title: Controlled-access highway

text: Major arterial roads will often have "partial access control", meaning that side roads will intersect the main road at grade, instead of using interchanges, but driveways may not connect directly to the main road, and drivers must use intersecting roads to access adjacent land. At arterial junctions with relatively quiet side roads, traffic is controlled mainly by two-way stop signs which do not impose significant interruptions on traffic using the main highway. Roundabouts are often used at busier intersections in Europe because they help minimize interruptions in flow, while traffic signals that create greater interference with traffic are still preferred in North America. There may be occasional interchanges with other major arterial roads. Examples include US 23 between SR 15's eastern terminus and Delaware, Ohio, along with SR 15 between its eastern terminus and I-75, US 30, SR 29/US 33, and US 35 in western and central Ohio. This type of road is sometimes called an expressway.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Freeways are usually limited to motor vehicles of a minimum power or weight; signs may prohibit cyclists, pedestrians and equestrians and impose a minimum speed. It is possible for non-motorized traffic to use facilities within the same right-of-way, such as sidewalks constructed along freeway-standard bridges and multi-use paths next to freeways such as the Suncoast Trail along the Suncoast Parkway in Florida.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In some US jurisdictions, especially where freeways replace existing roads, non-motorized access on freeways is permitted. Different states of the United States have different laws. Cycling on freeways in Arizona may be prohibited only where there is an alternative route judged equal or better for cycling. Wyoming, the least densely populated state, allows cycling on all freeways. Oregon allows bicycles except on specific urban freeways in Portland and Medford.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In countries such as the United Kingdom new motorways require an Act of Parliament to ensure restricted right of way. Since upgrading an existing road (the "Queen's Highway") to a full motorway will result in extinguishing the right of access of certain groups such as pedestrians, cyclists and slow-moving traffic, many controlled access roads are not full motorways. In some cases motorways are linked by short stretches of road where alternative rights of way are not practicable such as the Dartford Crossing (the furthest downstream public crossing of the River Thames) or where it was not economic to build a motorway alongside the existing road such as the former Cumberland Gap. The A1 is a good example of piece-wise upgrading to motorway standard—as of January 2013, the route had five stretches of motorway (designated as A1(M)), reducing to four stretches in March 2018 with completion of the A1(M) through North Yorkshire.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The most frequent way freeways are laid out is by building them from the ground up after obstructions such as forestry or buildings are cleared away. Sometimes they deplete farmland, but other methods have been developed for economic, social and even environmental reasons.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Full freeways are sometimes made by converting at-grade expressways or by replacing at-grade intersections with overpasses; however, in the US, any at-grade intersection that ends a freeway often remains an at-grade intersection. Often, when there is a two-lane undivided freeway or expressway, it is converted by constructing a parallel twin corridor, and leaving a median between the two travel directions. The median-side travel lane of the old two-way corridor becomes a passing lane.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Other techniques involve building a new carriageway on the side of a divided highway that has a lot of private access on one side and sometimes has long driveways on the other side since an easement for widening comes into place, especially in rural areas.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: When a "third" carriageway is added, sometimes it can shift a directional carriageway by (or maybe more depending on land availability) as a way to retain private access on one side that favors over the other. Other methods involve constructing a service drive that shortens the long driveways (typically by less than ).


title: Controlled-access highway

text: An interchange or a junction is a highway layout that permits traffic from one controlled-access highway to access another and vice versa, whereas an access point is a highway layout where traffic from a distributor or local road can join a controlled-access highway. Some countries, such as the United Kingdom, do not distinguish between the two, but others make a distinction; for example, Germany uses the words "Kreuz" ("cross") or "Dreieck" ("triangle") for the former and "Ausfahrt" ("exit") for the latter. In all cases one road crosses the other via a bridge or a tunnel, as opposed to an at-grade crossing.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The inter-connecting roads, or slip-roads, which link the two roads, can follow any one of a number of patterns. The actual pattern is determined by a number of factors including local topology, traffic density, land cost, building costs, type of road, etc. In some jurisdictions feeder/distributor lanes are common, especially for cloverleaf interchanges; in others, such as the United Kingdom, where the roundabout interchange is common, feeder/distributor lanes are seldom seen.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Motorways in Europe typically differ between exits and junctions. An exit leads out of the motorway system, whilst a junction is a crossing between motorways or a split/merge of two motorways. The "motorway rules" end at exits, but not at junctions. However, on some bridges, motorways, without changing appearance, temporarily end between the two exits closest to the bridge (or tunnel), and continues as "dual carriageways". This is in order to give slower vehicles a possibility to use the bridge. The Queen Elizabeth II Bridge / Dartford tunnel at London Orbital is an example of this. London Orbital or the M25 is a motorway surrounding London, but at the last River Thames crossing before its mouth, motorway rules do not apply. (At this crossing the London Orbital is labeled A282 instead.)


title: Controlled-access highway

text: There are many differences between countries in their geography, economy, traffic growth, highway system size, degree of urbanization and motorization, etc.; all of which need to be taken into consideration when comparisons are made. According to some EU papers, safety progress on motorways is the result of several changes, including infrastructure safety and road user behavior (speed or seat belt use), while other matters such as vehicle safety and mobility patterns have an impact that has not been quantified.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Motorways are the safest roads by design. While accounting for more than one quarter of all kilometres driven, they contributed only 8% of the total number of European road deaths in 2006. Germany's Federal Highway Research Institute provided International Road Traffic and Accident Database (IRTAD) statistics for the year 2010, comparing overall fatality rates with motorway rates (regardless of traffic intensity):


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The German autobahn network illustrates the safety trade-offs of controlled access highways. The injury crash rate is very low on autobahns,<ref name="http://www.bast.de 2012"></ref> while 22 people died per 1,000 injury crashes—although autobahns have a lower rate than the 29 deaths per 1,000 injury accidents on conventional rural roads, the rate is higher than the risk on urban roads. Speeds are higher on rural roads and autobahns than urban roads, increasing the severity potential of a crash.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: According to ETSC, German motorways without a speed limit, but with a speed recommendation, are 25% more deadly than motorways with a speed limit.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Germany also introduced some speed limits on various motorway sections which were not limited. This generated a reduction in deaths in a range from 20% to 50% on those sections.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Speed, in Europe, is considered to be one of the main contributory factors to collisions. Some countries, such as France and Switzerland, have achieved a death reduction by a better monitoring of speed. Tools used for monitoring speed might be an increase in traffic density; improved speed enforcement and stricter regulation leading to driver license withdrawal; safety cameras; penalty point; and higher fines. Some other countries use automatic time-over-distance cameras (also known as "section controls") to manage speed.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Fatigue is considered as a risk factor more specific to monotonous roads such as motorways, although such data are not monitored/recorded in many countries. According to Vinci Autoroutes, one third of accidents in French motorways are due to sleepy driving.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: 23% of people killed on French motorways were not wearing seat belts, while 98% of front-seat passengers and 87% of rear-seat passenger wear seat belts.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Although safety results do not change much from year to year, in Europe some changes have been observed: motorway fatalities decreased by 41% during the 2006–2015 decade, but increased by 10% between 2014 and 2015. However, taking into account motorway network length to reflect exposure, data shows that fatalities per thousand kilometres halved between 2006 and 2015.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: A University of Barcelona study suggests that if tolls are implemented on a controlled-access highway, drivers may seek alternative routes to avoid paying the tolls. This may result in a decrease of safety on roads which are not designed for heavy traffic.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In the United Kingdom, there are very few studies regarding the impact of road traffic accidents from existing and new urban motorways. In particular, new urban motorways do not grant a reduction of traffic accidents.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Italy, a study performed on urban motorway A56 "Tangenziale di Napoli" showed that reduction of speed leads to a decrease in accidents.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Marseille, France, from June 2009 to May 2010, CEREMA, the French centre for studies on risk, mobility and environment, performed a study on "Marius", a network of urban motorways. This study established a link between accidents and traffic variables:


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The Marius network counts 292 injury accidents or fatalities for 1.5 billion of vehicle-kilometres, that is 189 injury accidents or fatalities for 1 billion of vehicle-kilometres.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Some European countries have improved safety of urban motorways, with a set of measures to dynamically manage traffic flow in response to changing volumes, speeds, and incidents, including:


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In 1994, it was assumed that lighting urban motorways would benefit from more safety than unlighted ones.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In California, in 2001, a study established, for urban freeways, some relationships among urban freeway accidents, traffic flow, weather, and lighting conditions:


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Controlled-access highways have been constructed both between major cities as well as within them, leading to the sprawling suburban development found near most modern cities. Highways have been heavily criticized by environmentalists, urbanists, and preservationists for the noise, pollution, and economic shifts they bring. Additionally, they have been criticized by the driving public for the inefficiency with which they handle peak hour traffic.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Often, rural highways open up vast areas to economic development and municipal services, generally raising property values. In contrast to this, above-grade highways in urban areas are often a source of lowered property values, contributing to urban decay. Even with overpasses and underpasses, neighbourhoods are divided—especially impoverished ones where residents are less likely to own a car, or to have the political and economic influence to resist construction efforts. Beginning in the early 1970s, the US Congress identified freeways and other urban highways as responsible for most of the noise exposure of the US population. Subsequently, computer models were developed to analyze freeway noise and aid in their design to help minimize noise exposure.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Some cities have implemented freeway removal policies, under which freeways have been demolished and reclaimed as boulevards or parks, notably in Seoul (Cheonggyecheon), Portland (Harbor Drive), New York City (West Side Elevated Highway), Boston (Central Artery), San Francisco (Embarcadero Freeway), Seattle (Alaskan Way Viaduct), and Milwaukee (Park East Freeway).


