This paper will explore the reconstruction process of the Trabzon-Erzurum road in northeastern Anatolia in the late 19th century with regards to its implications concerning the so-called modernization process of the Ottoman Empire. Starting in mid-1850s, the Ottoman state engaged in an effort to reform its existing road network throughout the empire and also added some new routes to the already existing ones. One of the major goals of the Ottoman state was to increase its security with a better road network and make far away provinces more accessible to the imperial center. The state was also willing to facilitate agriculture and commerce and thus obtain a more advantageous position in response to growing foreign economic competition. Based on these official concerns, the existing literature identifies the Ottoman state's renewed interest in roads as a part of the Ottoman modernization efforts. In contrast, my paper will argue that the Ottoman state's policies concerning road haulage were not necessarily shaped by elitist "modernizing" ideals but also by local and social demands. This emphasis on the productive capacity of local and social demands may help us to reconsider the modernization paradigm -which dominates the existing literature on the 19th century Ottoman Empire- by highlighting the dynamic and social aspects of modern states. Moreover, a social history of roads may also shed a new light on the Ottoman state-society relations in which the "masses" did not necessarily play a passive or negative role by either obeying or resisting governmental policies, but also by shaping them.