Talk:Motorway

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[edit] History?

What about some history? When were the first motorways built? Which were the relevant Acts of Parliament?

[edit] speed limits

Nice article, but one comment/correction - contrary to what is claimed, British motorway speed limits (at least for cars) are no higher than those on any other unrestricted dual carriageway (70mph). I didn't edit, since I don't know the situation in Ireland.... Cambyses 06:03, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Thanks, the absolute speed limits here in Ireland are 70mph for motorway, 60mph for National Primary Routes - even if dual-carriageway. (There is some consternation at this). Speed limits will be changing soon to km/h, with slight variations on existing limits, date to be announced sometime in September. All road signs in the country will be updated overnight!!!

I don't know the situation with speed limits in Britain, hence my error. If you can clarify the U.K. situation better, please do. I have amended the phrasing to say "generally" higher than ordinary roads. Also mentioned dual-carriageways being lower speeds in Ireland. Zoney 15:12, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Merge flag

I'm not quite sure why the merge flag was put on here (to merge with Freeway as, SFAICT, there are enough different concepts involved that it seems sensible to keep them apart. Freeway is very much a US-only term, 'motorway' however is translated exactly within Europe (autostrad, autobahn, etc)). Disgree with merge therefore --VampWillow 22:24, 25 Jun 2004 (UTC)

More Americano-centrism. I've been in the US. None of the various concepts there (freeway, expressway, etc.) entirely co-incide with the British/Irish Motorway. Also the article quite rightly focusses on the British/Irish road classification side of things. Merging? Crazy people. Bah! Zoney 19:04, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)
You missed the discussion (all on merge page!) and removal of the merge flag ... I did all the merging and separating out earlier today... I'll remove the bit you added about Europe and put it over into the correct articles if you don't mind. --VampWillow 19:31, 27 Jun 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Inside/outside lanes

So there is apparently inconsistent usage about whether the near-median lanes are the inside or outside. So, I've avoided using that language in this article entirely, to avoid confusion. -- Beland 21:36, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Not an option, inside and outside lanes are the terms in use. I'll attempt to better introduce them. zoney ♣ talk 22:15, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Near-median lanes are always termed "outside" lanes, and the others "inside" lanes. In the US, I believe the situation is reversed (I may be wrong), but this article does not apply to the US. (see Freeway). zoney ♣ talk 22:21, 17 Oct 2004 (UTC)
I further clarified, since the first time I read this article, I ended up asking my English friends why on earth they would be required to pass on the shoulder side. Personally, I consider the outside lane to be the one closest to the edge (outside) of the roadway, but apparently some Californians consider it to be the other way around as well. Given the difference of opinion on this side of the Atlantic, are you sure that everyone in the UK uses the convention indicated? (Actually, the California driver's handbook says that lanes are officially numbered, lane 1 being the one closest to the median, and that's how the Highway Patrol and traffic reports generally call things, or Nth from the left/right.) -- Beland 05:18, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Standard in the UK and Ireland, possibly elsewhere too. Non-motorists or the un-informed might not be aware of the distinction of course, so it does need explained well! zoney ♣ talk 09:18, 18 Oct 2004 (UTC)
Funnily enough, driving manuals in the UK identify the lane furthest from the central reservation as lane 1, and count up from there. Where traffic is forced onto the hard shoulder, they are on "Lane 0". Besides that, they are numbered from 1-5 (AFAIK, no motorway actually has more than 5 lanes in any one direction).

[edit] Feeder routes

I've clipped the following for the moment:

Other times, the feeder routes are simply classified with the same number as the main motorway.

I'm not aware of any instances where this is actually the case for something longer than a slip road. The one exception I can think of is the infamous Heathrow spur to the M4 motorway at junction 4, however this doesn't lead inescapably to the motorway - Heathrow Airport is on one side and Hayes is on the other - you could feasibly drive the length of the spur from Hayes to the airport without being forced to join the M4. Chris 01:17, 10 Mar 2005 (UTC)

Interesting, I think that's the case I had remembered. If it doesn't join the M4, why is it a motorway? They just wanted to ban bikes from it? What's used however when there's a motorway parallel to a road, with a short connector road joining them? Is that designated as a separate highway? --SPUI (talk) 00:25, 4 Jan 2003 (UTC)
There are many short spurs given the same number as the main motorway - other examples to the one given would be on the M1 at junction 10 near Luton, the M1 at Junction 21A near Leicester, the A627(M) has a spur at the central junction, the Gatwick Spur on the M23...

