illness lay in wait for them at every step. Therefore, it is no coincidence that many prisoners did not manage to reach Siberia. Near the village of Borozdino, Svechinsky district, there was a special cemetery for the dead convicts ...

The village of Borozdino is located 100 meters from the Vetluga River and was a gathering place for young people in the 50s. The youth gathered from the villages of Levino, Kasyanovshchina, Suvorov, Kuzino, Korolevo, Skurikhiny, etc. There is a beautiful Vetluga, beautiful forests, but all the villages in the district have been liquidated. I walked along this road from the village of Chernovskoye to Berezdino, and it was painful to look at the abandoned villages and houses. Only in the village of Staritsa are old people still living (from the memoirs of Suvorov A.E.)

Article from the newspaper "Candle", 1999.

"The troikas raced along the highway."

Construction of the Vyatka tracts - Petersburg, Siberian. Moscow, Kazan - began by decree of Catherine II in 1782.

These tracts, hundreds of kilometers long, were always maintained in a passable state, and connected the provinces with each other and the capital of Russia. Our Vyatka province was connected by such roads with Vologda, Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Kazan provinces, Moscow and St. Petersburg. They transported various goods, delivered mail.

In the northern part of our region - through Sretenskaya - Staritsa - Korolevo - Borozdino - the Petersburg tract passed. It started from St. Petersburg, went to Vologda and Nikolsk, then to Vokhma and Chernovskoye, through Pronino and Makarye, to Kurino (on Molom), Orlov and Bystrinskoye to Vyatka. The length of the tract was 1459 versts. Every 2025 miles there were stations with an inn, where passing travelers could change horses, rest and spend the night. Such stations as Vokhomskaya, Chernovskaya, Proninskaya, Makarievskaya are known on this tract.

On both sides of the tract road, several rows of birches were planted. The local population of villages and villages located on the highway and near it took care of these plantations. Already in 1784, the movement of riding teams of horses began along the St. Petersburg tract. They transported people to Vyatka, Kotelnich, Nikolsk and back, merchants and villagers brought goods to fairs - Alekseevskaya in Kotelnich, Mikhailovskaya in Kurino, Nikolskaya in Nikolsk, Makaryevskaya in Nizhny Novgorod and to Vyatka for auction. In 1789, mail began to be delivered along the St. Petersburg tract. For this, horses were specially kept at each station.

On the territory of the Vyatka province, the transportation of people, mail and goods was carried out on horses of the local Vyatka breed. They were famous even outside the province for their endurance and unpretentiousness: they could feed on straw and sleep right on the snow, endure any frost and jogg along the road for long distances without much respite on the way.

I saw and knew a lot in my 200 years. Important metropolitan and provincial officials, local district and volost managers, merchants and villagers passed along it. Political exiles and Decembrists walked along it along the stage to Siberia. In September 1790, he crossed the border of the Vyatka province near the village of Borozdino A.N. Radishchev, author of the work "Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow". Dissatisfied with this book, Catherine II sent him into exile in Siberia.

In 1855, General Lanskoy and his wife Natalya Nikolaevna (Pushkina) traveled to Vyatka along our northern route. The old-timers of the village of Pronino recalled that in 1889 Tsar Alexander the Third passed along the highway. He even deigned to open the carriage window to look out over the village. Local residents also spoke about an unmarked grave near the highway, where political prisoners were buried. Once, in the middle of the 19th century, one of the representatives of the wealthy St. Petersburg Kurakin family visited our area. At a stop in Pronino he was told: “Go to Kruglyzhi. It's not far at all. There they will tell you where the very good girl lives. ”Arriving in the village, he found out the girl’s address, hired horses and arrived at the indicated village. Seeing the girl, he was struck by her beauty. Kurakin managed to get the consent of his parents, and he returned with the girl to St. Petersburg.

This story continues today. In 1993, a middle-aged man entered the district archive and introduced himself: “I am a descendant of the Kurakin family from St. Petersburg. My great-grandfather married a beautiful peasant woman from your area. Can you name the village she was from? I want to go there." Unfortunately, at that time this information was not in our archive, and Kurakin left for St. Petersburg empty-handed.

Later, being in Kirov in the regional state archive, I managed to find out that Kurakin married a peasant girl from the village of Medvedevskaya, which later became known as Kurakinskaya. Only in the 20th century the village was renamed Medvedev, now there is a training farm PU-37.

