(4) _Chemins Vicinaux de Moyenne Communication_. Similar to Class III., but of less importance, and maintained at the cost of the people, but controlled by the department.
(5) _Chemins de Petite Communication._ Of still less importance, maintained by the communities separately under the supervision of government engineers.
(6) _Chemins Ruraux._ Roads of the least importance, and wholly controlled and maintained by the people without any interference from the government officials.
The art of road-building in France is only excelled by that of the Romans, and they unfortunately lived before the days of high-speed traffic and rubber-shod wheels.
The great national roads, usually tree-bordered, average but three in one hundred grade, the departmental roads four in one hundred, and the _Chemins de Grande Communication_ five in one hundred. In all except very hilly districts, where of course there are deviations, this is the rule.
Napoleon's idea was that these national highways were essentially a military means of communication, and as such they were laid out with a certain regularity and uniformity. Formerly they were largely paved with stone blocks. Who, among those who have travelled extensively by road in France, does not know the execrable pavements of the populated neighbourhoods through which these highways run? To-day these are largely disappearing. The roads in France suffer more from drought than from wet. They dry quickly after rain, and, in order to shade and protect the surface from the dry heat of summer, the planting of trees on the sides of the roads has been largely adopted. As showing the importance that has been attached to this matter, royal decrees were formerly passed, determining the manner of planting, the kind of trees to be used, and the penalties to be imposed on those who injured them.
Most of the roads of France, even the national roads, cross the railways on the level instead of over bridges. There are gate-keepers and gates for the protection of the public. At many of them the signalling is of a very primitive kind, and yet there are few accidents.
The history of the roads of France is the history of the nation since the conquest of ancient Gaul by the legions of Cæsar.