Gnomish Toll Roads

Historically, Gnomes are not a traveling lot. While a certain percentage of the population succumbs to the Wanderlust, and travels to and fro, many are bound to return back to their villages andnever travel beyond a neighboring village, again.  Some gnomes barely travel to the neighboring village, so is their fate.

Despite this lack of a drive to travel on a regular basis, Gnomes build roads.  The original focus of their  roads were to connect neighboring villages, or to ease the travel to a destination (mine, quarry, teddy bear picnic patch).  Subsequent Wanderlusts forced the early repair and eventual improvement on many stretches, creating rudimentary road systems stretching across entire nations.  

Most construction and maintenance is the responsibility of the locals. However not all road wear-and-tear is the result of local (or wandering) Gnomes.  The Gnome World is full of other sentient beings (mice, rats, ducks, frogs, turtles, and teddy bears to name a few), who take advantage of Gnome industriousness.  

When there are no locals, or the maintenance is laborious (thanks to non-Gnome traffic) or hazardous (not every inch of the Gnome World is civilized), tolls may be set up to offset the costs.

Two mouslings take advantage of a simple toll booth, for safe passage through the dark forest.

Toll roads tend to be broad, limited-access trails.  There tends to be few villages in between destinations dominating the toll roads, and the Road Masters prevent unauthorized trails to be blazed.  There are usually alternative roads for the neighboring villagers to take, but they are much smaller, less maintained, and a bit treacherous for caravans or military forces to move through.  

Toll roads are exclusively for overland travel.  The Swiss are known for constructing huge travels through mountains to ease the burdens of mountain passes.  These tunnels then charge exorbitant tolls on all but the smallest of groups (individuals and families pay a nominal fee) to cover the expense of the construction.  Most merchants and large groups are still willing to pay the toll, because the tunnels will take days off of travel, and considerable wear and tear on vehicles and pack animals.  Due to the elevated nature of the construction, much of the maintenance of these roads is dedicated to government forces, the Swiss Ministry of the Interior, for example, although military forces have been used to speed up projects. 

In most nations, military maneuvers focus on the use of toll roads for quick travel, usually at a greatly reduced rate (if any).  Obviously, invading armies exempt themselves from tolls, although the Road Masters who don't immediately flee are known to engage the enemy with sabotage or other guerrilla tactics.