title: Controlled-access highway

text: An alternative to surface or above-ground freeway construction has been the construction of underground urban freeways using tunnelling technologies. This has been employed in Madrid and Prague, as well as the Australian cities of Sydney (which has five such freeways), Brisbane (which has three), and Melbourne (which has two). This has had the benefit of not creating heavily trafficked surface roads and, in the case of Melbourne's EastLink freeway, prevented the destruction of an ecologically sensitive area.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Other Australian cities face similar problems (lack of available land, cost of home acquisition, aesthetic problems and community opposition). Brisbane, which also has to contend with physical boundaries (the Brisbane River) and rapid population increases, has embraced underground freeways. There are currently three open to traffic (Clem Jones Tunnel (CLEM7), Airport Link and Legacy Way) and one (East-West Link) is currently in planning. All of the tunnels are designed to act as an inner-city ring road or bypass system and include provision for public transport, whether underground or in reclaimed space on the surface. However, freeways are not beneficial for road-based public transport services, because the restricted access to the roadway means that it is awkward for passengers to get to the limited number of boarding points unless they drive to them, largely defeating the purpose.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Canada, the extension of Highway 401 toward Detroit, known as the Herb Gray Parkway, has been designed with numerous tunnels and underpasses that provide land for parks and recreational uses.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Freeway opponents have found that freeway expansion is often self-defeating: expansion simply generates more traffic. That is, even if traffic congestion is initially shifted from local streets to a new or widened freeway, people will begin to use their cars more and commute from more remote locations. Over time, the freeway and its environs become congested again as both the average number and distance of trips increases. This phenomenon is known as induced demand.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Urban planning experts such as Drusilla Van Hengel, Joseph DiMento and Sherry Ryan argue that although properly designed and maintained freeways may be convenient and safe, at least in comparison to uncontrolled roads, they may not expand recreation, employment and education opportunities equally for different ethnic groups, or for people located in certain neighborhoods of any given city. Still, they may open new markets to some small businesses.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Construction of urban freeways for the US Interstate Highway System, which began in the late 1950s, led to the demolition of thousands of city blocks and the dislocation of many more thousands of people. The citizens of many inner city areas responded with the freeway and expressway revolts. Through the study of Washington's response, it can be shown that the most effective changes came not from executive or legislative action, but instead from policy implementation. One of the foremost rationales for the creation of the United States Department of Transportation (USDOT) was that an agency was needed to mediate between the conflicting interests of interstates and cities. Initially, these policies came as regulation of the state highway departments. Over time, USDOT officials re-focused highway building from a national level to the local scale. With this shift of perspective came an encouragement for alternative transportation, and locally based planning agencies.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: At present, freeway expansion has largely stalled in the United States, due to a multitude of factors that converged in the 1970s: higher due process requirements prior to taking of private property, increasing land values, increasing costs for construction materials, local opposition to new freeways in urban cores, the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act (which imposed the requirement that each new federally funded project must have an environmental impact statement or report) and falling gas tax revenues as a result of the nature of the flat-cent tax (it is not automatically adjusted for inflation), the tax revolt movement, and growing popular support for high-speed mass transit in lieu of new freeways.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In England and Wales, the numbers of major motorways followed a numbering system separate to that of the A-road network, though based on the same principle of zones. Running clockwise from the M1, the zones were defined for Zones 1 to 4 based on the proposed M2, M3 and M4 motorways. The M5 and M6 numbers were reserved for the other two planned long-distance motorways. The Preston Bypass, the UK's first motorway, should have been numbered A6(M) under the scheme decided upon, but it was decided to keep the number M6 as had already been applied.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: A map "Showing Future Pattern of Principal National Routes" was issued by the Ministry of War Transport in 1946 shortly before the law that allowed roads to be restricted to specified classes of vehicle (the Special Roads Act 1949) was passed. The first section of motorway, the M6 Preston Bypass, opened in 1958, followed by the first major section of motorway (the M1 between Crick and Berrygrove in Watford), which opened in 1959. From then until the 1980s, motorways opened at frequent intervals; by 1972 the first 1,600 kilometres (1,000 mi) of motorway had been built.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Whilst roads outside of urban areas continued to be built throughout the 1970s, opposition to urban routes became more pronounced. Most notably, plans by the Greater London Council for a series of ringways were cancelled following extensive road protests and a rise in costs. In 1986 the single-ring, M25 motorway was completed as a compromise. In 1996 the total length of motorways reached 3,200 kilometres (2,000 mi).


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Motorways in Great Britain, as in numerous European countries, will nearly always have the following characteristics:


title: Controlled-access highway

text: It was proposed in 2013 that the Ax(M) format number would be used for the highest standard of a new classification of road referred to in England as "expressways", which would be roads without normal roundabouts or right turns across the central reservation, and with graded junctions. Such roads would have motorway-style restrictions but emergency reservations rather than standard major motorway-standard hard shoulders.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Scotland, where the Scottish Office (superseded by the Scottish Executive in 1999) rather than the Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation had the decision, there is no zonal pattern, but rather the A-road rule is strictly enforced. It was decided to reserve the numbers 7, 8 and 9 for Scotland. The M8 follows the route of the A8, and the A90 became part of the M90 when the A90 was re-routed along the path of the A85.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Motorways follow an "M"-format, with two exceptions: the A823(M) near Rosyth joining the A823 to the M90, and the A74(M) between the English M6 at Gretna and the M74 at Abington.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Northern Ireland a distinct numbering system is used, which is separate from the rest of the United Kingdom, though the classification of roads along the lines of A, B and C is universal throughout the UK and the Isle of Man. According to a written answer to a parliamentary question to the Northern Ireland Minister for Regional Development, there is no known reason as to how Northern Ireland's road numbering system was devised. However motorways, as in the rest of the UK, are numbered M, with the two major motorways coming from Belfast being numbered M1 and M2. The M12 is a short spur of the M1, with the M22 being a short continuation (originally intended to be a spur) of the M2. There are two other motorways, the short M3, the M5 and a motorway section of the A8 road, known as the A8(M).


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In the Republic of Ireland, motorway and national road numbering is quite different from the UK convention. Since the passage of the Roads Act 1993, all motorways are part of, or form, national primary roads. These routes are numbered in series, (usually, radiating anti-clockwise from Dublin, starting with the N1/M1) using numbers from 1 to 33 (and, separately from the series, 50). Motorways use the number of the route of which they form part, with an M prefix rather than N for national road (or in theory, rather than R for "regional road"). In most cases, the motorway has been built as a bypass of a road previously forming the national road (e.g. the M7 bypassing roads previously forming the N7)—the bypassed roads are reclassified as regional roads, although updated signposting may not be provided for some time, and adherence to signage colour conventions is lax (regional roads have black-on-white directional signage, national routes use white-on-green).


