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highways, expressways, freeways -- meaning



 
 
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  #1  
Old February 12th, 2004, 12:07 AM
H. S.
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Default highways, expressways, freeways -- meaning

What is the distinction between all these? Or are the words just used
interchangably? I am not sure if it should matter, but I am asking from
a Canadian point of view.

thanks,
-HS
--
(Remove all underscores,if any, from my email address to get the correct
one. Apologies for the inconvenience but this is to reduce spam.)

  #2  
Old February 12th, 2004, 12:18 AM
Keith Willshaw
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Default highways, expressways, freeways -- meaning


"H. S." wrote in message
...
What is the distinction between all these? Or are the words just used
interchangably? I am not sure if it should matter, but I am asking from
a Canadian point of view.


This is my take only , yours may differ

Highway - a public road between 2 distinct locations in contrast
to a local access road.

Expressway - a highway optimised for speed , probably
at least 2 lanes in each direction possibly access limited to
vehicular traffic

Freeway. A refined expressway with overpasses and sliproads
rather than traffic lights, a median divider and at least 2 lanes
in each direction , slip roads at access points and access
limited to motorised vehicles excluding agricultural tractors.

Keith



  #3  
Old February 12th, 2004, 01:06 AM
Walt Tucker
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Default highways, expressways, freeways -- meaning


I've also found that "freeway" and "expressway" are sometimes used
interchangably. "Freeway" is used more often in the western U.S., while
"Expressway" is used more often in the eastern U.S. Same type of
multi-lane road. Generally no stoplights and limited access.

The think the "free" in "freeway" came about because it is an expressway
without tolls, but in the common venacular the term "expressway" doesn't
seem to exclusively denote a road with tolls, either.

Keith Willshaw wrote:

"H. S." wrote in message
...


What is the distinction between all these? Or are the words just used
interchangably? I am not sure if it should matter, but I am asking from
a Canadian point of view.




This is my take only , yours may differ

Highway - a public road between 2 distinct locations in contrast
to a local access road.

Expressway - a highway optimised for speed , probably
at least 2 lanes in each direction possibly access limited to
vehicular traffic

Freeway. A refined expressway with overpasses and sliproads
rather than traffic lights, a median divider and at least 2 lanes
in each direction , slip roads at access points and access
limited to motorised vehicles excluding agricultural tractors.

Keith







  #4  
Old February 12th, 2004, 02:06 AM
Ken
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Default highways, expressways, freeways -- meaning

Walt Tucker wrote in
:
I've also found that "freeway" and "expressway" are sometimes used
interchangably. "Freeway" is used more often in the western U.S., while
"Expressway" is used more often in the eastern U.S. Same type of
multi-lane road. Generally no stoplights and limited access.


In California, expressways can have intersections and stop lights and usually
have speed limits in the 35-50 range. Freeways have limited access with no
intesections and have speed limits from 55 to 70 mph.
  #5  
Old February 12th, 2004, 04:57 AM
Howard Lem
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Default highways, expressways, freeways -- meaning

"H. S." wrote:

What is the distinction between all these? Or are the words just used
interchangably? I am not sure if it should matter, but I am asking from
a Canadian point of view.


You forgot "parkway" as in the Don Valley Parkway :-)

Please remove all UPPER case characters from my email address to get the
correct
one.

Howard
  #6  
Old February 12th, 2004, 06:00 AM
Mark Brader
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Default highways, expressways, freeways -- meaning

Walt Tucker:
I've also found that "freeway" and "expressway" are sometimes used
interchangably. "Freeway" is used more often in the western U.S., while
"Expressway" is used more often in the eastern U.S. Same type of
multi-lane road. Generally no stoplights and limited access.


Correct. Except for localized or technical usages, the words "freeway",
"expressway", "superhighway", "motorway", "limited-access highway",
and "controlled-access highway" all denote the same grade of road. In
some areas people would also refer to this as a "highway", but that
conflicts with the usage of "highway" in most places.

Still other words used in naming specific expressways, notably "parkway",
are also used for some non-expressways. And when speaking of expressways
in non-English-speaking countries or provinces, people speaking English
often use the local-language word for "expressway", such as "autobahn".

"Turnpike" usually means an expressway where a toll is charged, but is
also used in naming specific roads (not necessarily expressways) where
at some time in the distant past a toll was charged. Conversely, in
the usage of many people, "freeway" now refers only to an expressway
without tolls. But:

The think the "free" in "freeway" came about because it is an expressway
without tolls...


No, that's a myth which arises because the places where the word was
most used happened to be places where they were toll-free. But the
the word came about because of freedom from hazards that would slow
traffic down. Some dictionaries don't even list the "no tolls" meaning,
and some of us still use the word for any kind of expressway.
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | I still remember the first time his reality check
| bounced. -- Darlene Richards

My text in this article is in the public domain.
  #7  
Old February 12th, 2004, 07:47 AM
Henry
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Posts: n/a
Default highways, expressways, freeways -- meaning

Walt Tucker wrote:

--------------000905040806010600090608
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit


Please don't post to usenet in html.

