Short answers, pulled from the story.
The world's oldest known paved road was constructed in Egypt between 2600 and 2200 BC. This structure predates the concept of stone and mortar by millennia, yet human travelers used rough pathways by about 10,000 BC.
The Sweet Track is a timber track causeway in England built in winter 3807 BC or spring 3806 BC. Tree-ring dating enabled very precise dating for this structure, which was claimed to be the oldest road in the world until the 2009 discovery of a 6,000-year-old trackway in Plumstead, London.
Darius I the Great started an extensive road system for the Achaemenid Empire in 500 BC. This highway connected Sardis, the westernmost major city of the empire, to Susa and remained in use after Roman times.
According to a May 2009 report by the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials and TRIP, driving on rough roads costs the average American motorist approximately $400 a year in extra vehicle operating costs. Drivers living in urban areas with populations more than 250,000 are paying upwards of $750 more annually.
The United States has the largest network of roads of any country with as of 2009. The Republic of India has the second-largest road system globally with of road in 2013, and the People's Republic of China is third with of road in 2007.
The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development defines a road as a line of communication using a stabilized base other than rails or air strips open to public traffic, primarily for the use of road motor vehicles running on their own wheels. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access.