Highway

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For other uses, see Highway (disambiguation).

A German Autobahn, built in the 1930s, inspired how modern highways are designed to this day all around the world.

The Pan-American Highway, in the Peruvian town of Máncora, where it serves as the main street

The Jhongshan Freeway in Taipei, Taiwan

The Metropolitan Expressway in Tokyo, Japan

A highway is a main road intended for travel by the public between important destinations, such as cities and towns. Highway designs vary widely and can range from a two-lane road without margins to a multi-lane, grade separated freeway. In law the word highway is often used as a legal term to denote any public road, ranging from freeways to dirt tracks.^[1] An interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network" or a "highway transportation system".^[2]

The United States has the largest network of highways, including both the Interstate highways and United States Numbered Highways. At least one of these networks is present in every state and connects most major cities. The Expressway Network of the People's Republic of China, also known as National Trunk Highway System (NTHS) has a total length of about 53,600 km at the end of 2007, which is the world's second longest system of expressways only after that of the United States.

Some highways, like the Pan-American Highway or the European routes, bridge multiple countries. Australia's Highway 1 is the longest national highway in the world at over 20,000 km (12,000 mi) and runs almost the entire way around the continent.

Highways are not always continuous stretches of pavement. For example, some highways are interrupted by bodies of water, and ferry routes may serve as sections of the highway.

[ World records

An International freeway sign, found mainly in Europe denoting the start of special motorway restrictions to a section of highway

Longest international highway: the Pan-American Highway, which connects many countries in the Americas, is nearly 48,000 kilometres (29,826 mi) long as of 2005^[update].
Longest national highway: Australia's Highway 1 at over 20,000 km (12,427 mi). It runs almost the entire way around the country’s coastline. With the exception of Canberra (which is inland) it links all the capital cities, although Brisbane and Darwin are not directly connected. Also the route links all the major towns and cities of the island state of Tasmania, Burnie, Devonport, Launceston and Hobart (the state’s capital).
Longest national highway (Point to point): The Trans-Canada Highway (Known as TCH 1 in western Canada) is 7,821 km (4,857 mi) long as of 2006^[update]. It runs across southern Canada and connects with several major urban centres along its longitudinal route.^[3]
Largest national highway system: The United States of America has approximately 6,430,366 kilometres (3,995,644 mi) of highway within its borders as of 2008^[update]^[4].
Busiest highway: Highway 401 in Ontario, Canada, has volumes surpassing an average of 500,000 vehicles per day in some sections of Toronto as of 2006^[update].^[5]^[6]
Widest highway (maximum number of lanes): The Katy Freeway (part of Interstate 10) in Houston, Texas, United States of America, has a total of 26 lanes in some sections as of 2007^[update]. However, they are divided up into general use/frontage roads/HOV lanes, restricting traffic flow.
Widest highway (number of maximum through lanes): Highway 401 through Mississauga, Ontario has the most unrestricted free-flow lanes, at 22 (26 including restricted) as of 2008^[update].

[ Highway systems by country

It has been suggested that this section be split into a new article entitled List of highway systems by country. (Discuss)

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[ Australia

The Tullamarine Freeway/Tollway in Melbourne, Australia showing toll gantries

Main article: Highways in Australia

In Australia, a highway is a distinct type of road from freeways, expressways and motorways. The word highway is generally used to mean major roads connecting large cities, towns and different parts of metropolitan areas. Metropolitan highways often have traffic lights at intersections, and rural highways usually have only one lane in each direction. The words freeway, expressway or motorway are generally reserved for the most arterial routes, usually with grade-separated intersections and usually significantly straightened and widened to a minimum of four lanes. The term motorway is used in some Australian cities to refer to freeways that have been allocated a metropolitan route number, and in Sydney, a motorway has a toll, whereas a freeway is free of charge. On the Hume Highway when traveling from Melbourne to Sydney there is only one set of traffic signals, found in Holbrook. Roads may be part-highway and part-freeway until they are fully upgraded. The Cahill expressway is the only "named" expressway in New South Wales, which opened in 1954 the first in New South Wales .

