Road

Roads built through your settlement allow Villagers to walk faster than they normally do across ground without roads.

Overview
Roads are useful for connecting the buildings in your settlement and resource-rich Glades with the warehouses and Hearths in your settlement. Villagers walk faster on roads, so if there are areas where villagers will be traveling frequently, such as in front of the warehouse or the Hearth, it is worth while to build a road. While you may not be able to visually perceive the small speed increase from the basic path, the benefit will add up over the course of the game.

Road access to buildings is not required. Buildings can be placed anywhere, and villagers will be able to access the building regardless of whether there is a road touching the building or its entrance.

Finally, and importantly to many viceroys, roads look nice.

Construction
Each tile of road requires 2 seconds to be built. Roads can be built by a line rather than by individual tiles.

Building a better road over an older road will remove the old road and its speed bonus (until the new road is constructed). Therefore, you may want to upgrade roads is smaller sections than you may have originally laid them out.