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Under the previous legislation, the Local Government (Roads and Motorways) Act 1974, motorways theoretically existed independently to national roads. However, the short sections of motorway opened during this act, except for the M50, always took their number from the national road that they were bypassing. The older road was not downgraded at this point (indeed, regional roads were not legislated for at this stage). Older signage at certain junctions on the M7 and M11 can be seen reflecting this earlier scheme, where for example N11 and M11 can be seen coexisting.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The M50, an entirely new national road, is an exception to the normal inheritance process, as it does not replace a road previously carrying an N number. The M50 was nevertheless legislated in 1994 as the N50 route (it had only a short section of non-motorway section from the Junction 11 Tallaght to Junction 12 Firhouse until its extension as the Southern Cross Motorway). The M50's designation was chosen as a recognisable number. As of 2010, the N34 is the next unused national primary road designation. In theory, a motorway in Ireland could form part of a regional road.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Australia, highway and motorway (also called freeway or expressway) numbers either use alpha-numeric route markers with M for motorways, freeways and expressways or national/state route markers.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Before the implementation of alpha-numeric route markers, controlled-access highways were marked with a Metroad, National Highway, National Route or State Route Marker. In Sydney, Metroad route markers were used for motorways and freeways, except the Pacific Motorway (then F3 Freeway), which was marked with a National Highway marker. In Brisbane, Metroad, State routes were used for motorways and freeways. In Melbourne, all motorways and freeways used State Route markers. In Western Australia, National Route markers are used for expressways and freeways.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: After the implementation of alpha-numeric route markers, all route markers being used for motorways and freeways in Sydney and Melbourne were replaced with a M marker. In Brisbane, all but one motorway had its route marker replaced (Western Fwy). In Western Australia, they have not implemented the new system yet.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Hungary, similar to Ireland, motorway numbers can be derived from the original national highway numbers (1–7), with an M prefix attached, e.g. M7 is on the route of the old Highway 7 from Budapest towards Lake Balaton and Croatia. New motorways not following the original Budapest-centred radial highway system get numbers M8, M9, etc., or M0 in the case of the ring road around Budapest.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In the Netherlands, motorway numbers can be derived from the original national highway numbers, but with an A ("Autosnelweg") prefix attached, like A9.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Germany federal motorways have the prefix A ("Autobahn"). If the following number is odd, the motorway generally follows a north–south direction, while even-numbered motorways generally follow an east–west direction. Other controlled-access roads (dual carriageways) in Germany can be federal highways ("Bundesstraßen"), state highways ("Landesstraßen"), district highways ("Kreisstraßen") and city highways ("Stadtstraßen"), each with their own numbering system.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In New Zealand, as well as in Brazil, Russia, Finland, and the Scandinavian countries, motorway numbers are derived from the state highway route that they form a part of, but unlike Hungary and Ireland, they are not distinguished from non-motorway sections of the same state highway route. In the cases where a new motorway acts as a bypass of a state highway route, the original state highway is either stripped of that status or renumbered. A low road number means a road suitable for long-distance driving.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Switzerland as of April 2011, there were of a planned of motorway completed. The country is mountainous with a high proportion of tunnels: there are 220 totaling , which is over 12% of the total motorway length.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Belgium, motorways but also some dual carriageways have numbers preceded by an A. However, those that also have an E-number are generally referenced with that one. City rings and bypasses have numbers preceded by an R; these also can be either motorways or dual carriageways.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Croatia, motorway numbering is independent of state route numbering. Motorways are prefixed by an A (for "autocesta"), as in many other European countries. Some motorways are the result of an upgrade of an older two-lane road, and carry concurrencies with state routes. In some other cases, such as with the A2, following the upgrade, the state route was rerouted onto the frontage road.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: While the design characteristics listed above are generally applicable around the globe, every jurisdiction provides its own specifications and design criteria for controlled-access highways.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Algeria, the motorway network has about in 2x3 lanes. The network is expanding increasingly, along with other kinds of infrastructure, though this is only true for the northern region of the country, where most of its population lives. And this infrastructure is pretty well developed for North African standards.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: For the moment, the entire Algerian motorway network is toll-free. The toll stations are being finalized and the launch of the motorway toll is scheduled for early 2021. The maximum speed authorized on the entire network is .


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Egypt has many multiple-lane, high-speed motorways. Two routes in the Trans-African Highway network originate in Cairo. Egypt also has multiple highway links with Asia through the Arab Mashreq International Road Network. Egypt has a developing motorway network, connecting Cairo with Alexandria and other cities. Though most of the transport in the country is still done on the national highways, motorways are becoming increasingly an option in road transport within the country. The existing motorways in the country are:


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Much of Ethiopia's highway network is developing. Road projects now represent around a quarter of the annual infrastructure budget of the Ethiopian government. Additionally, through the Road Sector Development Program (RSDP), the government has earmarked $4 billion to construct, repair and upgrade roads over the next decade. Ethiopia has over of roads. In 2014, the Addis Ababa–Adama Expressway opened, becoming the first expressway in Ethiopia.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The Kenya National Highways Authority is responsible for the maintenance, management, development, and rehabilitation of highways. According to the Kenya Roads Board, Kenya has of roads. Two routes of the Trans-African Highway network cross Kenya: the Cairo-Cape Town Highway and the Lagos–Mombasa Highway. Roads in Kenya are divided into classes:


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The motorways and expressways of Morocco are a network of multiple-lane, high-speed, controlled-access highways.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: As of November 2016 the total length of Morocco's motorways was and expressways. Morocco plans to expand the road network. In the country of motorways and of expressways are currently under construction in different parts of the country.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In the year 2035 the total length of the motorways will be of motorways and of expressways. According to the minister of Morocco, this plan also includes a program specific to rural roads for the construction of of roads for an investment of 30 billion dirhams.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Mozambique's highways are classified as a national or primary road ("estrada nacional" or "estrada primária"), or as regional – secondary or tertiary – roads ("estradas secundárias" and "estradas terciárias"). National roads are given the prefix "N" or "EN" followed by a one- or two-digit number. The numbers generally increase from the south of the country to the north. Regional roads are given the prefix "R", followed by a three-digit number. Mozambique has over of paved roads.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Nigeria has the largest highway network in West Africa. Although much of the highways are poorly maintained, the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency have drastically improved them. Due to Nigeria's strategic location, four routes of the Trans-African Highway network are situated in the country: the Trans-Sahara Highway to Algeria, the Trans-Sahelian Highway to Dakar, Senegal, the Trans–West African Coastal Highway and the Lagos–Mombasa Highway.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In South Africa, the term "freeway" differs from most other parts of the world. A freeway is a road where certain restrictions apply.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Drivers may not use hand signals on a freeway (except in emergencies) and the minimum speed on a freeway is . Drivers in the rightmost lane of multi-carriageway freeways must move to the left if a faster vehicle approaches from behind to overtake.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Despite popular opinion that "freeway" means a road with at least two carriageways, single carriageway freeways exist, as is evidenced by the statement that "[South Africa's] roads include of dual carriageway freeway, of single carriageway freeway and of single carriage main road with unlimited access."


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Although some of Brazilian highway is built to freeway-standard, there is no distinct designation for controlled-access highways in the Brazilian federal and state highway systems. The term "autoestrada" (Portuguese for "freeway" or "motorway") is not commonly used in Brazil; the terms "estrada" ("road") and especially "rodovia" ("highway") are instead preferred. Nevertheless, the most technically advanced freeways in Brazil are defined "Class 0 freeways" by the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT). These freeways are built to safely allow for vehicular speeds of up to ). In mountainous terrain, the maximum allowable gradient is 5%, and the minimum allowable radius of curvature is (with 12% super-elevation).


title: Controlled-access highway

text: São Paulo state, with of freeway, has the most in the country. It is also the state with more highways conceded to the private sector.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Brazil's first freeway, the Rodovia Anhanguera in São Paulo state, was completed in 1953 as an upgrade of the earlier undivided highway. That same year, construction of the second highway, Rodovia Anchieta, between São Paulo and the Atlantic coast, began. Freeway construction, most of them upgrades of older undivided highways, quickened in the following decades. The current Class 0 freeways include: Rodovia dos Bandeirantes, Rodovia dos Imigrantes, Rodovia Castelo Branco, Rodovia Ayrton Senna/Carvalho Pinto, Rodovia Osvaldo Aranha (also known as "Free-way") and São Paulo's Metropolitan Beltway Rodoanel Mário Covas – all modern, post-1970s highways meeting modern European standards. Other stretches of highway such as the under-construction south BR-101 and Rodovia Régis Bittencourt are of older design standards.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: A number of the United Kingdom's overseas territories have controlled-access highways, including the Turks and Caicos Islands and Cayman Islands.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Canada has no current national system for controlled-access highways. All controlled-access freeways, including sections that form part of the Trans-Canada Highway, are under provincial jurisdiction, and have no numeric continuation across provincial boundaries. The largest networks in the country are in Ontario (400-series highways) and Quebec (Autoroutes). Speed limits are not federally set, since provincial governments set speed limits for their respective regions. These roads are influenced by, and have influenced, US standards, but have design innovations and differences. The total length of dual-carriageways with controlled access in Canada is , of which are in British Columbia, in Alberta, in Saskatchewan, in Ontario, in Quebec, and in the Maritimes.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The RN-21 (East–West, Boulevard Monseñor Romero), is the very first freeway to be built in El Salvador and in Central America. The freeway passes the northern area of the city of Santa Tecla, La Libertad. It has a small portion serving Antiguo Cuscatlán, La Libertad, and merges with the RN-5 (East–West, Boulevard de Los Proceres/Autopista del Aeropuerto) in San Salvador. The total length of the RN-21 is and is currently working as a traffic reliever in the metropolitan area. Although the RN-21 was to be named in honor of the first mayor of San Salvador, Diego de Holguín, due to political reasons it was renamed Boulevard Monseñor Romero, in honor of Óscar Romero. The first phase of the highway was completed in 2009, and the second phase was completed and opened in November 2012.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Mexico, federal highways () are a series of highways that connect with roads from foreign countries or that link two or more states of the Federation.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Puerto Rico, controlled access highways are named "autopista". Autopistas are tolled roads in the island, but toll cabins do exist on other types of roads as well. One of the best known autopistas in Puerto Rico is the Luis A. Ferre Expressway, which goes from San Juan, the capital to the north, to Ponce, the island's second largest city, to the south.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In the United States, a "freeway" is defined by the US government's "Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices" as a divided highway with full control of access. This means two things: first, adjoining property owners do not have a legal right of access, meaning all existing driveways must be removed and access to adjacent private lands must be blocked with fences or walls; instead, frontage roads provide access to properties adjacent to a freeway in many places.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Second, traffic on a freeway is "free-flowing". All cross-traffic (and left-turning traffic) is relegated to overpasses or underpasses, so that there are no traffic conflicts on the main line of the highway, which must be regulated by traffic lights, stop signs, or other traffic control devices. Achieving such free flow requires the construction of many overpasses, underpasses, and ramp systems. The advantage of grade-separated interchanges is that freeway drivers can almost always maintain their speed at junctions since they do not need to yield to vehicles crossing perpendicular to mainline traffic.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In contrast, an expressway is defined as a divided highway with partial control of access. Expressways may have driveways and at-grade intersections, though these are usually less numerous than on ordinary arterial roads.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: This distinction was apparently first developed in 1949 by the Special Committee on Nomenclature of what is now the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Prior to that distinction the first freeways were complete in 1940, the Pennsylvania Turnpike and the Arroyo Seco Parkway (Pasadena Freeway).