[ Austria

Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (September 2008)

Main article: Bundesstraße

[ Bosnia and Herzegovina

[ Brazil

[ Canada

In Canada, there is no national standard for nomenclature, although in non-technical contexts highway appears to be most popular in most areas. The general speed limits on most Canadian highways range between 80 and 110 km/h (50 and 68 mph) on two-lane highways, and between 90 and 110 km/h (56 and 68 mph) on multi-lane, divided highways.

Canada is the second largest country in the world in terms of land area, though it only has 1,350,581 kilometers (3,558,242 miles) of paved roads. This is far less than the United States which is smaller but has more than 1,500,000 miles (2,000,000 kilometers) of paved roads, but still more than Russia, the largest country in the world, with an estimated 336,000 kilometers (208,000 miles) of paved roads.
The most extensive freeway networks are in eastern Canada, linking southern Ontario and Quebec with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. This makes the existing networks extremely well traveled, especially in the country's south, requiring these routes to be well maintained and wide enough to accommodate the volume they carry to prevent the economical problems resulting from traffic congestion and safe enough to minimize vehicle accidents.
In Ontario, all public roads are legally defined as highways, though provincially managed roads are known legally as the King's Highways. In day-to-day usage, the term highway is used for provincial routes. It is also common for surface routes to be referred to by the phrase number (e.g. "Take Number 10 from Mississauga to Owen Sound"), especially by older generations. The words freeway or expressway are sometimes used to refer to controlled-access, high-speed, grade-separated highways such as the 400-series highways, the Conestoga Parkway, the Don Valley Parkway, or the E.C. Row Expressway. The only highway officially labeled as a freeway is the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway, usually known as Highway 401, or simply "the 401", which is North America's busiest highway and the widest highway in the world at points at 9 lanes in each direction.^[5]^[6] Nearly all highways in Ontario use parclo interchanges, which were developed by the province. Parclos are able to avoid weaving, but maximize efficiency and safety.
In Quebec, major highways are called autoroutes in French, and expressways or autoroutes in English.
Nova Scotia numbers its highways by the routes they parallel, for example, Highway 107 parallels Trunk 7. This, to a lesser extent, also applies in Ontario (e.g. Highway 410 and Highway 420 parallel Highway 10 and Highway 20.) Nova Scotia also numbers their highways according to usage: main arterial highways are in the 100s, secondary or old arterial highways are numbered in the double digits from 1 to 28, and collector roads are numbered in the triple digits starting at 200.
The Trans-Canada Highway, the highway that crosses the entire country and enters all ten provinces. It ranges from a wilderness two-lane highway to a multi-lane urban superhighway. There are three ferry routes along the Trans-Canada Highway, allowing the route to connect to Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and Vancouver Island, although the Confederation Bridge allows ferry-less passage to Prince Edward Island. Since the Trans-Canada Highway is not a divided route for the majority of its length, it is considered more of an equivalent to the U.S. route network in the neighbouring United States, with Ontario's 400-series, Quebec's autoroutes, New Brunswick's portion of the Trans-Canada Highway, and Nova Scotia's 100-series highways being inter-connected provincial equivalents to the United States' Interstate Highway System.

[ Chile

[ China, People's Republic

[ Hong Kong

Main article: Hong Kong Strategic Route and Exit Number System

In Hong Kong, the type of high speed roads is referred to as expressway, but some are named as highways or roads ('Yuen Long Highway', 'Tolo Highway', 'Tsuen Wan Road', 'Tuen Mun Road', etc.). Some others are named corridors and bypasses.

[ Croatia

Main article: Highways in Croatia

Croatia has 13 highways and 10 expressways. The earliest highway in Croatia was built in 1971. The word highway is a common Croatian translation of the term autocesta, which describes a toll highway similar to a freeway or an Autobahn.