Old-timers of the Chernovskaya volost claimed that in 1787 Catherine the Second passed through the St. Petersburg waste to the Urals. She stopped to drink tea in the village of Klyuchi and Korolevo. Unfortunately, this is not supported by historical data. That year the Empress made a trip to the Crimea. Of the seven big trips, her trip to the Urals and Vyatka does not appear.

Some sections of the Petersburg tract are still used for transportation: from Chernovsky to Staritsa and Korolevo. In the Shabalinsky district, Kostroma and Vologda regions, they are even asphalted.

se16 wrote on May 30th, 2012

The old Kaluga road, which connected Moscow with Kaluga, has been known since the 14th century, and now has almost nothing in common with the roads that exist in this direction now. In dense forests, swampy lowlands and in ravines, the once very busy trade route was lost.

At the end of the 18th century, by decree of Catherine II, along all roads, including the Kaluga road, birch alleys were planted, which performed numerous functions: they accurately indicated the direction of the road, even in the thickest fog and snowstorm it was impossible to stray from the right course; on hot summer days they sheltered the road from the scorching sun; and in snowy winters they saved roads from snow drifts. This is one of the signs by which you can recognize the Old Kaluga Road, among the many country roads and forest paths. Another - the clearing almost does not overgrow, because. over the years of its existence, the soil has been compacted under the wheels of carts and horses so much that the first tree will not appear on it soon.

The old Kaluga road, or as it is also called, the Ekaterininsky tract, in addition to the function of the main transport artery in a southerly direction, is also known for the fact that the Napoleonic army began its retreat from Moscow along it.

Up to the village of Tarutino, where the notorious battle "Tarutinsky maneuver" took place, after which, already fairly thinned out, the French army was forced to turn north.

We should also not forget about the sad pages of the history of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, when, during the advance of the Nazis’ eastern front on Moscow, the Germans restored by that time the already abandoned highway of the Ekaterininsky tract, after which the transfer of heavy equipment, trucks with provisions and people. Having reached Nedelnoye, the Nazis set up a large supply base for one of their army corps here. However, under the blows of the troops of the Western Front, which went on the counteroffensive, the enemy was forced to evacuate headquarters, warehouses and heavy weapons to Kaluga. One of the few monuments dedicated to the tragic events of seventy years and two centuries ago is located in the village of Kuzovlevo.

Traditionally, villages were formed along the tracts - large and small, where there is a village - there is a church. Today, most of the villages no longer exist. But like 200-300 years ago, stone churches keep the peace of the roads and the Russian land. Neither time, nor weather, nor plants, nor man is able to destroy the spirit and image of stone beauties.

In mid-May 2012, the club held an unusual jeeper event. In addition to the traditional off-road overcoming, the goal was to help one of the temples prolong its life, and give a chance to potential restorers to find a church not in ruins. So, the choice is made: off-road - Ekaterininsky tract, the church - Nikolskaya, not far from the village of Bashmakovka.
Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker was built in 1812, in memory of the expulsion of the French from the Russian land. She experienced a lot in her lifetime: she was a church, a granary, a grain dryer. According to the stories of local residents: “in the 60s, the church was closed, all the decoration was taken out of it. A grain dryer was opened in the church building. The dryer worked, the engines hummed, the temperature was high. The vaults could not stand it and collapsed. abandoned, crumbling with time."

To date, the church is very heavily overgrown with trees - outside, inside and on the walls themselves, trees also grow, tearing it apart with its roots from the inside. Looking ahead, I will say that we were not able to remove trees from the walls, without climbing equipment and appropriate skills this is completely impossible. There are no such people among us ...

May 19, morning on the banks of the Nara River, 15 prepared cars on the threshold of the Old Kaluga Road.

With varying success, making their way through the swampy forest, struggling with ruts, unwinding winches and helping each other, a section of the Ekaterininsky tract, about 70 kilometers long, was passed. Strongly prepared cars drove without any difficulties, the rest - to the best of their ability.

I can say for sure that we pass the Ekaterininsky tract only if the car is prepared, the winch is available and the pilot is experienced. Soils are too wet and too much water.

Standard cars were offered an alternative way of getting to the camp - asphalt, primers ... By Saturday evening, everyone was in place, in the camp at the foot of the church. Dinner, heartfelt conversations by the fire, attempts to imagine: what was it like here before...

