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The joy and sorrow of roads

Dirt tracks to expressways: how roadbuilding changed the world.

Whether we are pedestrians, cyclists or drivers, roads play a crucial role in our everyday lives. But where and how should we build any new ones? What kind of roads do we need? And how did we end up with the ones we have?

Rajan Datar talks about the past and present of roads and roadbuilding with anthropologist Traci Ardren from the University of Miami, civil engineer Kate Castle, historians Alexis DeGreiff from the National University of Colombia in Bogota and Aparajita Mukhopadhyay from Kent University, literary scholar Stephanie Ponsavady from Wesleyan University in Connecticut and journalist Karim Waheed from Dhaka. Plus World Service listeners from around the globe share their road-trip joys and frustrations.

(Photo: Road construction, worker with a shovel. Credit: blyjak/Getty Images)

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48 minutes

Last on

Wed 27 Sep 2023 23:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 23 Sep 2023 11:06GMT
  • Sun 24 Sep 2023 02:06GMT
  • Sun 24 Sep 2023 13:06GMT
  • Sun 24 Sep 2023 16:06GMT
  • Wed 27 Sep 2023 09:06GMT
  • Wed 27 Sep 2023 23:06GMT

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