The Difference Between Freeways & Highways
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- Опубліковано 30 жов 2022
- The next video in my "older videos" queue, The Difference Between Freeways & Highways. In it I show and explain the differences, and why it's important to know & distinguish between the two, rather than conflate them as most do now. A nerdy/geek type commentary has entered the chat! Description is below! FOLLOW UP TO THIS VIDEO • The AASHTO Definitions...
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I may end up making a follow up video or two on this topic, one specific to it, the other if it was also made would be focused specifically on the issues with the strong lack of clear, concise, easy to understand definitions and uses of names & definitions, and why a crystal clear delineation between one thing and another (in this case, the difference between highway and freeway is a textbook example of a strong LACK of just that) is imperative to avoid conflict, confusion and constant bickering between groups, experts and academics alike on the "correct" definitions and uses of terms. Though likelihood is, it'd be most efficient if I just made the one, but it would be more so the latter, but using this topic as said textbook example of why conflating terms and definitions as well as allowing multiples at the same time to be true and correct causes so much confusion, conflict and issues.
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#Commentary #roadengineering #transportation - Розваги
I have now made a follow-up of this video to address a couple of the comments on this one regarding both the "official" AASHTO's definitions and why they're wildly outdated and need to be changed, which you can view here: ua-cam.com/video/8VBucTdRnK4/v-deo.html
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Freeways are a subset of highways. AASHTO's highway manual defines freeways as highways with full access control. Also, we have an Interstate "Highway" System consisting virtually entirely of freeways.
I do know that they originally dubbed the Interstate Freeway system as a Highway system. But I think that in itself is a good argument for why not to continue support of the conflation of the two as the same thing - it's old vernacular, not at all accounting for nor up-to-date with modern freeways & highways. A freeway, you could call "controlled access", and/or note a Highway is the epitome and thus used as a textbook's visual example of a Stroad.
But then this is where it also shows how easily and quickly definition debates fall into the subjectivity and confusion paradox, where we end up in perpetual arguments and debates of what definitions and uses for titles, words & terms should be the "officially accepted as correct" ones and the ones that shouldn't be. It plummets into the rabbit-hole of semantics, which itself is a problem all its own which plagues every possible topic with regards to "correct" terminologies, phrases, uses & definitions of words, titles, etc.
What is a avenue? What is a Boulevard? Or a street? Or a road? Many have their clear definitions for each, while out in the real world, it falls apart quickly - hell, tiny narrow inner suburban streets are called avenues all over around here on Portland's westside. I grew up on one of those asphalt rectangles.
I actually begun considering making a video on that issue as well as of today, and figured I could use this video's topic as a direct reference in it because I knew inevitably there'd be at least a few folks who'd argue otherwise and cite various sources and other terms for each roadway discussed in this video. That's a plague on just about any topic when discussing clear definitions and differentiation. So I think now this works as a good piece of motivation or a sign I should begin work on that video. haha. EDIT: I have now made that very video! ua-cam.com/video/8VBucTdRnK4/v-deo.html
Thank you for taking the time to watch the video and comment with your own addition to the discussion, Kamoro, I appreciate it.
A freeway/tollway is just a limited or controlled access highway. Highway can mean anything including a 2 lane road that’s designated and connects 2 points. Seems like you’re making them mutually exclusive but they aren’t
I would again as I've told many others to do to go to my pinned comment and watch my follow up video to this one where I address that argument. We really shouldn't be using those definitions at all anymore, as they're woefully outdated and make absolutely no logical sense anymore.
@@TheCriminalViolin Every freeway is a highway, but not every highway is a freeway. The same way every square is a rectangle, but not every rectangle is a freeway. It's as simple as that. Reserving the word highway to only mean non-freeway doesn't make sense to me. However, I agree that calling a non-freeway highway a freeway is wrong and confusing.
Why do we park on a driveway and drive on a parkway?
The classic age-old question! It's like it was intentionally reverse just to mess with us, like how positivity is actually negativity and negativity is actually positivity. Or, the people who named them were genuinely dyslexic. lol.
In Ontario Canada, we have the 400 series highways, like highway 401. They are built just like the freeways you describe.
But we also have smaller highways, like your highway description.
highways are just roads that go fast. And freeways are highways that go fast
Except again, Freeways have no intersections, stop signs, yield signs or anything else that might inhibit the flow of traffic. That's a key part of the differences :)
I think the reason people think Freeways are highways is because they just did not know that their local main street was the most likely an example of a highway. So highways have to have 2+ lanes? because I know there are some smaller towns that have 1 lane in each direction. I guess that is not a highway then? i will watch the next video
Highways can be one lane each way, but they're always in rural areas where that's the case, which I mentioned in this video. But in urban and suburban regions, highways are never one lane each way.
What about the term controlled access highway, wouldn’t that just describe a freeway, so doesn’t it follow that freeways are just a subset of highways.
Never heard of a "Controlled Access Highway". Also at least for Oregon's DOT and DMV, they both agree with what I noted in this video. *_shrugs_*
@@TheCriminalViolin I think Controlled Access highway is an east coast definition. I don’t know anything about Oregon besides the fact that the speed limits are way too slow so I won’t comment on it.
@@urisoltz819We say it in Texas but only in official terms. But you’re correct. A freeway or tollway is controlled/limited access.
What are parkways and expressways?
Parkways I honestly couldn't tell you, given we have a lot of interchangeable names for various roadways, and here in the US there is a long standing joke about how we park in driveways, but drive on parkways, which further proves the point that most of our "official" terms and definitions are woefully outdated and nonsensical. Expressways in the US seem to be applicable to both bypasses (which can either be highways or freeways), or a tolled freeway that is most commonly built within the right of way of a pre-existing freeway that sees heavy congestion, which is there as a fast (thus express) option, for a fee.
