# Why are Freeways called that? Even when there's a toll? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 11, 2012, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708 "2012-11-11T20:15:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/21 "2012-11-12T01:49:23Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > The highway system in the United States uses the convention that east-west routes are even numbered, north-south routes are odd numbered. Three digit Interstate numbers have the last two digits coinciding with the Interstate highway passing directly through a city. An odd digit for the first number of the three digit designation indicates a route that also goes through the city. An even digit for the first number of the three digit designation indicates a route that generally circles around the city. These three digit routes will eventually rejoin the original two digit Interstate route. I thought an even first digit meant it loops back to the two digit namesake, and an odd one only intersected it once. For instance, I-595 in Fort Lauderdale is a pure east-west that hits I-95 once. I-295 in Jacksonville is a circle, and hits I-95 twice. -D/a ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/22 "2012-11-12T02:17:52Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > [Interstate 180 in Wyoming.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_180_%28Wyoming%29) I love how that entire wikipedia article is basically written from an astonishment point of view. It’s like the author just couldn’t believe that that intersate existed. It doesn’t meet federal standards. It’s got several stoplights… but somehow it is an interstate. Ah well, this is why we rarely should ever deal in absolutes 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/23 "2012-11-12T02:27:24Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > While we’re at it, can somebody explain why roads, toll or otherwise, are called “turnpikes”? It’s always struck me as a weird word. I tried looking it up, but all I found for the origin is which doesn’t explain how we got from a revolving frame bearing spikes to a type of road. The road was blocked at points by poles, i.e., pikes, that were raised on a hinged vertical base, i.e., turned. Think the gates that open to let you out of a parking garage, only much larger. You paid your toll and went about your business. Most roads with the word “pike” in their names were at some point a toll road. Most continue to be major roads, which is precisely the reason they were initially built (usually by a private business) and tolled. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/24 "2012-11-12T02:34:25Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Using the limited-access definition, yes. But there are some interstates that are toll roads, such as large portions of I-80 in Ohio and Pennsylvania. I-90 in Ohio, perhaps, but I-76 in PA and I-90/87 in NY ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/25 "2012-11-12T02:37:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > They’re not interchangeable. All freeways are highways, but not all highways are freeways. > [@Chronos](#): > > Using the limited-access definition, yes. But there are some interstates that are toll roads, such as large portions of I-80 in Ohio and Pennsylvania. > [@Senegoid](#): > > I’ve always believed in the derivation that “freeway” originally referred to a toll-free limited access highway, in the days when this was a new thing in the American West (as opposed to the toll roads in the more eastern parts of the country). > > But ALL such limited access highways in the West were free (once upon a time, when the world was much younger), so the distinct meaning of “freeway” was largely forgotten over the years. So when some limited access highways in California began to charge tolls (an utterly blasphemous abomination!) they continued to be called “freeway” because the word had simply come to mean a limited access highway. > > The few remaining Old Ones among us who remember these things will never be heard to call any toll road a “freeway”. What a gruesome grotesque oxymoron! Freeways originally were limited access roads, period. The first ones were not highways in the modern sense, but more like boulevards, express routes within cities. Using freeway to mean free of tolls is a bit of folk etymology, trying to explain something using a “logical” story instead of actual research. You can read a detailed popular history in Earl Swift’s [The Big Roads: The Untold Story of the Engineers, Visionaries, and Trailblazers Who Created the American Superhighways](http://www.amazon.com/Big-Roads-Visionaries-Trailblazers-Superhighways/dp/0547907249/ref=la_B001H6U66E_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1352687566&sr=1-1). Chronos, I repeat that in popular speech, all the terms are interchangeable. Freeways and highways and thruways and expressways and interstates and any other regionalism can all mean toll or free, include routes that may have stoplights and access roads, or any other variation that might exist locally. How exactly are you claiming that this is wrong? ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/26 "2012-11-12T05:23:46Z")
To answer the OP, the term _freeway_ denotes free flow of traffic. _Freeways_ and _interstates_ have no at-grade intersections and no traffic signals, except in a few unusual cases such as drawbridges. In the Midwest and some other places, early superhighways were called _expressways,_ a shortening of _express highway_. In California and some other places, an _expressway_ is a sort of junior superhighway, which may have infrequently spaced at-grade intersections and traffic signals, but not as many as ordinary roads or streets. _Thruway, turnpike,_ and _toll road_ usually denotes a toll-financed facility. Most thruways and turnpikes were built prior to the 1956 legislation creating the Interstate system. Some ordinary surface roads were built as turnpikes in the 19th century and retain that name. A _pike_ is merely a pole, which was turned to allow the traveler to pass when the toll had been paid. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/27 "2012-11-12T05:30:54Z")
A two-lane back road through the middle of nowhere might well be a highway, but it’s not a freeway. ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/28 "2012-11-12T06:00:28Z")