[ Costa Rica

Main article: Freeways in Costa Rica

Costa Rica have more than 5 main highway. The most important is the Pan-American Highway (Route 1 and Route 2), known locally as "Interamericana", that communicate Nicaragua and Panama. San José is on the middle of the Pan-American Highway, and such cities as San Pedro and Curridabat have it as the main street. Other important highway in Costa Rica is the Paseo de la Segunda República, that link Guadalupe with La Uruca, crossing Sabanilla, San Pedro, Zapote, Desamparados, San Sebastian, Alajuelita, Hatillos, Santa Ana and Escazú; without passing the downtown of San José. Now, Costa Rican government is improving this highway by the construction of tunnels or bridges.

[ Finland

Main article: Highways in Finland

The national highways in Finland are numbered 1-29 and are in total 9.000 km long. This number system originates from 1938.

[ France

France has a national highway system dating back to Louis XV (see Corps of Ponts et Chaussées). The chaussées constructed at this time, radiating out from Paris, form the basis for the "routes nationales" (RN), whose red numbers differ from the yellow numbering used for secondary "routes departementales". The RNs numbered from 1 to 20 radiate from Paris to major ports or border crossings. More recently (after the Second World War), France has constructed Autoroutes, superhighways (usually toll) with a speed limit of 130 km/h (110 in rainy conditions or urban areas).

[ Germany

Main article: Bundesstraße

Aside from highways bearing the Autobahn designation, Germany has many two- and four-lane roads. Federal highways not known as autobahns are called Bundesstraßen (Bundesstrassen) and, while usually two-lane roads, they may also be four-lane, limited-access expressways of local or regional importance. Unlike the Autobahns, though, Bundesstraßen (marked by black numbers on a yellow background) mostly have speed limits (usually 100 km/h, but occasionally higher on limited-access segments, and lower in urban areas or near intersections).

[ Hungary

Hungary has 7 major motorways ("autópálya"):

M0 is a quasi-circular highway for the traffic bypasing Budapest. It is divided in 4 sectors: Southern (links motorways M1, M7, M6 and M5), South-eastern (links Motorway M5 and Main Road nr. 4), Eastern (links Main Road nr. 4 and Motorway M3), Northern (links Main Road nr. 2 with the Megyeri Bridge) and Western (to be finished in 2015; will link main roads 11, 11 and Motorway M1). The total length will be around 100 km.[1]
M1: links Budapest and the north-western border with Austria (Hegyeshalom), then continues its way toward Vienna. The total length is around 170 km.
M3: links Budapest and the north-eastern city of Miskolc (M30 branch), eastern cities of Nyíregyháza (M3) and Debrecen (M35 branch). Provides links toward Slovakia, Ukraine and Romania. It has a total length of around 250 km.
M5: links Budapest and the southern city of Szeged, then the Serbian border (Röszke). It provides a connection to Southern Europe by route E75 and also links to route 68 in Romania. M5 motorway has a length of around 140 km.[2]
M7: links Budapest and the southern shore of Lake Balaton, then continues its way toward Croatia and Slovenia. Its length is about 230 km.
M6: links Budapest and Dunaújváros, then will continue its way toward the southern city of Pécs. The current length is around 60 km.[3]

Also, there are other smaller motorway sections that will be linked to the national motorway network in the future. See here an animation of Hungarian motorway developments (past, present and future): "Térkép animáció". Motorways usually have 2 traffic lanes and an emergency lane on each direction, divided by a green zone and metallic rail. The speed limit is 130 km/h.

Expressways usually have no dividing lane in the middle, but sometimes have a metallic rail. The number of lanes is one per direction, with sections of 1+2 lanes (for easier overtaking). The speed limit is 110 km/h. Motorways and expressways cannot be used by vehicles that are not able to reach 60 km/h. There is a toll on all motorways, except M0. Trucks and buses have a separate toll system. ([4])

Main roads usually have one lane per direction, no dividing rail. The speed limit is 90 km/h.

County roads have less traffic then main roads, the speed limit is 90 km/h.

[ India

Main article: Indian highways

In India, 'Highway' refers to one of the many National Highways or State Highways that run up to a total length of about 67,000 km consisting mostly of 2 lane paved roads, changing into higher lanes mostly within cities. An expressway refers to any access controlled road with grade-separated intersections. As of 2005^[update], there were about 200 km of expressways in India. The NHAI (National Highway Authority of India) has put all the highway and expressway projects on the fast track and by 2010 plans to cover every corner of India through the highway system. Highways in India are designated as NH followed by the number. The four major cities in India- Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, and Delhi- are now connected by the Golden Quadrilateral. A system roughly shaped in a diamond form that consists of 4 to 6 laned roads.