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In turn, the definitions were incorporated into AASHTO's official standards book, the "Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices", which would become the national standards book of USDOT under a 1966 federal statute. The same distinction has also been codified into the statutory law of eight states: California, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: However, each state codified the federal distinction slightly differently. California expressways do not necessarily have to be divided, though they must have at least partial access control. For both terms to apply, in Wisconsin, a divided highway must be at least four lanes wide; and in Missouri, both terms apply only to divided highways at least long that are not part of the Interstate Highway System. In North Dakota and Mississippi, expressways may have "full or partial" access control and "generally" have grade separations at intersections; a freeway is then defined as an expressway with full access control. Ohio's statute is similar, but instead of the vague word "generally", it imposes a requirement that 50% of an expressway's intersections must be grade-separated for the term to apply. Only Minnesota enacted the exact MUTCD definitions, in May 2008.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The term "expressway" is also used in some areas of the country for what the federal government calls "freeways". Where the terms are distinguished, freeways can be characterized as expressways upgraded to full access control, while not all expressways are freeways.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Examples in the United States of roads that are technically expressways (under the federal definition), but contain the word "freeway" in their names: State Fair Freeway in Kansas, Chino Valley Freeway in California, Rockaway Freeway in New York, and Shenango Valley Freeway (a portion of US 62) in Pennsylvania.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Unlike in some jurisdictions, not all freeways in the US are part of a single national freeway network (although together with non-freeways, they form the National Highway System). For example, many state highways such as California State Route 99 have significant freeway sections. Many sections of the older United States Numbered Highway System have been upgraded to freeways but have kept their existing US Highway numbers.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Many highways of Afghanistan were built in the 1960s with American and Soviet assistance. The Soviets built a road and tunnel through the Salang pass in 1964, connecting northern and eastern Afghanistan. A highway connecting the principal cities of Herat, Kandahar, Ghazni, and Kabul with links to highways in neighboring Pakistan formed the primary highway. The historical Highway 1 currently connects the major cities. Afghanistan has over of roads, with 12,000 being paved. The highway infrastructure is currently going through reconstruction and can often be risky due to the instability of the country.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Armenia has about of paved roads, of which 96% are asphalted. Armenia is connected to Europe through the International E-road network and Asia through the Asian Highway Network. Armenia is a member of the International Road Transport Union and the TIR Convention.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Azerbaijan has about of paved roads; the first paved roads were built during the Russian Empire. The road network, from rural roads to motorways, is today undergoing a rapid modernization with rehabilitations and extensions. For every of national territory, there are of roads. Azerbaijan is connected to Europe through the


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Bangladesh has over 21,000 km of highways. Many highways are part of the Asian Highway Network. The road network consists of national highways (starting with N), regional highway (starting with R), and zilla (starting with Z).


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The expressway network of China, with the national-level expressway system officially known as the National Trunk Highway System (; abbreviated as NTHS), is an integrated system of national and provincial-level expressways in China.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: By the end of 2019, the total length of China's expressway network reached , the world's largest expressway system by length, having surpassed the overall length of the American Interstate Highway System in 2011. Planned length is by 2020.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Expressways in China are a fairly recent addition to a complicated network of roads. According to Chinese government sources, China did not have any expressways before 1988. One of the earliest expressways nationwide was the Jingshi Expressway between Beijing and Shijiazhuang in Hebei province. This expressway now forms part of the Jingzhu Expressway, currently one of the longest expressways nationwide at over .


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The road network in Georgia consists of of main or international highways in good condition, of which by 2021 roughly are controlled-access highway, while further expansion is ongoing. The of domestic main roads are of mixed quality, although the conditions are improving. Some of local roads are generally in poor condition. Georgia is connected to Europe via the International E-road network and Asia through the Asian Highway Network.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Hong Kong major motorways are numbered from 1 to 10 in addition to their names. Speed limits on expressways typically range from .


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Expressways (known as "Gatimarg/गतिमार्ग", or "Speedways" in Hindi and other Indian languages) are the highest class of roads in India's road network and currently make up around of the National Highway System, with additional under various phases of implementation. They have a minimum of six or eight-lane controlled-access highways where entrance and exit is controlled by the use of slip roads. The expressways are operated and maintained by the Union, through the National Highways Authority of India.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Indonesia all expressways (, "obstacle-free road") are tolled, so they are better known as toll road ("Jalan Tol"). Indonesia has expressway length so far, almost 70% of its expressways are in Java island.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In 2009, the Indonesian government had planned to expand more expressway network in Java island by connecting Merak to Banyuwangi which is the total length of Trans-Java toll road including large cities expressway in Java such as Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung and its complements is more than .


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The Indonesian government also had planned to build the Trans-Sumatra toll road which connects Banda Aceh to Bakauheni spanning . In 2012, the government allocated 150 trillion rupiah for the construction of the toll roads. There are three stages of construction of Trans-Sumatra toll road which is expected to be connected together in 2025.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The other islands in Indonesia such as Kalimantan, Sulawesi also has begun constructed its expressways including connecting Manado to Makassar in Sulawesi and also Pontianak to Balikpapan in Kalimantan. However, there are still no plans to build an expressway in Western New Guinea due to its slow population growth. Indonesia is expected to have at least of expressway in 2030.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The history of freeways in Iran goes back to before the Iranian Revolution. The first freeway in Iran was built at that time, between Tehran and Karaj with additional construction and the studies of many other freeways started as well. Today Iran has about of freeway.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Iraq's network of highways connects it from the inside to neighboring countries such as Syria, Turkey, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Iran. When Saddam Hussein visited the United States, he was impressed at the highway style and ordered the highways to be built in American form. Freeway 1 is the longest freeway in the country, connecting from Umm Qasr Port in Basra to Ar Rutba in Anbar, spreading to a new freeway connecting it to Syria and Jordan. Iraq has about of highways, with of them paved.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Controlled-access highways in Israel are designated by a blue color. Blue highways are completely grade-separated but may include bus stops and other elements that may slow down traffic on the right lane. Highway 6 is Israel's longest freeway. It will extend to a 260 kilometer in length, from Shlomi in the north to the Negev Junction in the south.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: , generally known as , make up the majority of controlled-access highways in Japan. The network boasts an uninterrupted link between Aomori Prefecture at the northern part of Honshū and Kagoshima Prefecture at the southern part of Kyūshū, linking Shikoku as well. Additional expressways serve travellers in Hokkaidō and on Okinawa Island, although those are not connected to the Honshū-Kyūshū-Shikoku grid. Expressways have a combined length of .