On the morning of May 20, our forces brought employees of the Rural Church charity center from the nearest asphalt to the church. The Center does not set itself the task of complete restoration of churches - there are neither financial opportunities nor human resources for this. The essence of their activities is the implementation of immediate counter-emergency measures. For further restoration work by interested parties.
They determined the further front of work, and added zest. Very beautiful floor tiles have been preserved on the floor of the temple. According to the brand found, it can be said that it was made at the Marywile Polish factory at the end of the 19th century. The tile was found and carefully laid, for its further removal to the storage, all the trees inside the temple were carefully cut down and pulled out by the winches of our cars, all the garbage was removed. The most interesting thing was to cut the trees around. Many of them are already very small. Here the effect of an anthill played - someone is sawing, someone is dragging the sawn, someone is pulling the winch cable so that the tree is not thrown onto the wall of the temple, but in the opposite direction. Everyone worked - pilots and navigators, children and wives :) For 4-5 hours of hard work, all the tasks were completed. The temple was transformed and again began to soar over the Old Kaluga Highway.

And better than one of the protesters said Alexander Mralex Perhaps no one will say: “standing in a lowland along which an ancient road once passed, a completely different picture opened up to me. On the hill to the left stood a church. Not very large, but the three-quarter view from below made it somehow airy and majestic at the same time. Columns and round windows strengthened this feeling. Right in front of the entrance - a huge birch, the crown of which is spread somewhere completely under the sky, above the bell tower. And then, as it sometimes happens to me, the imagination played such a thing. I saw this place as if 100 years ago The slope is not littered with boughs, but neatly mowed... the birch is a little smaller and fenced with a small wooden fence, a gilded cross rises above the bell tower and the church is whitewashed, and not at all in rags of plaster.

There was a bonus - in one of the most overgrown bushes they found a grave dating back to 1954. And by the appearance of her fence and monument, no one saw her for about 20 years. A section of the Catherine's tract, along the church, heavily overgrown with shrubs, was also sawn through and freed from the undergrowth. Now, like 200 years ago, the Road goes where it was supposed to go, and the church rises above it just as it has for two centuries. The club "TAM. In Russia" tried to make such a modest gift to the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker for its bicentennial.

P.S. In the process of writing this article, a thought came to me. It may not be distinguished by its novelty, but I cannot help but formulate it.
How many more on the territory of our vast such forgotten and abandoned pieces of the soul. Forgotten by those who should not forget them. Abandoned by those who can and should take care of them. Abandoned by those who decided, voluntarily or involuntarily, renounced historical roots and genetic memory. It cannot and should not be so. There can be no future without the past. Each of us can invest a piece of his soul, a piece of himself. Extending the life of eternal values ​​and preserving them for their children...

Full photo album

The Kaluga tract began at the Crimean ford / now the Crimean bridge / and stretched to Kaluga in the direction that has now become Profsoyuznaya street, turning into the A-103 highway (Kaluga highway). Before Kresty, the current Kaluga highway lies under fresh asphalt with four lanes along the old highway, but in Kresty the most interesting begins - the modern highway goes aside and, contrary to its name, to Belarus. And the Old Kaluga or, as it is also called, the Ekaterininsky tract, still leads to Kaluga.

Perhaps this road gained the greatest popularity for history because Napoleon retreated here, losing the battle of Tarutino, but it became especially well-groomed under Catherine II.

At the end of the 18th century, by decree of Catherine II, birch alleys were planted along all major roads.

A wonderful idea: it is impossible to think of anything better than Russian birches. And you won’t go astray, and in the heat they shelter you from the heat, and protect you from snow drifts.

Moreover, a certain variety - hollow, with branches curved like candlesticks, with dark green bark.

The second sign of the road is not overgrown clearing. How many years it has not been used, and neither trees nor bushes grow there! So don't get lost. It can be seen that the soil was heavily trampled down over the centuries, when the Old Kaluga was the main road that went south. Only where a heavy tractor has passed through the ground and deeply cut it open, young shoots make their way along the edge of the rut.

In some places the road is still overgrown and narrowed, and birch trees are not visible. Then you can track it by the most faithful satellites - roadside ditches. They run along with her mile after mile at a clear distance from each other - 10 fathoms. So it was established by the General survey carried out under the same Catherine II.

Unfortunately, ditches are not eternal either: making an embankment on the road, they cut them off with a bulldozer, and simply plow them on the field.

