JERUSALEM AND BOYDTON PLANK ROADS

Plank roads were used widely in Virginia in the years 1830-1850 because they were fairly simple to build and relatively inexpensive using the abundant timber in the region. Also, planks could be laid over an existing road, so little grading was needed. A typical plank road consisted of a single track 8-12 feet wide, with 3-inch thick planks placed crosswise over log stringers. Ditches were dug on each side to shunt water away from the roadbed. Road companies expected to recoup maintenance costs by levying tolls on travelers, thus a toll gate every few miles. But within a few years of construction, it proved impossible to keep the roads in good repair. Logs rotted in the ground, planks warped in the sun or snapped under the wheels of heavy wagons, and after a time negotiating a plank road became a perilous operation. By the Civil War most plank roads in Virginia had reverted to the dirt tracks these once were.

Two plank roads featured prominently in the battles for Petersburg -- Jerusalem Plank Road and Boydton Plank Road. Jerusalem Plank ran about 45 miles from Petersburg to Courtland, Virginia, dubbed "Jerusalem" before the war. "Crater Road" today fairly closely follows the plank road trace south from Petersburg. The Boydton Plank Road ran about 75 miles from Petersburg to Boydton in Mecklenburg County. Jerusalem Plank Road was severed during the first days' battles in June 1864, along with the City Point & Petersburg and the Petersburg & Norfolk railroads. Although targeted by Federal offensives, the Boydton Plank artery continued as a supply route for Petersburg and the Confederate army until March 1865.

Not to be confused with "plank" roads, engineers of both armies built miles of  temporary “corduroy” roads during the siege of Petersburg in order to move troops and supplies across a marshy, often muddy landscape. Corduroy roads were built by placing logs side by side along a cleared path and covering them with dirt to dampen the jolting and lurching. Some segments of corduroy roads survive today. 
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History of Roads in Virginia
https://www.virginiadot.org/about/resources/historyofrds.pdf

Detail from "A new map for travelers through the United States of America showing the railroads, canals & stage roads with the distances," by J. Calvin Smith, 1846, courtesy of the Library of Congress. Richmond, Petersburg, Boydton, and Jerusalem (Courtland) are highlighted.