Expressway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An expressway is a highway for higher-speed traffic. Expressways usually have some characteristics of a freeway, but in some regions roads referred to as expressways have limited at-grade access. Especially in rural areas, this can include private driveways, though new ones are often regulated or prohibited. In urban areas, some of the intersections may be governed by traffic signals.
In addition, especially in the Northeastern United States, many other roads are also called "expressways", even though others would call them freeways or other types of roads. Examples of this include the North Central Expressway in Dallas, Texas (part of the road is limited-access while another part is an arterial road), the Gardiner Expressway in Toronto and the Palmetto Expressway in Miami, Florida. All limited-access highways in New York City and Chicago, Illinois are also called expressways; there is a Rockaway Freeway in New York, but it is not limited-access. However, there are places, like California, that draw a strong statutory distinction between freeways and expressways.
Most expressways have speed limits of 45-55 mph (70-90 km/h) in urban areas and 55-70 mph (90-110 km/h) in rural areas. Even though expressways are often free of private driveways, occasional exceptions of these include direct driveways to gas stations at intersections; and also, direct driveways present toward the ending of "expressway mode".
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[edit] California
Section 257 of the California Streets and Highway Code is as follows:
- For the purpose of this article only, and to distinguish between the terms "freeway" and "expressway," the word "freeway" shall mean a divided arterial highway for through traffic with full control of access and with grade separations at intersections, while the word "expressway" shall mean an arterial highway for through traffic which may have partial control of access, but which may or may not be divided or have grade separations at intersections.
The point of Section 257 is that California expressways can have at-grade intersections, a design that is usually less safe than grade-separated interchanges. A similar distinction has been adopted by the American federal government in its Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices[1]. Several U.S. states besides California have also enacted a similar distinction into their statutory law. See the article on Types of road for more information, including a full list of jurisdictions which use the term expressway to describe what are actually freeways.
The vast majority of expressways in either sense are built by state or provincial governments, or by private companies which then operate them as toll roads pursuant to a license from the government.
However, the most famous exception to the above rule is Santa Clara County in California, which deliberately built its own expressway system in the 1960s to supplement the freeway system then planned by Caltrans. Although there were some plans to upgrade the county expressways into full-fledged freeways, those became politically infeasible after the rise of the tax revolt movement in the mid-1970s.
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| Types of road | |
|---|---|
| High-speed, only access via interchanges: | Autobahn • Autocesta • Autoroute • Autopista • Autostrada • Avtocesta • Freeway • Motorway • Turnpike |
| High-speed, other types of access: | Expressway • Farm to Market Road • Highway • Parkway • Super two |
| Low speed: | Frontage road • Road • Street |
| Low speed low traffic: | Lane • Cul-de-sac |
| Other: | Dual carriageway • Toll road |
| Surface types: | Asphalt concrete • Brick • Cobblestone • Concrete • Gravel road • Ice road |