The Kaluga Highway ended at the Moscow Gates in Kaluga. These gates were built specifically for the arrival of the Great Empress in the city with the money collected by local merchants. Catherine II arrived, saw the building, she, a lover of this, liked the gate very much, the efforts of the merchants were appreciated, and “ Kaluga appointed the main city of the province».

Unfortunately, the Moscow Gates have not survived to our time - the Soviet authorities somehow did not need them, and in 1935 they were demolished. Only a lone obelisk-verst has survived to this day, standing on a small sidewalk patch in front of the entrance to the Kaluga Regional Philharmonic.

Nowadays, the road from Moscow to Kaluga runs a little to the side. In some places, only the direction remained from Old Kaluga, guessed by the even birch plantings growing along.

The main off-road part of the tract is the section from Tarutino to Yastrebovka. We will include it in the weekend itinerary.

Security Question:To offset the route, you need to take photos at the checkpoints. There should be a car in the frame against the background of the church and against the background of the monument to Kutuzov's headquarters.

Not many people know that at some time in the 18th century the so-called Vladimirskaya road passed from Moscow through Vladimir, Nizhny Novgorod, Vasilsursk, Kozmodemyansk, Cheboksary, Sviyazhsk to Kazan, and then to Siberia, which, according to official history, was built in the middle XVI century. In the XVIII century, under Catherine II, the road was improved. This road is more or less known as the Ekaterininsky tract

1. The road was laid during the time of Catherine II for postal communication between Kazan and Orenburg. To this day, residents of the Sharlyk region use it. One of the sections of the Ekaterininsky road (its other name is the Kazansky tract) divides the village of Yuzeevo in half.

An example from the official history. The old Ekaterininsky tract passes through the village of Fomino. Two sections of the road paved with cobblestones have been preserved: Akhunovo-Fomino, near Uisky pine forest about 2.3 km and Larino-Filimonovo - 0.7 km.
By decree of Catherine, the construction of a paved road to Siberia passed through this area. The road went through Verkhneuralsk, Karagayka, Akhunovo, Fomino, Kulakhty, Kundrava, Chebarkul. In the 18th century, it was the main artery along which cattle were driven, melted butter, wool, and downy shawls were transported. In winter, prasols plied along the road, buying a calf for a pair of boots, a ram for a pound of bad tea, a year-old lamb for a chintz for a shirt. By May, the road was already crowded with herds of cattle, which were driven to the fair in Orenburg. Emperor Alexander 1 in September 1824 made a trip to the Urals, passing through Verkhneuralsk along the Ekaterininsky tract. In the 19th century, this road was led along the stage of convicts. The road connecting Orenburg, Ufa, Yekaterinburg led to the Verkhneuralsk prison. Verkhneuralsk was included, as a stage, in the route of the exiles from the center of Russia to Siberia. Here the escorts and horses changed, gave a short rest to the prisoners, who at different times were Decembrists, populists, democrats and revolutionaries, Bolsheviks and Mensheviks.

3.

7.Ekaterininskaya road to Verkhneuralsk
Questions: how can one travel hundreds of kilometers in a carriage on such roads? The shaking is incredible. On it, the wheels and the carriage will fall apart in one trip.

11. Where did you get so many granite cobblestones if there are no rock outcrops around? Were they transported thousands of miles away? Or maybe they dismantled the ruins as the road was laid? True, rectangular stones are not found on the road. Or were these boulders on the surface after the flood?

Comments on the topic:

yuri_shap2015 : In the Tver region, the Volga river to Tver is littered with stones, right a mountain river on the plain. And also for one square meter of soil, tens of kg of stones, granite, marble, diabase, etc. ... Directly on the surface ... where are they from? There are enough stones and huge boulders, many lie simply in an open field. In the spring, when the snow melts and the grass has not yet grown, they are clearly visible.

yuri_shap2015 : The peculiarity of the Volga river, littered with stones, is simply unique for lowland rivers.
This can only be seen in mountain rivers. And no one is embarrassed by such an abundance of stone in an absolutely flat river. The main thing is that the deposits of stone (and there are mostly granites), from where they can be brought there, are Karelia and Len. region. The main explanation is the Glacier..., 10 thousand years ago...
Those. stones in the North-West of Russia and in the Tver region in particular have been lying on the surface for more than 10,000 years ... Well, yes ..... well, yes .... I believe, because it is written in a book on geology ....

