Highway

About Highway

Highway is a term commonly used to designate major roads intended for travel by the public between important destinations, such as cities. The term highway can also be varied country-to-country, and can be referred to as a road, freeway, superhighway, autoroute, autobahn, parkway, expressway, autostrasse, autostrada, byway, auto-estrada, kōsokudōro, or motorway. The first road of this type was opened on September 21, 1924, in Italy, and connected Milan with Como and Lake Como; it was 42.6 km long. Now it is officially designed as Autostrada A9 Milano-Laghi.

Highway designs vary widely. They can include some characteristics of grade separations, multiple lanes of traffic, a median between lanes of opposing traffic, and access control (ramps and grade separation). Highways can also be as simple as a two-lane, shoulderless road.

The United States has the largest network of highways, including Interstate highways and United States Numbered Highways. This network is present in every state and connects all major cities. The Expressway Network of the People's Republic of China, also known as National Trunk Highway System (NTHS) has a total length of about 53,600 km at the end of 2007, which is the world's second longest only after the United States.