Gulyás Katalin et al. (szerk.): Tisicum. A Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok megyei Múzeumok évkönyve 28. (Szolnok, 2020)
Történettudomány - Szikszai Mihály: Adalékok a jászsági utak történetéhez
SZIKSZAI MIHÁLY: ADALÉKOK A JÁSZSÁGI UTAK TÖRTÉNETÉHEZ Mihály Szikszai: In addition to the history of the Jászság’s roads Significant roads have been leading through the Jászság for centuries. Jászberény, the centre of the region, was connected to the circulation of the country by salt and post roads. The first national survey describing the Jászság’s circumstances of transportation was made in the 1780’s. Today it is known as the military survey of Joseph II. The following description of the Jászság’s roads was made as a part of a planned, national publication in 1830. Jászberény, at the time of the forming of Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok county in 1876, had only two built roads. The Jászberény-Járokszállás road and the Jászberény-Jászjákóhalma road were both used for long-distance transportation. The opening of the Hatvan-Szolnok railway in 1873 helped the building of new roads as well. On the one hand, the iron horse easily transported the materials needed for the building of roads, and on the other hand, the building of roads leading to the station became a priority. The lack of a unitary law of road management was still felt throughout the entire country however. The counties and cities tried to overcome this unfortunate situation by making local decrees. This is what happened in Jászberény as well, in 1881 they tried to regularize public works. According to the decree from this time forth, half of the public works could be paid in money, the other half had to be paid in kind. The final solution to this problem did not come until the law article of „road law” (1890/1). This put roads in six categories and wanted to cover the burdens of public roads by completely neglecting public works and issuing a mandatory road tax. The development of roads started slowly even then. The great investment of the period was the I. transversal road on the Alföld, which touched our county at Kunszentmárton. It was already suggested in 1894 that the county would build the road branching from the I. transversal road at Kunszentmárton and leading to Jászberény, if the minister took it under national management. With this, a connection would have been made between the roads coming from the Mátra and the I. transversal one. The Jászberény-Szolnok- Kunszentmárton state road was not realized int he end,which did not favor the „capital of the Jászság”. The plan of the Office of State Architecture in 1891 did not favor the Jászság either. From the suggested 200 kilometer-long road only 14 kilometers would have been built on Jászság territory, although two thirds of the loans for the constructions would have been paid by towns of the late Jászkunság. This proposal was not accepted either. In spite of all this, the more important roads of the Jászság were built before WWI. 151