[edit] Motorway translations

Besides the Autobahn and autostrada, which are fairly well-known in English-speaking contexts, do the other translations of motorway differ from the average European motorways?

Peter Isotalo 19:17, May 26, 2005 (UTC)

Autoroute is French. Freeway might have more, not sure. --SPUI (talk) 23:16, 26 May 2005 (UTC)

Freeway in French is Autoroute sans péage which translates literally "Motorway without toll". The French also have other roads called Voie rapide and Pénétrante which could be roughly translated as "Expressway" and "Spur road" respectively. Apgeraint 20:33, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

  • A freeway generally means a road which is expected to facilitate the free movement of vehicles rather than the absense of tolls

[edit] Service stations

In the UK, at least, service stations are a notable feature of motorways. Could someone write about them, please? Andy Mabbett 09:05, 17 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Stub now at Motorway service station. See also Category:Motorway service stations in the UK.Andy Mabbett 13:42, 20 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Page Move

I don't see what is a *MAJOR* move having been discussed anywhere. This article is now *WAY* too long and 'motorway' is not just a european term. Please revert this edit asap and put it up for discussion for a merge before taking such a destructive and major action. --Vamp:Willow 12:38, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

I concur. Whatever E70's up to, it's clearly not in accordance with Wikipedia policy. He had better not make any similarly drastic changes to the comparable American articles, or else all the American roadgeeks on WP will be really pissed off (and will eagerly sign a petition to the admins to get him banned). --Coolcaesar 12:46, 20 August 2005 (UTC)
He's been blocked for 48 hours and I've reverted all his changes. Keep an eye on him and report to admins if he does it again.
Peter Isotalo 13:08, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] To merge or not to merge

Picking up from the events of earlier today and discussion immediately above, this is as good aplace as any to discuss whether a merge is or may be appropriaate in any way. If you look furhter up this page to the start of 2004 you'll see that there was a complete merge/rewrite/split of all the 'motorway' pages (ie all the national names) in order to rejoin the content that had crept into the different articles back to the correct terminology, (indeed it was done by me but I am quite happy to see any new consensus). Whilst there are a few Europe-wide attributes that may be appropriate most considerations about roads are national, however I felt then and still do that to combine all the national/international content about major fast multi-lane grade-separated-junction central-reservation type roads into one place would create an article way too massive and lead to lots more edit and content conflicts than we already have at present on the individual articles. But ymmv ... so options anyone? --Vamp:Willow 13:15, 20 August 2005 (UTC)

I'm not a road aficonado, and I know this might upset both Americans and Continental Europeans, but I must say there was some logic behind E70's edits even if they were very distructive and inconsiderate of other editors. There really is no major difference between either "motorway", "freeway", "Autobahn", "Autostrada" or any number of terms, even if they're notable in English. They all refer to major road installations for handling large amounts of traffic and really don't differ enough to merit separate articles. I think the most common international term is "motorway", so I suggest redirecting all English and non-English terms here and trying to summarize the information. Mind you, I speak American English and I favor American spelling standards, so this is not a pro-Commonwealth issue.
The focus needs to be to make these articles easier to read and find for people who don't have roads as a hobby or major interest.
Peter Isotalo 16:58, 1 September 2005 (UTC)
It is not particularly feasible to equate the terms. They refer to things that are roughly similar, but that is all. Perhaps some "uber article" describing all such high-capacity roads would be good, but I do not see that it should need to be located at Freeway.
zoney ♣ talk 23:28, 6 July 2006 (UTC)
Oppose any merger. Not the same. FearÉIREANN\(caint) 01:16, 8 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Completion date

Many of the completion dates are missing for motorways. Could I have help inserting them? Sceptre (Talk) 20:55, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

Update: Finished the long task: Feel free to do infoboxes for M6T and the Ax(M) motorways. Sceptre (Talk) 22:05, 14 December 2005 (UTC)
Here's a list of motorway needed to be boxed. Delete the motorway when finished Sceptre (Talk) 12:25, 24 December 2005 (UTC)
M23
M25
M26
M27
M275
M32
M40
M42
M45
M48
M49
M50
M51
M53
M54
M55
M56
M57
M58
M59
M6T
M61
M65
M66
M67
M602
M621
M74
M77
M9
M90

[edit] Merge/split

I've removed these templates, as ten days have elapsed without a clear consensus.

zoney ♣ talk 16:14, 10 July 2006 (UTC)

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