I've also found that "freeway" and "expressway" are sometimes used
interchangably. "Freeway" is used more often in the western U.S., while
"Expressway" is used more often in the eastern U.S. Same type of
multi-lane road. Generally no stoplights and limited access.


In Milwaukee, hub and nexus of a number of "Interstate" routes (I-94,
I-43, etc.), you will often hear such things as

"His car broke down on the I."

cheers,

Henry

!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"
html
head
meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=ISO-8859-1"
title/title
/head
body
br
I've also found tht "freeway" and "expressway" are smetmes used intrchangably.
 "Freeway" is used more often in the western U.S., while "Expressway" is
used more often in the eastern U.S.  Same type of multi-lane road.
 Generally no stoplights and limited access.br br The think the
"free" in "freeway" came about because it is an expressway without tolls,
but in the common venacular the term "expressway" doesn't seem to
exclusively denote a road with tolls, either.br br Keith Willshaw
wrote:br blockquote type="cite"
" pre wrap="""H. S." a
class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
"<g_rea &gt
;/a wrote in message a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
"news:OAyWb.33849$2g.15
/a... /pre blockquote type="cite" pre
wrap=""What is the distinction between all these? Or are the words just
used interchangably? I am not sure if it should matter, but I am asking
from a Canadian point of view.

/pre
/blockquote
pre wrap=""!----
This is my take only , yours may differ

Highway - a public road between 2 distinct locations in contrast
to a local access road.

Expressway - a highway optimised for speed , probably
at least 2 lanes in each direction possibly access limited to
vehicular traffic

Freeway. A refined expressway with overpasses and sliproads
rather than traffic lights, a median divider and at least 2 lanes
in each direction , slip roads at access points and access
limited to motorised vehicles excluding agricultural tractors.

Keith



/pre
/blockquote
br
/body
/html

--------------000905040806010600090608--

  #8  
Old February 12th, 2004, 10:39 AM
Icono Clast
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default highways, expressways, freeways -- meaning

Walt Tucker wrote:
The think the "free" in "freeway" came about because it is an expressway
without tolls,


Nope. A freeway is free a way free of cross traffic. It's possible to
have a freeway with a toll.

This subject has been discussed in this forum. You could do a search.


From: Icono Clast )
Subject: What do Eurepeans find different in North America
Newsgroups: rec.travel.usa-canada
Date: 1999/12/19

Harry wrote:
What is the definition of "freeway"? Technically, it is a road which does
not charge a toll.


If that were true, every toll-free street, road, bridge, tunnel, and
highway on Earth would be a "free" way to get from there to here.

There are several stretches of Highway 101 in California that have
"END FREEWAY" road signs yet it's still divided with two lanes in
each direction. Farther down the road, there are signs that say
"BEGIN FREEWAY". Between them, there is no toll.

A freeway is a limited-access/egress [high]WAY that is FREE of cross
traffic! In California they're not toll-free. We pay for them every
time we buy gasoline with a significant per-gallon tax. Those who use
the most gas pay the most for the highways. Sounds fair t'me.
--
ICONO CLAST: A San Franciscan in 47.335 mile² San Francisco.
  #9  
Old February 12th, 2004, 05:56 PM
Hatunen
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Default highways, expressways, freeways -- meaning

On Wed, 11 Feb 2004 23:07:26 GMT, "H. S."
wrote:

What is the distinction between all these? Or are the words just used
interchangably? I am not sure if it should matter, but I am asking from
a Canadian point of view.


The definitions and usages vary from state to state. But in
general, the freeway and expressway are included in highways,
although it might be better to say they are included in the
broader category of "highways and streets".

For instance, according to the California Streets and Hiwhways
Code:

23.5. "Freeway" means a highway in respect to which the owners
of abutting lands have no right or easement of access to or from
their abutting lands or in respect to which such owners have only
limited or restricted right or easement of access. If, in the
judgment of the commission or the director, the public interest
would be advanced thereby, a freeway, as defined herein, may be
denominated a "controlled access highway". In all other
respects, the "controlled access highway" shall be subject to all
provisions of this code pertaining to freeways.



************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *
  #10  
Old February 12th, 2004, 06:31 PM
Jim Battista
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Posts: n/a
Default highways, expressways, freeways -- meaning

"H. S." wrote in
:

What is the distinction between all these? Or are the words just
used interchangably? I am not sure if it should matter, but I am
asking from a Canadian point of view.


To echo others, freeways and expressways are the same thing, and are
the same as limited-access or controlled-access highways.

A highway, though, is (often!) just any road linking two towns
together. It might be a 14-lane Interstate, or it might be a narrow 2-
lane road lined with houses and farms and their requisite driveways.

--
Jim Battista
A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man.
 




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