sandiercy t1_j6heh6o wrote on January 30, 2023 at 9:53 AM

Where I live, we have a bunch of straight roads, we also have areas where it is literally impossible to build roads so we have to go around (things like mountains or bogs). Coastlines also make it nearly impossible to have a straight road.

pandastealer t1_j6hez2l wrote on January 30, 2023 at 10:01 AM

The roads came before cars here and were probably started as walked trails at some point so it wouldn't have been necessary for them to have been straight and flat.

But in a place where the roads were designed post car invention I reckon its a mix of how the ground underneath I and how the topology of the land is, avoiding sandy or shale patches and areas that might flood is probably a priority to prolong the life of the road surface itself.