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Lebanon has an extensive network of highway that in varying condition throughout the country. Many highways are part of the Arab Mashreq International Road Network. Some highways have been upgraded to 4-lane motorway, including the Beirut-Tripoli highway.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Controlled-access highways in Malaysia are known as ( – this is also the name for highways). However, some expressways, particularly bridges and tunnels such as the Penang Bridge, do not formally use the "expressway" name; a small number confusingly use the term "highway", which is normally the designation for limited-access roads. Route numbers of designated expressways begin with the letter E. All expressways (excluding a section of the South Klang Valley Expressway, which is a two-lane expressway) are built with dual carriageways and at least two lanes in each direction; urban expressways generally have three or more lanes in each direction.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: While all expressways are grade separated at major roadways, many urban expressways in the Greater Kuala Lumpur region often have at-grade intersections, including with residential roads and shopfronts, thus do not meet the strict definition of a controlled-access highway. These expressways were previously normal arterial or collector roads that had such intersections, and were not removed when the roads were converted to expressways due to the resulting accessibility and sometimes political issues. Despite this, no expressway allows traffic to cross the median strip (apart from U-turns on a limited number of expressways) and expressways do not have at-grade traffic signals or roundabouts. Expressways have a maximum speed limit of , while speed limits of or lower are typical in built-up areas.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: As of 2017, expressways have only been designated in Peninsular Malaysia. There are 34 fully or partially open expressways with an approximate total length of . The vast majority of expressways are tolled; the North–South Expressway network, East Coast Expressway and West Coast Expressway predominantly use the ticket system of toll collection, while all other expressways use the barrier system. The construction and operation of expressways in Malaysia are usually privatised via concession agreements with the federal government, using the build–operate–transfer system.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The motorways of Pakistan and expressways of Pakistan are a network of multiple-lane, high-speed, limited-access or controlled-access highways in Pakistan, which are owned, maintained and operated federally by Pakistan's National Highway Authority. The total length of Pakistan's motorways and expressways is as of November 2016. Around of motorways are currently under construction in different parts of the country. Most of these motorway projects will be complete between 2018 and 2020.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Pakistan's motorways are part of Pakistan's National Trade Corridor project that aims to link Pakistan's three Arabian Sea ports of Karachi, Port Qasim and Gwadar to the rest of the country. These would further link with Central Asia and China, as proposed in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Pakistan's first motorway, the M-2, was inaugurated in November 1997; it is a , six-lane motorway that links Pakistan's federal capital, Islamabad, with Punjab's provincial capital, Lahore. It is ranked among the world's top five speed highways/motorways. Other completed motorways and expressways are M1 Peshawar–Islamabad Motorway, M4 PindiBhattian–Faisalabad-Multan Motorway, E75 Islamabad-Murree–Kashmir Expressway, M3 Lahore–Multan Motorway, M8 Ratadero–Gawader Motorway, E8 Islamabad Expressway, M5 Multan-Sukkur Motorway, M9 Karachi-Hyderabad, Sindh and few others.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Full control-access highways in the Philippines are referred to as "expressways", which are usually toll roads. The expressway network is concentrated in Luzon, with the North Luzon Expressway and South Luzon Expressway being the most important ones. The expressway network in Luzon do not form an integrated network, but there are ongoing construction projects to interconnect those highways as well as to decongest the existing roads in the areas they serve. Expressways are being introduced to Visayas and Mindanao through the construction of the Cebu–Cordova Link Expressway in Metro Cebu and Davao City Expressway in Davao City.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Highways in Saudi Arabia vary from eight-laned roads to small two-lane roads in rural areas. The city highways and other major highways are well maintained, especially the roads in the capital Riyadh. The roads have been constructed to resist the consistently high temperatures and do not reflect the strong sunshine. The other city highways such as the one linking coast to coast are not as great as the inner-city highways but the government is now working on rebuilding those roads. Saudi Arabia is part of the Arab-Mashreq Highway Network and connects to the rest of Asia through the Asian Highway Network.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The expressways of Singapore are special roads that allow motorists to travel quickly from one urban area to another. All of them are dual carriageways with grade-separated access. They usually have three to four lanes in each direction, although there are two-lane carriageways at many expressway—expressway intersections and five-lane carriageways in some places. There are ten expressways, including the new Marina Coastal Expressway. Studies about the feasibility of additional expressways are ongoing.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Construction on the first expressway, the Pan Island Expressway, started in 1966. , there are of expressways in Singapore.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The Singaporean expressway networks are connected with Malaysian expressway networks via Ayer Rajah Expressway (connects with the Second Link Expressway via the Malaysia–Singapore Second Link) and Bukit Timah Expressway (connects with the Eastern Dispersal Link via the Johor–Singapore Causeway).


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Since Gyeongin Expressway linking Seoul and Incheon opened in 1968, national expressway system in South Korea has been expanded into 36 routes, with total length of as of 2017. Most of expressways are four-lane roads, while (26%) have six to ten lanes. Speed limit is typically for routes with four or more lanes, while some sections having fewer curves have limit of .


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Expressways in South Korea were originally numbered in order of construction. Since 24 August 2001, they have been numbered in a scheme somewhat similar to that of the Interstate Highway System in the United States. Furthermore, the symbols of the South Korean highways are similar to the US red, white and blue.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Sri Lanka currently has over of designated expressways serving the southern part of the country. The first stage of the E01 Expressway (Southern Expressway) which opened in 2011 was Sri Lanka's first expressway spanning a distance of . The second stage of the Southern Expressway opened in 2014 and extends to Matara. The E03 Expressway (Colombo–Katunayake Expressway) opened in 2013 and connects Sri Lanka's largest city Colombo with the Bandaranaike International Airport covering a distance of . All E-Grade highways in Sri Lanka are access controlled, toll roads with speeds limits in the range of . The network is to be expanded to by 2024.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Syria has a well-developed system of motorways in the western half of the country. As the Eastern part is underpopulated, it only has 2 lanes. Highways have been important in terms of transport for the ongoing civil war. The main motorways are:


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Taiwan has an extensive road network that includes two types of controlled-access highway: freeways and expressways. Only cars and trucks are allowed onto freeways, the first of which — Freeway 1 — was completed in 1974. Expressways allow car and truck traffic as well as motorcycles with engines of 250cc or more.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Expressways in Taiwan may be controlled-access highways similar to national freeways or limited-access roads. Most have urban roads and intra-city expressways (as opposed to Highway system) status, although some are built and maintained by cities.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Controlled-access highways in Thailand are separated into urban expressways called "expressways", which are operated by the Expressway Authority of Thailand and BEM (except Don Mueang Tollway, which is operated by Don Muang Tollway Public Company Limited) and have a span of , while intercity expressways are called "motorways", which have a span of . The network is to be extended to according to the master plan.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Uzbekistan has of roads, about of which were paved. Much of the highways are in need of repair, although the condition has been improving. In 2017, the governments of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan agreed to open a section of the M39 Highway by the Kazakh border.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: At present, the expressway system of Vietnam is long. Under the government's plan, the national expressway system will have a total length of . The expressway system in Vietnam is separate from the national highway system.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Most of the expressways are located in the North, especially around Hanoi. Of the 21 expressways in Vietnam, 8 emanate from Hanoi and 14 are in the north, with a length of . The first expressway in Vietnam is the Lien Khuong - Prenn Pass expressway, which is inaugurated and opened for traffic on July 29, 2008.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Currently, most of the expressways in Vietnam are four-lane highways, with some routes like Ha Noi - Haiphong, and Phap Van - Cau Gie being six-lane. The only elevated expressway in Vietnam is Mai Dich - Thanh Tri Bridge (also known as the third beltway in Hanoi). The cost of building Vietnam's highways is one of the most expensive in the world, with an average cost of $12 million per kilometer. Compared with China, where there are similarities, their highway costs only $5 million per kilometer, where in the US and European countries, costs $3–4 million per kilometer.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: According to road traffic laws of Vietnam, an expressway is a road for motor vehicles, with a divider separating opposing traffic directions, no at-grade crossings with intersecting roads, fully equipped facilities to ensure continuous traffic flow, safety and short journey times, and access allowed only at interchanges.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Regarding road function (see also ERSO Traffic Safety Synthesis on Roads), motorways serve exclusively the function of flow (Wegman & Aarts, 2005). They allow for efficient throughput of, usually long distance, motorized traffic, with unhindered flow of traffic, no traffic signals, at-grade intersections or property access and elimination of conflicts with other directions of traffic, thus, dramatically improving both safety and capacity.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Although roads are under the responsibility of each individual state, including within the European Union, there are some legal conventions (international treaties) and some European directives which give a legal framework for roads of a European importance with the goal to introduce some kind of homogenization between various members. They basically consider, at European level, three types of roads: motorways, express roads, and ordinary roads.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Some European treaties also define aspects such as the range of speed limit, or for some geometric aspects of roads, in particularly for the International E-road network.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: A motorway is a road specially designed and built for motor vehicle traffic, which does not directly provide access to the properties bordering on it.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In determining the extent of a motorway its entry and exit lanes are included irrespective of the location of the motorway signposts. Urban motorways are also included in this term.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Most of the European countries use the above motorway definition but different national definitions of motorways can be found in some countries.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Motorways status is signaled at the entry and exit of the motorway by a symbol conforming to international agreements, but specific to each country.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The peripheral northern and eastern regions of the EU have a lower density motorway network. Within the European Union, there are 26 regions (NUTS level 2) with no motorway network in 2013. Those regions are islands or remote regions, for instance four overseas French regions and Corsica. The Baltic member state of Latvia, as well as four regions from Poland, and two regions from each of Bulgaria and Romania also reported no motorway network; several of these regions bordered onto non-member neighbouring countries to the east of the EU.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: European motorways provide reduced accident risks: 50% to 90% lower compared to standard roads, when new motorways only reduce injuries by 7%.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Some of the things which are considered as providing safety in the European motorways are central medians, grade separated interchanges, and access restrictions.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Highways in Albania form part of the recent Albanian road system. Following the collapse of communism in 1991, the first highways in Albania started being constructed, The first was SH2, connecting Tirane with Durrës via Vora. Since the 2000s, main roadways have drastically improved, though lacking standards in design and road safety. This involved the construction of new roadways and the putting of contemporary signs. However, some state roads continue to deteriorate from lack of maintenance while others remain unfinished.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The Austrian autobahns (German: Autobahnen) are controlled-access highways in Austria. They are officially called "Bundesstraßen" A (Bundesautobahnen) under the authority of the federal government according to the Austrian Federal Road Act (Bundesstraßengesetz), not to be confused with the former Bundesstraßen highways maintained by the Austrian states since 2002.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Austria currently has 18 Autobahnen, since 1982 built and maintained by the self-financed ASFiNAG stock company in Vienna, which is wholly owned by the Austrian republic and earns revenue from road-user charges and tolls. Each route bears a number as well as an official name with local reference, which however is not displayed on road signs. Unusually for European countries, interchanges (between motorways called Knoten, "knots") are numbered by distance in kilometres starting from where the route begins; this arrangement is also used in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Spain, and most provinces of Canada (and in most American states, albeit in miles). The current Austrian Autobahn network has a total length of .


