The Postal Route St Petersburg – Warsaw

The postal route St Petersburg – Warsaw.

On 16 July 1828 the Russian Czar Nikolaj I issued a decree approving the project for the road construction from St Petersburg to Kaunas that was supervised by the Chief Director of roads and highways. The highway was supposed to be finished in 1833, but the rebellion of 1831 interrupted the construction of the road and the postal route was opened for travels only in summer in 1836.

The construction of the road was a grandiose enterprise by the standards of that time taking into account technical possibilities. The route was constructed as a straight line but the twists in road were relatively frequent. The highway had a solid gravel covering and deep ditches on both sides with birches planted along them that one can find even today. The entire width of the road was 12.78 m. The highway was built in a very short time. Until then people used to travel by beaten ground roads, planted with trees, with no paving and no bridges – only wades helped to cross the water.