“Maintaining Roads in Good Condition is a Public Matter”: Roads in the European North of Russia in the First Half of the 19th Century

The paper makes use of data from one of the provinces of the European North of Russia to discuss problems of road maintenance in remote areas of the Russian Empire. The study is based on office documents introduced for the first time in research. Particular attention is paid to an analysis of directives from the central government and of orders by provincial authorities. Changes in the legislative regulation of road management and challenges faced in the provinces during their implementation are described. The road network condition is characterized and the peculiarities of the road duty are identified, which made it possible to see the road maintenance procedure and to highlight its advantages and disadvantages. It is concluded that the supreme authorities sought in the management of roads in remote territories to balance the state interests and the capabilities of the local population where, on the one hand, it was necessary to meet the needs of the administrative apparatus and to establish regular postal service, and on the other hand, to prevent total aggravation and disobedience of the inhabitants who had to bear the road duty.