Talk:Interstate Highway System/Archive 2

message: Regarding this sentence in the article: "The roads are called freeways, but this is first because they are free-flowing, not because they are free".  The word "freeway" is actually frequently used to refer to toll-free highways, although I think it also probably is used to mean any limited access high speed highway.  I think this sentence should probably be reworded or this point should be elaborated on.  soulpatch
:: per hist & Jerzy, above edit was 13:18, 2002 Dec 4 by Soulpatch on "The definition of a freeway?"
: I read this talk bcz IMO rewording along these lines is needed.  IMO the use of "freeway" to include a toll road is a casual carelessness that is tolerable, bcz usually harmless, in oral usage, but not to be encouraged even in oral usage.  One evidence of this is that freeway (in my experience of CA, 3 Midwest states, and 2 northeastern ones) is a popular term only on the west coast, where IIRC correctly toll road are extremely rare.  They are certainly rarer than in the northeast.
: Thus IMO it should be mentioned here only as being an invitation to confusion.  --Jerzy 18:32,
States that have toll highways ordinarily call those highways by some name distinct from "freeway". Some are called "turnpikes" (although some highways carry the name after the toll collection is ended); some are called "parkways" (although they can retain the name after toll collection ends, and the word has been applied to highways that have never been tolled), "corridors", or even "expressways" -- but nowhere are they called "freeways" in the United States. That a toll is collected at a mandatory stop or slowdown itself compromises the concept of free flow of traffic, even iof the toll booths are hundreds of miles apart. The word "toll" implies that a toll is collected for use of the highway from the vehicle's driver. Any state that removes toll collection from a highway now called a "tollway" would likely redesignate it with some other name -- such as "freeway". If (as was proposed in Illinois), the tollway system were to be de-tolled, then such a highway as the "Northwest Tollway" would need some other name once the tolls are removed, were it to be known as something other than "Interstate 90".
In American practice, tolls are rarely collected upon highways other than the expensively-built limited-access divided highways and on toll bridges, one of the more noteworthy exceptions being the Seventeen-Mile Drive near Monterrey, California. Control of access is necessary for collection at toll booths, and the usual street or road with its numerous turnoffs and driveways would not suffice -- but those are not Interstate routes.
So here's how to avoid the confusion: because tolls are never collected on ordinary roads, we can avoid the confusion from the oxymoron "toll freeway" by using "tollway" as a generic term for not only the Illinois and Texas tollways, but also the Chicago Skyway, the Indiana Toll Road, the New York Thruway system, turnpikes that still have tolls, Parkways on which tolls are still collected, tolled Expressways in Florida, and the Toll Corridors of southern California. Toll bridges, causeways, and tunnels might be excluded unless they are parts of toll highways that continue beyond the bridge approaches.--66.231.38.97 22:44, 11 Jun 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Freeway refers to the free-flowing traffic, not whether it is toll-free.  See Freeway and the citations to statutory and regulatory authority I have added to that article.  All of those sources are available online at the Web sites of the proper government agencies.--Coolcaesar 18:42, 17 January 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Toll "Freeways" 

message: The article currently states:
Most long-distance land journeys of less than 300 miles (for vacation or business) use the interstate highway system at some point.
Shouldn't that be greater than 300 miles?  It seems the longer journeys would be more likely to use an interstate.  However, I don't know the source of this statistic; maybe it's correct. Gwimpey 04:44, Nov 29, 2004 (UTC)
:Oh, this is from the Nov. 15 edit by User:Seth Ilys.  I think it is most journeys of any type, not just land journeys. Gwimpey 04:46, Nov 29, 2004 (UTC)
*When they get longer than that, people are more likely to fly. --Xcali 04:59, 23 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  300-mile journeys 

message: What does "at-grade" mean in this context? Cool Hand Luke 02:36, 13 Jan 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Vocabulary question 

message: Hello everyone:
Can someone figure out what to do about that "institutional racism" passage that recently appeared in the article?  As currently phrased, it's far too POV and inaccurate.  
--Coolcaesar 00:08, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  NPOV problems 

message: Anybody know for sure that the Woodrow Wilson Bridge is Federally owned?  I did some related work for MD SHA a while back, and I seem to recall it was jointly owned by Maryland and Virginia, although DC may also own part of it.  Toiyabe 19:17, 6 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: If it's false, a lot of people are wrong. I think there's something strange with the feds owning it but the states maintaining it. I can't find anything on the reconstruction site though. --SPUI (talk) 20:31, 6 May 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: Ah, here's what had me confused: "Under a new ownership agreement, Maryland and Virginia will co-own the new bridge and split ongoing maintenance and operation costs."  From here, seventh bullet.  So that statement is currently true, but will be false in another year or so.  Toiyabe 20:59, 6 May 2005 (UTC)
thread_title:  Woodrow Wilson Bridge