Maintaining roads was a laborious and thankless task for nobles. Not only did they have to provide money and manpower, they were also responsible for keeping the peace. If they failed to catch the robbers, they had to pay compensation themselves.
Fortunately, many medieval gravel roads were simply compacted earth. Limited by road-building techniques, along with flooding, the trampling of horses, and the crushing weight of two-wheeled carts, road surfaces were frequently damaged. If no one could be found to take responsibility, then naturally everyone avoided it if they could. Although the king had the power to punish crimes committed on the King's Highway, he had no means of forcing anyone to maintain the roads.
What was more, in 1318, the abbot of a Canterbury monastery was punished for "misconduct" after charging bridge tolls to repair a road. The King's Bench believed that he had first widened the river by the watermill, making the log bridge difficult to cross. He either had to restore the water flow to its original state or build a suitable bridge so people could pass safely. Doing nothing meant less trouble, so why bother caring whether the road was passable?
The nobles might not care, but town councils could not sit by and watch roads become impassable through years of disrepair. Without roads, merchants and travelers would not pass through. Without merchants and travelers, there would be no taxes or trade. Keeping roads open concerned the survival of a town, so nearly every municipal authority placed great importance on roads. However, they were not permitted to charge tolls to merchants and travelers on the King's Highway unless they received authorization from the king.
This was still based on the rules of the King's Peace. Though the muddy road lay within local territory, jurisdiction over it