The key to understanding a freeway is the phrase “limited access.” Not only do you have on ramps, off ramps, and no traffic signals, the right-of-way boundaries of the freeway do not permit any type of access whatsoever. If you own a house that shares a property line with the freeway, you may not cut a hole in the fence and fashion your own personal driveway to the freeway. At the time the property is acquired, there is a specific clause to the purchased land whereupon the right to access is taken. This is why there is often considerable compensation to businesses which are affected by a new freeway. The businesses may be compensated, or a frontage road will be constructed. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/29 "2012-11-12T06:32:46Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Not necessarily. > > “Interstate” means the freeways are federally funded and that they must be constructed to specific federal standards. > > These were the creation of the Eisenhower administration. Ike enjoyed the autobahns in Germany during the US occupation following WW2. So the intention of the Interstate system was to provide transportation from state to state, with straight stretches and curves of large radii. Up to then, highways pretty much followed the terrain, with many twists and turns that slowed travel. > > Once the Cold War kicked in high gear, the Interstates were also designated by the Civil Defense as evacuation routes from the big cities. There is also legends that the straight stretches could provide airstrips during wartime. > > Highways with a “US” designation may or may not be freeways, and are partially federally funded. They also maintain the same numerical designation from state to state. > > The highway system in the United States uses the convention that east-west routes are even numbered, north-south routes are odd numbered. Three digit Interstate numbers have the last two digits coinciding with the Interstate highway passing directly through a city. An odd digit for the first number of the three digit designation indicates a route that also goes through the city. An even digit for the first number of the three digit designation indicates a route that generally circles around the city. These three digit routes will eventually rejoin the original two digit Interstate route. > > Got that? LOL > ~VOW Not, of course, counting I99, which seems to horribly offend highway buffs because it violates the naming convention. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 7:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/30 "2012-11-12T07:42:33Z")
As a specific example, US 101 in California is a freeway part of the way and a non-freeway part of the way. From [the Wiki entry.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_101_in_California) > [@](#): > > North of Ventura, U.S. 101 switches intermittently between freeway and expressway status (i.e. there is occasional cross-traffic), but there are no traffic signals until San Francisco. The last traffic signals along this stretch of the route were removed in the early 1990s when the section through downtown Santa Barbara was constructed to freeway standards after years of resistance from the local community. I often take it going south, and south of Gilroy there are stretches with cross traffic, though no traffic lights. In fact [here](http://www.aaroads.com/california/images100/us-101_sb_exit_113_01.jpg) is a picture of an “End Freeway” sign on 101. ---
**Author:** ![Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e36b37/32.png) [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airman_Doors_USAF)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/31 "2012-11-12T10:26:41Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > _Freeways_ and _interstates_ have no at-grade intersections and no traffic signals, except in a few unusual cases such as drawbridges. As with everything about this topic, [there are notable exceptions](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_gaps_in_Interstate_Highways), of which Breezewood, PA is perhaps the most famous. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/32 "2012-11-12T13:51:20Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The road was blocked at points by poles, i.e., pikes, that were raised on a hinged vertical base, i.e., turned. Think the gates that open to let you out of a parking garage, only much larger. You paid your toll and went about your business. I guess that makes sense; thanks. (Still seems weird to refer to the road itself as a “pike,” but no weirder than lots of languagey things, I guess.) ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/33 "2012-11-12T14:17:07Z")
The term “highway” is rarely used in the northeast. There are expressways, thruways, parkways\* (the generic term in NYC), turnpikes\*\*, and (in NY) a couple of nonce names: the Adirondack Northway and the [Quickway](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quickway) (a name I just love). I can’t recall driving on any actual freeways. Maybe in Florida. \*Common in New York. NY Parkways are different in that they do not allow trucks (and have deliberately low bridges so trucks or buses can’t pass) and they have no route numbers. \*\*The Connecticut Turnpike has no tolls, though it originally did. ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/34 "2012-11-12T15:37:43Z")
> [@Airman\_Doors\_USAF](#): > > The road was blocked at points by poles, i.e., pikes, that were raised on a hinged vertical base, i.e., turned. Think the gates that open to let you out of a parking garage, only much larger. You paid your toll and went about your business. > > Most roads with the word “pike” in their names were at some point a toll road. Most continue to be major roads, which is precisely the reason they were initially built (usually by a private business) and tolled. At sections along the road, there would be a tollbooth and a large bar or pole placed across the road. You would pay your toll at the booth and the tollbooth agent would move (turn) the bar (pike) out of your way so you could proceed. Then he would put the bar back for the next customer. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/35 "2012-11-12T17:24:55Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > A two-lane back road through the middle of nowhere might well be a highway, but it’s not a freeway. Ithaca, NY, the home of Cornell University, is a moderately isolated college town in the Southern Tier of New York. You can’t get there via an Interstate. The nearest one is I-86, a good 35 miles away. (I-86 is a good example of the variation in what high-speed roads are like. It’s built on top of NY route 17, which will someday all be I-86. Like nuclear fusion, this date has been 25 years away for the past 25 years. Route 17 is in most places, a four-lane, divided, high-speed limited access road. An expressway, IOW. But in a few places side roads and individual buildings retain direct access and even a few stoplights exist. Two large sections of it have been brought up to Interstate standards and they are labeled I-86/NY 17.) Getting into Ithaca is a matter of taking any one of a half dozen New York state numbered roads, all of which are two lane, total access routes. (However, NY13 does have a few miles of high-speed, limited access on the east side of town out to the suburbs.) The state numbered roads are part of the state highway system, just as I-86 is part of the interstate highway system. But nobody in Ithaca would ever say, take highway 96 north to Rochester. It would always be, take route 96 north to Rochester. You don’t take highway 13, either, even if it is an expressway for a few miles. You might say, take route 34 south and then the highway into New York City. I doubt that the use is at all common, though. Highway was at one time the preferred name for a two-lane road that had been widened, graded, and paved to state standards. (National standards for interstate roads in the 20s through 40s.) The Lincoln Highway and dozens of others are covered in Swift’s book. But we’re not asking what words are used for two-lane roads through the rural sections of states. We’re asking with words are used for four-lane, limited-access, high-speed routes. In that later case highway is a somewhat old-fashioned regionalism, but it is still interchangeable with expressway and the rest. It may have other meanings, too. [Dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/highway?s=t): > [@](#): > > 1. a main road, especially one between towns or cities: the highway between Los Angeles and Seattle. > 2. any public road or waterway. > 3. any main or ordinary route, track, or course. I’m using it in sense 1. You seem to be using sense 3. Fine, as long as we make a clear distinction. ---
**Author:** ![robardin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/43a26b/32.png) [@robardin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robardin)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/36 "2012-11-12T17:42:18Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The term “highway” is rarely used in the northeast. There are expressways, thruways, parkways\* (the generic term in NYC), turnpikes\*\*, and (in NY) a couple of nonce names: the Adirondack Northway and the [Quickway](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quickway) (a name I just love). Not for naming the major arteries, but “highway” is certainly a common term in my experience (and personal vocabulary) as the generic word that means “opposite of local street driving with stop lights and such”. As in the sentence, “The highways \ are totally jammed”. As far as named roads, the “highways” tend to be multilane roads but street grade level with traffic lights, like Sunrise Highway (NY RT-27) that runs along most of the South Shore of Long Island and eventually becomes the Montauk Highway, and the West Side Highway in Manhattan. A big chunk of it is a “real” highway, but south of 57th St. or so down to the Battery (the southern tip of Manhattan), it has traffic lights and is street grade level. So ironically, these two named Highways I use all the time are not, in fact, what I would otherwise call “highways” (they have red lights). ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/37 "2012-11-12T17:52:47Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The term “highway” is rarely used in the northeast. There are expressways, thruways, parkways\* (the generic term in NYC), turnpikes\*\*, and (in NY) a couple of nonce names: the Adirondack Northway and the [Quickway](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quickway) (a name I just love). ``` Can't speak for the rest of the state, but "parkway" is not the generic term in NYC. If I want to use a generic term as in " My son is learning to drive, but I'm not sure whether he's ready for __________yet" or "All of the__________ are backed up, I'm going to take the streets" , the blanks will be filled in with "highways" not "parkways" or "expressways". And if you're just referring to the names of the roads, there are at least as many expressways as parkways in NYC (although plenty are not well-known, such as the Nassau Expressway and the JFK Expressway) ``` ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/38 "2012-11-12T18:01:55Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The state numbered roads are part of the state highway system, just as I-86 is part of the interstate highway system. Just a TEENSY clarification: Interstate highways (using the “I-” designation) and US highways (using the “US” designation) are ALL part of the State Highway System within the boundaries of the individual states. The State has complete jurisdiction and physical control of these structures. The Federal government does not build or maintain any of these roads. The Feds have the construction standards, and control the pursestrings. But ALL Interstates and US highways are 100% included in the individual State Highway Systems. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/39 "2012-11-12T19:03:47Z")
So, why do people drive on a parkway and park on a driveway? ---
**Author:** ![brad\_d](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@brad\_d](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brad_d)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2012, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708/40 "2012-11-12T19:35:14Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > I often take it going south, and south of Gilroy there are stretches with cross traffic, though no traffic lights. > > In fact [here](http://www.aaroads.com/california/images100/us-101_sb_exit_113_01.jpg) is a picture of an “End Freeway” sign on 101. Just yesterday I drove from Santa Barbara to Long Beach, which involved driving on the 101 from Santa Barbara to Sherman Oaks. Between Santa Barbara and Ventura, the “freeway” status of the road toggles on and off several times according to the signs, but generally with no changes to the road itself that a casual motorist would notice. Just a “BEGIN FREEWAY” sign here, and some time later another one reading “END FREEWAY.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-freeways-called-that-even-when-theres-a-toll/640708.md?page=3)