Talk:Overpass

message: It was my understanding that here (in the UK) as well as in America a 'flyover' is specifically a high level overpass, or one existing solely for grade-separation (ie not part of an embankment etc). Midlandstoday 22:06, 21 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I assumed using "flyover" to only mean a high-level overpass was US-centric, but since you're not USian I guess I assumed wrong. Also, http://m-w.com/dictionary/flyover just shows them as synonyms. (I think a lot of these roadway terminology pages are horribly ambiguous e.g. Expressway vs Freeway vs Motorway.) Anyways, I changed the link on the Flyover disambiguation page to a redirect which I hope we can both agree on. Ewlyahoocom 04:11, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree international road terminology is rather ambiguous, possibly due to the residents and governments of different nations developing their own terms for roads which are, in engineering terms, very similar. I must admit though that my understanding of the word 'flyover' may apply mainly to English Midland Dialect which is of course the most familiar to me. As far as I can tell, 'overpass' is rarely used here, yet 'flyover' has much the same meaning as in the US. Most people would call a US-'overpass' simply a 'bridge', with no specific term in common use. 'Underpass' however is widely used, especially to refer to a pedestrian underpass, particularly those constructed as part of the grand urban road schemes of the 60s and 70s. Midlandstoday 16:39, 23 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Interesting. I've always seen the terms flyover and overpass as fairly synonymous in Australian usage, with flyover being less common and possibly perceived as a "foreign" term.  A flyover would generally have approach ramps at both ends to get it "up and over", but a lot of older flyovers are referred to as overpasses.  In particular, a road flyover going over a railway line to replace a level crossing is often referred to as a railway overpass.  A pedestrian footbridge over a road is usually referred to as a "pedestrian overbridge", "pedestrian walkway" or similar.  Here, where a road and a railway line cross, the choice between calling it an "overpass" or "underpass" appears to be whether the road passes over or under the railway line.  To make it really confusing, in some places where a road or footpath was put through an existing raised railway formation by replacing part of the formation with a bridge or tunnel, it's not uncommon to see it referred to as a "subway" by people over about 60yo. --Athol Mullen 00:09, 24 August 2007 (UTC)

text: In aussieland, flyover is purelyu an americanism, all overpasses down here :)Nbound (talk) 00:48, 9 June 2008 (UTC)

text: I live in Australia too, and I agree with the above comment. Enlil Ninlil (talk) 03:57, 9 February 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Flyover 

message: I think the list of places where a track that is a part of the US national rail system (by which I mean, not a subway track) crosses above another such track would be short enough that making a list would be practical, were someone so inclined.  The only example I can think of in Massachusetts is at Readville, where there's a bridge so that a train from the MBTA's Franklin Line can continue to the Fairmount Line, above the Providence Line / Northeast Corridor tracks.  JNW2 (talk) 10:58, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Would there be any reason to limit this to the USA? In general, they're fairly rare, and the only 2 that I'm aware of in Australia are the Sandgate Flyover and Hanbury Dive, although the Southern Sydney Freight Line will have a flyover at one point to get it from one side to between the passenger lines and a dive at another point where the freight line branches away from the passenger lines. I suspect that the overall list of rail-over-rail flyovers and dives would be fairly small. --Athol Mullen (talk) 12:04, 13 June 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: No reason to limit this to the US, other than the challenge of coming up with the right terminology to scope the category in such a way that it's an interesting, non-huge list.  In the US, we have some pretty clear rules that subway type trains are not a part of the national rail system.  If you start including subway tracks, the US list becomes a lot longer.  For example, in Massachusetts, the MBTA Red Line crosses the below the Green Line and Orange Line; the MBTA Blue Line crosses the Green Line and Orange Line in some grade separated fashion; the Orange Line goes under some commuter rail tracks a bit east of Back Bay Station; the Red Line crosses under commuter rail tracks at Porter Square; and my list here is probably incomplete.  I think the British may not have such a clear separation of subway from heavy rail (in part because they also don't run such large freight trains at all).  But heavy rail is also not a terribly precise choice of terminology, as I think I have seen the MBTA's Orange Line, at least, described as heavy rail even though it's a subway line that's not a part of the national rail system.  JNW2 (talk) 20:49, 15 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: List of railroad over railroad flyovers