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In 1937, the first motorway between Brussels and Ostend was completed, following the example of neighboring countries such as Germany. It mainly served local industries and tourism as a connection between the capital city and a coastal region. However, the Second World War and the reparation of the complete road network after the war caused a serious delay in the creation of other motorways. In 1949, the first plans were made to build a complete motorway network of that would be integrated with the neighboring networks. Although the plans were ready, the construction of the motorway network was much slower than in neighboring countries because the project was deemed not to be urgent.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Because of economic growth in the 1960s, more citizens could afford cars, and the call for good-quality roads was higher than ever before. In each year between 1965 and 1973, over of motorway were built. At the end of the 1970s, the construction of motorways slowed down again due to costs, combined with an economic crisis, more expensive fuel and changing public opinion. In the following years, the only investments done were to complete already started motorway constructions. But most important cities were already connected. In 1981, the responsibilities for construction and maintenance of the motorways shifted from the federal to the regional governments. This sometimes caused tensions between the governments. For example, the part of the ring road around Brussels that crosses Wallonian territory has never been finished, since only Flanders suffers from the unfinished ring.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Belgium today has the longest total motorway length per area unit of any country in the world. Most motorway systems in Belgium have at least three lanes in each direction. Nearly all motorways have overhead lighting including those in rural areas. The dense population of Belgium and the still unfinished state of some motorways, such as the ring roads around Brussels and Antwerp cause major traffic congestion on motorways. On an average Monday morning in 2012, there was a total of of traffic jams and the longest traffic jam of the year was , purely on the motorways.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Bosnia and Herzegovina has more than of highway, which connects Kakanj-Sarajevo. There is a plan to build highway on Corridor Vc, which will go from river Sava, across Doboj, Sarajevo and Mostar to Adriatic Sea. Next sections are Kakanj-Drivuša 16 km, Zenica Sjever-Drivuša 11 km, Svilaj-Odžak 11 km, Vlakovo-Tarčin 20 km, Počitelj-Bijača 21 km. The speed limit is or in tunnels.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Legislation in Bulgaria defines two types of highways: motorways (, ) and expressways (, ). The main differences are that motorways have emergency lanes and the maximum allowed speed limit is , while expressways do not have emergency lanes and the speed limit is . , of motorways are in service, with another under various stages of construction. More than are planned. Also, several expressways are planned.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The primary high-speed motorways in Croatia are called autoceste (singular: "autocesta"; ), and they are defined as roads with at least two lanes in each direction (including hard shoulder) and a speed limit of not less than . The typical speed limit is . As of 2017, there are of motorways in Croatia. There is also a category known as "brza cesta", meaning "expressway". These roads have a speed limit up to and are not legally required to be grade-separated, but nearly all are.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Motorways (Greek: "αυτοκινητόδρομος," Turkish: "Otoyol") connect all cities in Cyprus, although in the territory under "de facto" Turkish control these do not meet international standards for the definition of motorways. In the areas administered by the Republic of Cyprus, motorway numbers are prefaced with the letter A, and run from A1 to A6, to distinguish them from all other roads, designated B roads. Of the A roads, all are designated motorways, except for the A4, linking Larnaca with Larnaca Airport.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Motorways are also distinguishable by the use of green-backed road signs, with standard international graphics, and text in yellow in Greek and white in English, distinguishable from B road signage, which has signs with blue backgrounds.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Motorway junctions are theoretically designated with junction numbers, but signage is not consistent is indicating the exit numbers.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The Czech Republic has currently (2020) of motorways ("dálnice") whose speed limit is (or within a town). The total length should be around 2030. The number of a motorway (in red) copies the number of the national route (in blue) which has been replaced by the motorway. There are also roads for motorcars ("silnice pro motorová vozidla"). Those common roads are not subject to a fee (in form of vignette) for vehicles with total weight up to and their speed limit is , partially up to .


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Denmark has a well covered motorway system today, which has been difficult to build due to the county's geography with many islands. The longest bridges are the Great Belt and the Øresund bridges to Skåne (Scania) in southern Sweden. Both are motorways with dual electrical train tracks added.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Finland has of motorway, which is only a small proportion of the whole highway network. More than half of the length of the motorway network consists of six radial motorways originating in Helsinki, to Kirkkonummi (Länsiväylä), Turku (Vt1/E18), Tampere (Vt3/E12), Tuusula, Heinola (Vt4/E75) and Vaalimaa (Vt7/E18). These roads have a total length of . The other motorways are rather short sections close to the biggest cities, often designed to be bypasses. The motorway section on national roads 4 and 29, between Simo and Tornio, is said to be the northernmost motorway in the world.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Finnish motorways do not have a separate road numbering scheme. Instead, they carry national highway numbers. In addition to signposted motorways, there are also some limited-access two-lane expressways, and other grade-separated four-lane expressways (perhaps the most significant example being Ring III near Helsinki).


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The "autoroute" system in France consists largely of toll roads, except around large cities and in parts of the north. It is a network of worth of motorways. Autoroute destinations are shown in blue, while destinations reached through a combination of autoroutes are shown with an added autoroute logo. Toll autoroutes are signalled with the word "péage" (toll).


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Germany's network of controlled-access expressways includes all federal Autobahnen and some parts of Bundesstraßen and usually no "Landesstraßen" (state highways), "Kreisstraßen" (district highways) nor "Gemeindestraßen" (municipal highways). The federal "Autobahn" network has a total length of in 2020, making it one of the densest networks in the world.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The German autobahns have no general speed limit (though about 47% of the total length is subject to local and/or conditional limits), but the advisory speed limit ("Richtgeschwindigkeit") is . The lower class expressways usually have speed limits of or lower.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Greece's motorway network has been extensively modernised throughout the 1980s, 1990s and especially the 2000s, while part of it is still under construction. Most of it was completed by mid 2017 numbering around of motorways, making it the biggest highway network in Southeastern Europe and the Balkans and one of the most advanced in Europe.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: There are a total of 10 main routes throughout the Greek mainland and Crete, from which some feature numerous branches and auxiliary routes. Most important motorways are the A1 Motorway connecting Greece's two largest cities (Athens and Thessaloniki), the A2 (Egnatia Odos) motorway, also known as the "horizontal road axis" of Greece, connecting almost all of Northern Greece from west to east and the A8 Olympia Motorway connecting Athens and Patras. Another important motorway is the Attiki Odos motorway, the main beltway of the Athens Metropolitan area.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In Ireland the "Local Government (Roads and Motorways) Act 1974" made motorways possible, although the first section, the M7 Naas Bypass, did not open until 1983. The first section of the M50 opened in 1990, a part of which was Ireland's first toll motorway, the West-Link. However it would be the 1990s before substantial sections of motorway were opened in Ireland, with the first completed motorway—the M1 motorway—being finished in 2005.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Under the Transport 21 infrastructural plan, motorways or high quality dual carriageways were built between Dublin and the major cities of Cork, Galway, Limerick and Waterford by the end of 2010. Other shorter sections of motorway either have been or will be built on some other main routes. In 2007 legislation (the "Roads Bill 2007") was created to allow existing roads be designated motorways by order because previously legislation allowed only for newly built roads to be designated motorways.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: As a result, most HQDCs nationwide (other than some sections near Dublin on the N4 and N7, which did not fully meet motorway standards) were reclassified as motorways. The first stage in this process occurred when all the HQDC schemes open or under construction on the N7 and N8, and between Kinnegad and Athlone on the N6 and Kilcullen and south of Carlow on the N9, were reclassified motorway on 24 September 2008. Further sections of dual carriageway were reclassified in 2009.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The world's first motorway was the "Autostrada dei laghi", inaugurated on 21 September 1924 in Milan. It linked Milan to Varese; it was then extended to Como, near the border with Switzerland, inaugurated on 28 June 1925. Piero Puricelli, the engineer who designed this new type of road, decided to cover the expenses by introducing a toll.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Other motorways built before the Second World War in Italy were Naples-Pompeii, Florence-Pisa, Padua-Venice, Milan-Turin, Milan-Bergamo-Brescia and Rome-Ostia.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Type B highways (or strada extraurbana principale), commonly but unofficially known as superstrada, are divided highways with at least two lanes for each direction, a paved shoulder on the right, no cross-traffic and no at-grade intersections. Access restrictions on such highways are exactly the same as on autostrade, as is the signage at the beginning and the end of the highway (the only differences being the background colours and the maximum speed limit: blue instead of green and instead of ).