[ Ireland

The Republic of Ireland has a similar system to the United Kingdom except that its major roads are classed as 'N' road or 'R' road rather than 'A' road/'B' road as in the UK.

[ Iran

Main article: Highways in Iran

[ Iraq

Main article: Highways in Iraq

[ Israel

Highway 1 in Israel passing under Route 412 at Shapirim Interchange southeast of Tel Aviv

Main article: Roads in Israel

[ Italy

The A3 in Italy

In Italy the term highway can be applied to superstrada (can be translated as expressway) and autostrada (Italian term for motorway): this country was the first one in the world to build such roads.

[ Japan

Main article: Expressways of Japan

The expressways, or kōsokudōro (high speed roads), of Japan are made of a huge network of freeway-standard toll roads. Once government-owned, they have been a turned over to private companies. Most expressways are four lanes with a central reservation, or median. The speed limits, with certain regulations and great flexibility, usually include a maximum speed of 100 km/h, and a minimum speed of 50 km/h. There are also expresways not able to classified as national or urban expressways.

[ Malaysia

Main article: Malaysian expressway system

South section of North-South Expressway in Malaysia, facing towards Kuala Lumpur

The highest level of major roads in Malaysia, expressway (lebuhraya), has full access control, grade separated junctions, and mostly tolled. The expressways link the major state capitals in Peninsular Malaysia and major cities in Klang Valley.

Highway is lower level with limited access control, some at-grade junctions or roundabouts, and generally with 2 lanes in each separated direction. These are generally untolled and funded by the federal government, hence the first one is called Federal Highway linking Klang and Kuala Lumpur.

The trunk roads linking major cities and towns in the country are called federal trunk roads, and are generally 2 lanes single carriageway roads, in places with a third climbing lane for slow lorries.

[ New Zealand

State Highway 1 in South Auckland

Main article: New Zealand State Highway network

In New Zealand, both motorway and an expressway have at least two-lanes of traffic in either direction separated by a median, with no access to adjacent properties. The distinction depends on the type of traffic allowed to use the route. Non-vehicular traffic and farm-equipment are prohibited from motorways, while pedestrians, cyclists, tractors, and farm animals are legally entited to use expressways such as the Waikato Expressway south of the Bombay Hills and the Tauranga expressway system, although this is rare. New Zealand's main routes are designated state highways as they are funded by the National Government. State Highway 1 is the only route to run through both the North and South Islands, and runs (in order north-south) from Cape Reinga to Wellington in the North Island, and from Picton to Bluff in the South Island. State Highways 2-5 are main routes in the North Island, State Highways 6-9 in the South Island, and state highways numbered from 10 onwards are generally found in numerical order from north to south. State highways usually incorporate different standards of roads, for example, State Highway 1 from Auckland to Hamilton incorporates the Northern and Southern Motorways in the Auckland area, the Waikato Expressway, and a rural road before passing through the streets of Hamilton. The term freeway is rarely used relating to New Zealand roads, and can only be considered an Americanism.

[ The Netherlands

The Autosnelweg system is in constant development. Most of its parts are owned and funded by the government but in recent times Public-private partnership come more and more into fashion, like a part of the A59 between Oss and 's-Hertogenbosch. The Netherlands has the highest density highway network of Europe at 56.5 km per 1000 km², followed by Belgium. The 'Autosnelwegen', the main corridors, are designated with and A while the minor connecting roads have an N number. Sections of the A network are also part of the International E-road network in connecting with neighboring Belgium, Germany and England, the latter by ferry. The speed limit is 120 km/h unless noted otherwise and 100 km/h or 80 km/h on various locations. This is done to 'protect thee environment' and limit noise to surrounding residential areas albeit not too effective.

Source: this wikipedia article, under GFDL.
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