12. In the Gorodok district of the Vitebsk region, the most common vacancy is a stone collector. According to the site haradok.info, they need 75 people for three organizations, and in general, there are 306 vacancies in the region.

13.
Their presence is associated with glaciation, a creeping glacier tens of thousands of years ago. But it can still be imagined in the valleys of the mountains or near them. And for thousands of kilometers from the mountains - it is difficult for me personally.

It is possible that the roads were paved with these stones and cobblestones. Given the official population density of that time, the construction was large-scale.

In G. Sidorova's video lectures, I came across information that there are similar roads in Eastern Siberia. Only shoots grow on them. Large trees cannot be fixed by roots, fall. But there is no official information about the excavations or their discovery.
***

Another interesting theme of ancient stone roads is Roman roads. It has some very interesting moments.

16. The length of the roads is colossal!

The most significant of the ancient public roads of Rome - appian way :

17.

18.

19.

Here are some interesting observations on this topic:

1. The first interesting point - the construction of the main Roman roads was according to a certain technology:

20. It resembles our current road construction technology. But cars with a total weight of more than 20 tons pass on our roads. In winter, soils can swell from falling water into them. It is with this in mind that a reliable embankment is made, layers of pillows from a rock. Still sometimes geomembranes are added. And in European countries with a harsh winter climate, such as Finland, there is also a layer of reinforced concrete in the roadway.
Did heavy wagons weighing several tons travel along Roman roads? Otherwise, why such reliability to prevent punching of the canvas is not clear.

I do not rule out that the ruts in the tuffs of Turkey, Malta and the Crimea are from the same topic. It was heavy vehicles (at present it is difficult to judge them) that pushed through (and did not grind off the track) in tuffs.

21. Crimea, Chufut Kale. There is a clear rut in the petrified mineral tuff. Perhaps this mud flowed through the streets from a mud volcano. It was unrealistic to clean up, they simply pushed a track in it with wagons. But there are no traces of horses. It's a mystery.

2. There are also ruts in the stone canvases of Roman roads. We look:

23.

24. Pompeii

I have this version. These cobblestones in the Roman roadbed (but not in all) are geoconcrete, mineral tuff. Or maybe one of the recipes for Roman concrete. The track says that this is a depression in the canvas, and not its abrasion under the wheels.

25. Clickable. Click to view the seams in the blocks:

26. Look at the seams

27. The boulders in the bed of a Roman road resemble masses that have been laid down like dough. But they swelled during petrification (some lime mortars have such a property).

Ruts were formed due to the fact that some residents did not wait for the final petrification of the mass, but began to use the road for its intended purpose.

3. Gutter in the middle in some Roman roads.

28. England. Roman roads

29. What is the purpose of the gutter? The road is convex, water flows down the edges without it.

In the information on this link the author makes a very bold assumption - a chute for the convenience of direct control of steam carts (the first wheeled steam locomotives):

30. It was very problematic to steer like this. But it is also unrealistic for two such units to pass on such a road.

31. The mass is large - there was clearly no hydraulics for steering.
It is possible that Roman roads were adapted for these units in the 19th century. What if they were there before? There are also opinions that antiquity is not as ancient as we are told. An extra millennium in chronology. But this is only a version, the question still remains a question.
***

Summary of the discussion in the comments:

As it becomes clear, carts and carriages will not go far along such roads - the wheels will fall off from shaking or the structure will fall apart. A variant is likely when this pillow of stones was covered with sand from above and leveled - a relatively smooth and reliable road was obtained. A small layer, just to hide the bumps and depressions between the stones. Subsequently, this sand was washed away by rains and melt water or blown by winds. The stones blazed.

Another version from doctrinaire1802 : when analyzing recipes for artificial stones, the concept of "asphalt" is often encountered. I haven't studied the recipe in depth. Perhaps these stones are the remains of the "substrate". And the asphalt pavement crumbled. And the asphalt dust could be washed off to the side of the road or carried by the wind. This is an assumption, and I did not diligently study the device of roads. But the concept of "asphalt" met in the sources of the 18th century.

o_iv : There is such a substance, tar. One of the "natural" varieties of tar... Asphalt!
In England and other Europe, on not very large roads, "tarmac" coating is still found. Small stones glued with tar.
Sometimes this is called a coating of gravel spilled with bitumen (and bitumen, deep down, is also a kind of tar). And yes, over a hundred years of operation, this coating from the cobblestone base will stop and wash off.
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