title: Controlled-access highway

text: There are two categories of controlled-access highways in Lithuania: expressways (Lithuanian: "greitkeliai") with maximum speed 120 km/h and motorways (Lithuanian: "automagistralės") with maximum speed 130 km/h. The first section Vilnius–Kaunas of A1 highway was completed in 1970. Kaunas–Klaipėda section of A1 was completed in 1987. Vilnius-Panevėžys (A2 highway) was completed in stages during the 1980s and finished in the 1990s. Complete length of the motorway network is 310 km. Expressway network length - 80 km. Motorway section between Kaunas and the Polish border is planned to be completed in the 2020s.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Roads in the Netherlands include at least of motorways and expressways, and with a motorway density of 64 kilometres per 1,000 km (103 mi/1,000 mi), the country has one of the densest motorway networks in the world. About are fully constructed to motorway standards, These are called "Autosnelweg" or simply "snelweg", and numbered and signposted with an "A" and up to three digits, like A12.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: They are consistently built with at least two carriageways, guard rails and interchanges with grade separation. Since September 2012, the nationwide maximum speed has been raised to , but on many stretches speed is still limited to . Dutch motorways may only be used by motor vehicles both "capable" and "legally allowed" to go at least .


title: Controlled-access highway

text: In March 2020, the general speed limit on Dutch motorways was lowered to 100 kilometres per hour during the day (6 am until 7 pm). At night, the maximum speed is different per stretch, but 130 kilometres per hour remained the upper limit.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Dutch roads are used with a very high intensity in relation to the network length and traffic congestion is common, due to the country's high population density. Therefore, since 1979 large portions of the motorway network have been equipped with variable message signs and dynamic electronic displays, both of which are aspects of intelligent transportation systems. These signs can show a lower speed limit, as low as , to optimize the flow of heavy traffic, and a variety of other communications. Additionally there are peak, rushhour or plus lanes, which allow motorists to use the hard shoulder as an extra traffic lane in case of congestion. These extra lanes are observed by CCTV cameras from a traffic control center.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Less common, but increasingly, separate roadways are created for local/regional traffic and long-distance traffic. This way the number of weaving motions across lanes is reduced, and the traffic capacity per lane of the road is optimised. A special feature of Dutch motorways is the use of Porous Asphalt Concrete, which allows water to drain efficiently, and even in heavy rain no water will splash up, in contrast to concrete or other road surfaces. The Netherlands is the only country that uses PAC this extensively, and the goal is to cover 100% of the motorways with PAC, in spite of the high costs of construction and maintenance. All in all the Netherlands has one of the more advanced motorway networks in the world.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The total motorway network length in North Macedonia is as of Spring 2019. Another are under construction, 57 km (Ohrid to Kicevo) and 13 km (Skopje to Kosovo border). The stretch from Gostivar to Kicevo is planned to start with construction in 2021. The three motorway routes are A1, which is part of the European corridor E-75, A2 (part of E-65) and the recently built A4 corridor that connects Skopje to Stip. A1 connects the northern border (Serbia) with the southern one (Greece), while A2 traverses the country from the East (Bulgaria border) to West (Albania border), but only the stretch from Kumanovo to Gostivar is a divided motorway, while the rest of the length is either an undivided two-way road or in the process of turning into a motorway.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The highways in Poland are divided into motorways and expressways, both types featuring grade-separated interchanges with all other roads, emergency lanes, feeder lanes, wildlife protection measures and dedicated roadside rest areas. Motorways can be only dual carriageways, while expressways can be dual or, rarely, single carriageways. The start of an expressway in Poland is marked with a sign of white car on blue background, while number sign for an expressway is of red background and white letters, with the letter S preceding a number. Speed limits in Poland are 140 km/h on motorways and 120 km/h on dual-carriageway expressways.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The Regulation of the Council of Ministers defines the network of motorways and expressways in Poland totalling about (including about of motorways).


title: Controlled-access highway

text: As of July 2022, there are of motorways and expressways in operation (58% of the intended network), while contracts for construction of further of motorways and expressways (15% of the intended network) are ongoing.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Portugal was the third country in Europe—after Italy and Germany—to build a motorway (, plural: ), opening, in 1944, the Lisbon-Estádio Nacional section of the present A5 ("Autoestrada da Costa do Estoril").


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Additional motorway sections were built in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. However, the large-scale building of motorways started only in the late 1980s. Currently, Portugal has a very well-developed network of motorways, with about a extension, that connects all the highly populated coastal regions of the country and the main cities of the less populous interior. This means that 87% of the Portuguese population lives at less than 15 minutes' driving time from a motorway access.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Unlike the neighbouring Spanish network, most of Portuguese motorways are tolled, although there are also some non-tolled highways, mostly in urban areas, like those of Greater Lisbon and Greater Oporto. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Government of Portugal created seven shadow toll concessions, the SCUT toll (, no costs for the user). In those concessions it were included more than of motorways and highways, some of them already built, others which were built in the following years. However, due to economical and political reasons, the shadow toll concept was abolished between 2010 and 2011, with electronic toll equipment being installed in these motorways, to charge their users. Having only electronic tolls, former SCUT motorways can now only be used by vehicles equipped with electronic payment devices or vehicles registered in the system.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Portuguese motorways form an independent network (, National Motorway Network), that overlaps with the Fundamental and Complementary subnetworks of the National Highway Network (). Each motorway section overlapping with the Fundamental subnetwork is part of an IP (, Principal route) and each motorway section overlapping with the Complementary subnetwork is part of an IC (, Complementary route). Thus, a motorway can overlap with sections of different IP or IC routes and - on the other hand - an IP or IC route can overlap with sections of different motorways. An example is A22 motorway, which overlaps with sections of IP1 and of IC4 routes; another example is IP1 route, which overlaps with sections of the A22, A2, A12, A1 and A3 motorways.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The National Motorway Network has a proper numbering system in which each motorway has a number prefixed by the letter "A". In most cases, a motorway signage indicates only its A number. The number of the IP or IC of which a motorway section is a part is not signed except in some short motorways which lack a proper A number.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The first motorway in Romania was completed in 1972, linking Bucharest and Pitești. As of December 2021, Romania has of highways in use, with more under construction. The Romanian Government has adopted a General Master Plan for Transport that was approved by the European Union in July 2015, containing the strategy for expanding the road (including motorway) network until 2040, using EU funding.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Motorways () and expressways () are the backbone of the road system in Serbia. There are around of motorways in total. Plan is by the end of 2018.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Motorways in Serbia have three lanes (including emergency lane) in each direction, signs are white-on-green, as in the rest of former Yugoslavia and the normal speed limit is .


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Expressways, unlike motorways, don't have emergency lanes, signs are white-on-blue and the normal speed limit is .


title: Controlled-access highway

text: As the Serbian word for motorway is "autoput", the "A1", "A2" or "A3" road designations are used since November 2013. All state roads categorized as class I, that are motorways currently of in the future, are marked with one-digit numbers and known as class Ia. All other roads, which belong to class I, are marked with two-digit numbers and known as class Ib. Expressways belong to class Ib, too. E-numeration is also widely used on motorways.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The core of the motorways is what was once called during Yugoslav period, the Brotherhood and Unity Highway, which was opened in 1950 and goes from the border with Croatia, through Belgrade, Central Serbia, Niš, and to border with North Macedonia. It was one of the first modern highways in Central-Eastern Europe. It is the most direct link between Central and Western Europe with Greece and Turkey, and subsequently the Middle-East.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Slovakia has currently (2022) of motorways (, "D") and expressways (, "R") whose speed limit is .They are split into expressways and motorways like Poland with expressways starting with a R which means Ryhlostna cesta


title: Controlled-access highway

text: but from April 2020 all the expressways in Slovakia were known as motorways due to that the expressways are very similar to the motorways in Slovakia. You also pay a e-vignette to use the motorways in Slovakia. Before you used to pay a sticker vignette but from 2016 you pay electronically through the website : https://eznamka.sk/selfcare/purchase


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The highways in Slovenia are the central state roads in Slovenia and are divided into motorways (, "AC") and expressways (, "HC"). Motorways are dual carriageways with a speed limit of . They have white-on-green road signs as in Italy, Croatia and other countries nearby. Expressways are secondary roads, also dual carriageways, but without an emergency lane. They have a speed limit of and have white-on-blue road signs.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The Spanish network of "autopistas" and "autovias" has a length of , making it the largest in Europe and the third in the world. "Autopistas" are specifically reserved for automobile travel, so all vehicles not able to sustain at least are banned from them. General speed limits are mandated by the Spanish Traffic Law as . Specific limits may be imposed based on road, meteorological or traffic conditions. Spanish legislation requires an alternate route to be provided for slower vehicles. Many, but not all, autopistas are toll roads, which also mandates an alternate toll-free route under the Spanish laws.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Sweden has the largest motorway network in Scandinavia (). It is, however, unevenly allocated. Most motorways are located in the south of the country, where the population density is the highest.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The first motorway in Sweden opened in 1953, between Lund and Malmö. Four-lane expressways had been built before, an early example is E20 between Gothenburg and Alingsås, built in the early 1940s. Most of the current network was built in the 1970s and 1990s.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: E6 starts i Trelleborg in southern Sweden, it then continues along the Swedish western coast, up to the Svinesund bridge which is where Sweden borders to Norway. Its length is close to on Swedish territory alone, and it connects four of Scandinavia's six largest cities, Copenhagen, Malmö, Gothenburg and Oslo together, as well as around 20 other more or less notable towns and cities.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: A Swedish (partly motorway) route (rather than road) that also has a significant portion of the Swedish motorway network, is European route E4, which runs from the border city of Tornio in northern Finland to Helsingborg in southern Sweden. E4 is the main route that connects the capital Stockholm with Scania. All of E4 south of the city Gävle is of motorway standard, with only the part passing Ljungby () left, currently in expressway standard. Upgrade to motorway standard will start in 2017. The part of E4 that runs through western Stockholm is called Essingeleden and is the busiest road in Sweden.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Other highways that have a significant portion of motorway standard are E20, E18 and E22. Motorways in Sweden are however not restricted to European routes; so called Riksvägar and other regional road types can also be of motorway standard. An example of this is Riksväg 40. Riksväg 40 is the main link between the largest cities in the country, Stockholm and Gothenburg. Notably, not even the majority of the European route- network in Sweden is motorway or even have expressway standard. All of this is because road numbering and road standard is separate in Sweden, as in the rest of Scandinavia.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Switzerland has a two-class highway system: motorways with separated roads for oncoming traffic and a standard maximal speed limit of , and expressways often with oncoming traffic and a standard maximal speed limit of .


