Parkway

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For other uses, see Parkway (disambiguation).

A parkway is a general designation of a type of limited-access highway in some parts of the U.S. and Canada. (In other parts of the U.S., the term parkway may merely be another title for a normal surface street.) Like all limited-access highways, parkways are designed particularly for through traffic, and many can be classified generally as freeways or toll highways. Many parkways are restricted to non-commercial traffic and cars; trucks, buses, and the like are banned.

Historically, the term "parkway" has often implied that the road was designed specifically with a naturalistic or manicured landscaping of the median and adjacent land areas meant to suggest a pastoral driving experience, isolated from the manifestations of commerce and advertising, even when the road passes through populated areas; for this reason commercial traffic is excluded. Many parkways have signature road signs with special emblems that suggest a thematic driving experience and increase the sense of isolation from civilization in the vicinity of the road.

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[edit] History

The system of parkways in the U.S. predate such later limited-access highways as the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the German autobahn system, and the United States Interstate highway system.

[edit] Beginnings: New York City

The terminology "parkway" to define a type of road was coined by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted, designers of New York City's Central Park, in their proposal to link the city's parks with pleasure roads. Thus, the first "parkways" were in and around the greater New York City area. Construction on the Bronx River Parkway began in 1907, and on the Long Island Parkway (also known as the Vanderbilt Parkway) in 1908. In the 1920s, the parkway system around New York City grew extensively under the direction of master builder Robert Moses, who saw parkways as an active means to promote automobile use and to transfer population from crowded urban areas onto undeveloped areas on Crosswoods Parkway

[edit] Across the United States

In the 1930s, the concept of the parkway was extended to the federal government, which constructed several national parkways designed for recreational driving and to commemorate historic routes. Such two-lane parkways typically have a relatively low speed limit and are maintained by the National Park Service. Examples include the CCC-built Blue Ridge Parkway / Skyline Drive in North Carolina and Virginia, the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee, and the Colonial Parkway in eastern Virginia's Historic Triangle area.

[edit] Parkways in modern times

In Kentucky, "parkway" is used to designate a controlled-access highway built as a toll road. Under Kentucky law, once the bonds that finance their construction of a toll road are paid off, the road must be turned into a freeway. However, all such roads in Kentucky have retained their "Parkway" designation.

The Arroyo Seco Parkway from Pasadena to Los Angeles, built in 1940, became the first segment of the vast Southern California freeway system. It is now called the Pasadena Freeway and is part of California Route 110.

In the Greater New York City region, parkways are generally (but not always) controlled-access highways restricted to non-commercial traffic.

Many opponents of increased road construction in the United States claim that the use of the term "parkway" in any sense other than as a scenic route through parkland, is deceptive. It is claimed by such advocates that many existing and proposed parkways (such as the proposed West Eugene Parkway in Oregon) are functionally indistinguishable from freeways and/or expressways, and the "parkway" label is used to make construction of such routes seem more palatable to the public (who might otherwise stage a freeway revolt, especially if their neighborhood is affected). Others claim that this is splitting hairs; and that the use of the term "parkway" in conjunction with urban and suburban highways is a well-established practice. Furthermore, most routes designated with the "parkway" label do have scenic enhancements (making the route more attractive for both motorists and neighbors), and many such routes do exclude trucks.

[edit] List of parkways

[edit] American parkways (Managed by the National Park Service)

[edit] Freeways and toll roads

[edit] Surface streets with parkway in the names

[edit] Canadian parkways

[edit] Trivia

  • A recurring bit of humor about the name parkway has had some fun poked at it, as it is ironic that one would park on a driveway, and instead drive on a parkway.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

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