How can one measure the importance of a road? Certainly in the American context, roads have been tremendously important to the growth of this nation, stretching back to the first dirt paths created by Native Americans. Roads are conduits for the flow of goods, people, and ideas, and in the developing world, they have the potential to be intensely important. Despite the much-touted "leveling" of the global landscape, which has promised to make once remote areas accessible via technology and the like, the need for and the benefits of new roads in rural areas continue to live on the wish list. This recent publication, authored by Hemamala Hettige, takes on this various issue by looking at a number of case studies throughout Asia. The 101-page report was sponsored by the Asian Development Bank, and looks at examples of the effects of rural roads in Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and the Philippines. It is a very worthwhile work, and one that may be of great interest to persons working in the fields of international public policy and economic development.