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Motorways () of Turkey are a network in constant development. All motorways (O coded), except beltways, are toll roads (using only RFID methods for the roads that operated by KGM, cash and credit card payment is also possible for the roads that operated by private companies), mostly six lanes wide, illuminated and with speed limit. As of August 2022, total length of the motorways is long in total.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: A map "Showing Future Pattern of Principal National Routes" was issued by the Ministry of War Transport in 1946 shortly before the law that allowed roads to be restricted to specified classes of vehicle (the Special Roads Act 1949) was passed. The first section of motorway, the M6 Preston Bypass, opened in 1958 followed by the first major section of motorway (the M1 between Crick and Berrygrove in Watford), which opened in 1959. From then until the 1980s, motorways opened at frequent intervals; by 1972 the first of motorway had been built.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Whilst roads outside of urban areas continued to be built throughout the 1970s, opposition to urban routes became more pronounced. Most notably, plans by the Greater London Council for a series of ringways were cancelled following extensive road protests and a rise in costs. In 1986 the single-ring, M25 motorway was completed as a compromise. In 1996 the total length of motorways reached .


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Motorways in Great Britain, as in numerous European countries, will nearly always have the following characteristics:


title: Controlled-access highway

text: On motorways in Great Britain there were 99 fatalities in 2017 for 69 billion vehicle miles travelled, a reduction from 183 fatalities in 2007. which is equivalent to 1.43 fatalities per billion vehicle miles traveled.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Legal authority existed in the Special Roads Act (Northern Ireland) 1963 similar to that in the 1949 Act. The first motorway to open was the M1 motorway, though it did so under temporary powers until the Special Roads Act had been passed. Work on the motorways continued until the 1970s when the oil crisis and The Troubles both intervened causing the abandonment of many schemes.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Australia's major cities, Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, feature a network of freeways within their urban areas, while Canberra, Adelaide, Hobart and the regional centres of Newcastle, Geelong, Gold Coast and Wollongong feature a selection of limited-access routes. Outside these areas traffic volumes do not generally demand freeway-standard access, although heavily trafficked regional corridors such as Sydney–Newcastle (M1 Pacific Motorway (F3)), Sydney–Wollongong (M1 Princes Motorway (F6)), Brisbane–Gold Coast (M1 Pacific Motorway), Melbourne–Geelong (M1 Princes Freeway), Perth-Mandurah (SR2 Kwinana Freeway) and that form part of major long-distance routes feature high-standard freeway links.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The M31 Hume Highway/Freeway/Motorway connecting Sydney and Melbourne and the M23 Federal Highway spur route that connects Canberra with Sydney are the only major interstate highways that are completed to a continuous dual carriageway standard. In addition, construction on the A1/M1 Pacific Highway/Motorway connecting Sydney and Brisbane is underway to upgrade the M1 to freeway standard by 2020. There are also plans to upgrade the A25 Barton Highway, another spur off the M31 that connects Canberra with Melbourne, to a dual carriageway highway.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Although these inter-city highways are dual carriageway they are not all controlled access highways. Some of these inter-city highways have driveways to adjacent property and at-grade junctions with smaller roads.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Unlike many other countries, some of Australia's freeways are being opened to cyclists. As the respective state governments upgrade their state's freeways, bicycle lanes are being added and/or shoulders widened alongside the freeways. The state of Queensland is an exception however, as cyclists are banned from all freeways, including the breakdown lane.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Motorways referred to as an expressway in Australia include the Hunter Expressway, which connects the Hunter Region with Newcastle, and the Southern Expressway, which connects Adelaide's outer southern suburbs to the southwestern suburbs.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: The term "motorway" in New Zealand encompasses multilane divided freeways as well as narrower two- to four-lane undivided expressways with varying degrees of grade separation; the term "motorway" describes the legal traffic restrictions rather than the type of road.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: New Zealand's motorway network is small due to the nation's low population density and low traffic volumes making it uneconomical to build controlled-access highways outside the major urban centres.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: New Zealand's first motorway opened in December 1950 near Wellington, running from Johnsonville to Tawa. This motorway now forms the southern part of the Johnsonville-Porirua Motorway and part of State Highway 1. Auckland's first stretch of motorway was opened in 1953 between Ellerslie and Mount Wellington (between present-day exit 435 and exit 438), and now forms part of the Southern Motorway.


title: Controlled-access highway

text: Most major urban areas in New Zealand feature limited-access highways. Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, Hamilton, Tauranga, and Dunedin contain motorways, with only Auckland having a substantial motorway network.


title: Shake It Off

text: "Shake It Off" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her fifth studio album, "1989". Swift wrote the lyrics and composed the melody with producers Max Martin and Shellback. An uptempo dance-pop song featuring a saxophone line in its production, it is about Swift's indifference to her detractors and their negative view of her image. The song was the lead single from "1989", which Swift marketed as her first pop album. It was released for digital download worldwide on August 19, 2014, by Big Machine Records.


title: Shake It Off

text: Contemporary critics found the song's dance-pop production catchy, but some believed the lyrics were weak. Retrospectively, critics have considered "Shake It Off" an effective opener for the "1989" era, which transformed Swift's sound and image from country to pop. The song featured on 2010's decade-end lists by "NME" and "Consequence". In the U.S., the single spent 50 weeks–including four weeks at number one–on the "Billboard" Hot 100, and received a Diamond certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). "Shake It Off" also topped charts in Australia, Canada, Hungary, Mexico, New Zealand, and Poland.


title: Shake It Off

text: The single was supported by a music video directed by Mark Romanek. The video, in which Swift portrays a clumsy person attempting to practice several dance moves without success, attracted accusations of cultural appropriation for featuring dance routines associated with people of color such as twerking. To promote the song, Swift performed on televised live events including the MTV Video Music Awards and the iHeartRadio Music Festival. She included "Shake It Off" on the set lists for two of her world tours, the 1989 World Tour (2015) and Reputation Stadium Tour (2018). The song has received numerous accolades, including Favorite Song at the 2015 People's Choice Awards and three Grammy nominations at the 2015 Grammy Awards.


title: Shake It Off

text: Taylor Swift had been known as a primarily country singer-songwriter until her fourth studio album "Red" (released in October 2012), which incorporates various pop and rock styles, transcending the country sound of her previous releases. The collaborations with Swedish pop producers Max Martin and Shellback introduced straightforward pop hooks and new genres, including electronic and dubstep, to Swift's discography. Swift and her label, Big Machine, promoted it as a country album. The album's diverse musical styles sparked a media debate over her status as a country artist, to which she replied in an interview with "The Wall Street Journal", "I leave the genre labeling to other people." Swift began recording her fifth studio album, "1989", while touring to support "Red" in mid-2013. Inspired by 1980s synth-pop, she conceived "1989" as her first "official pop" record that would transform her image from country to pop. Martin and Shellback produced seven out of thirteen tracks for the album's standard edition, including "Shake It Off".


title: Shake It Off

text: Swift wrote the lyrics to "Shake It Off" and composed the song's melody with Martin and Shellback. The track was recorded by Sam Holland at Conway Recording Studios in Los Angeles and by Michael Ilbert at MXM Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. It was mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia, and mastered by Tom Coyne at Sterling Sound Studio in New York City.


title: Shake It Off

text: Musically, "Shake It Off" is an uptempo dance-pop song that incorporates a saxophone line. Jonas Thander, the song's saxophone player, based his part on Martin's pre-recorded MIDI horn sample, using a tenor horn. It took Thander over ten hours to edit the saxophone part, which he completed over the following day. "Shake It Off" follows a ii–IV–I chord progression; it employs a verse–prechorus–chorus form to begin with a loose verse, tighten for the prechorus, and loosen again for the chorus. The song's upbeat production is accompanied by a looping drum beat, a handclap-based bridge, and synthesized saxophones.