Bypass. That's interesting. If that's the case, my guess is they were built before the Depression. The process of bisecting a city with high speed/high volume roads didn't begin until the 1930s
@@TheCriminalViolinin chicago we have expressways (no toll freeways) and tollways (obviously with a toll)
@@danielhirsh2937 Are the expressways any different than how I described freeways? Or are they just... freeways with a different name?
They are roads. You drive on roads. You drive automobiles, motorbikes (motorcycles), delivery trucks and semi trucks on the road.
Next question?
Seriously though look it up. I'm too tired to do it for anyone else.
You should just look up all the actual names of the highways. No interstate highway has any stop signs, intersections, or crosswalks. They are all called highways.
Officially yes, if you're one of the minority of sticklers for the archaic and outdated AASHTO's definitions. But colloquially (majority of everyone else) calls Interstates FREEWAYS and Highways... Highways in the way I described in this video.
And just because the official body says they're a highway, does not mean they're correct.
So you live in Tigard, Oregon?
All those trees made me think North Carolina
Nope. From further west in the Portland area
Sometimes highways are replaced by Interstates.
Indeed.
2:20 Well then, I wouldn’t call it a highway if you have to stop and wait at traffic lights.
Highways are state funded.
Well, there is also US Highways, too. Think 99W and 99E along the west coast, also known as Pacific Highway for that reason. It is a US Highway, not a State Route (highway). Same with US 26. A roadway that is mostly highway, but turned into a freeway from downtown Portland to the westside of the metro. There's many such cases.
So I'd hesitate to believe US Highways are state funded like State Routes are.
Freeways are called Motorways in the UK and Autoroutes in France (Literally road for automobiles, in the sense that pedestrians, bicycles and even mopeds are not allowed on them, for obvious safety reasons).
I'm quite surprised to hear that there can be sidewalks, crosswalks and bike lanes on highways though as I was thinking of them being like the "Voies Rapides" (Literally fast lanes, even though it means the whole road and not just a single lane) in France, which are actually quite the same as the autoroutes (or freeways) except the speed is limited to 68 mph instead of 80 for the autoroutes and they don't come with tolls unlike pretty much all autoroutes in France.
Also many people mistranslate Autoroute into Highway (instead of freeway) and vice-versa, thinking that US highways are motorways or autoroutes whilst they are actually not.
Very interesting and I've certainly learned something new when it comes to the french side of this topic! Thank you for that info and contribution!
Yes here in the US, highways have sidewalks, can have bike lanes, intersections, etc, and their average speed limits are 50mph. They're the epitome of Stroads.
And indeed Motorways and Autobahns are the English and German names for their freeway systems.
I did learn just today that in the US, historically freeways were actually called that because it was economic in nature, as they lacked any tolling on them. I never knew that until my own mom told me as much this morning. It goes to show how much definitions and uses of names can shift and change.
One of the folks who left a comment on this video mentioned the official definition of highway included freeways, with freeways being officially called "controlled accessways" or "controlled access highways", by the main body/group in charge in the US of setting standards and defining them, as well as other transport modes. They then used the example of the name for the interstate system being "The Interstate Highway System" as a defense for their counter as to why they feel conflating them makes sense. I would actually myself argue that it proves my argument against it and for their differentiation further as it's a very old and now extremely outdated term and use including freeways in the highways category. The interstate and thus freeways and highways in the US were born in the 50s & 60s, thus those uses, definitions and terms are all from that same time period.
I actually think this proves it's also a bit of a global issue, the lack of any real collectively agree upon definition for what defines a highway and a freeway (whatever their counterparts are in other languages & nations). It would certainly help clear the air and make it all far more universal in what we define them as so as not to confuse them, or each other with the constantly differing terms and definitions.
@@TheCriminalViolinyou can see a similar pattern in many countries: The original plan was for a federal highway system, which over time turned into almost exclusively freeways with only minor routes still as highways. Austria even has turned all remaining federal highways into state highways.
And "stroads" are the problem you end with, when highways are not converted into freeways when they should: driveways and uncontrolled left-turns on multi-lane roads.
Disagree with the definition of a freeway. A freeway is a highway that doesn’t require tolls. As in its free to drive on
That's the old 60s definition. Its egregiously outdated, and I fail to understand how and why so many demand to stick with all the archaic definitions and applications of names & terms regarding these roadways.
See this follow-up video I did for why I'd argue that definition needs to change: ua-cam.com/video/8VBucTdRnK4/v-deo.html
The difference is one of access. A freeway is a controlled access highway: No grade crossings. The only access to the main lanes is via entrance ramps from frontage roads or at grade separations. It has nothing to do with tolls.
@@michaelmcmurtrey8543 Exactly. Modern day and for the last couple of decades at least, almost anyone with driving experience will say this. But there is many people apparently that insist upon the outdated definitions the AASHTO still uses since they're the "official" definition setting agency in the US.
The term freeway refers directly to the fact that it is a free-flowing highway. Cost, or tolls has nothing to do with the name.
why don't you call it Autobahn😅
Good question given the US' Interstate Highway system is a cheap corrupted ripoff of Germany's Autobahn system 😂
God bless you! Thank you for the explanation!
In The UK 🇬🇧 Australia 🇦🇺 And New Zealand 🇳🇿 Its Called A Motorway However Both Australia 🇦🇺 And New Zealand Use Both Motorway And Highway Still
Maybe you might think this is stupid, but I thought freeways were also called highways because they were built up "high".
Haha, that is funny.
Honestly, elevated freeways have always been very seldom in the US, and it seems like the rest of the world too. They're officially considered highways due to a archaic definition from when the US first enacted the "Interstate Highway Act" back in the 50s under President Eisenhower, that for some reason people want to cling onto even today when there is a clear difference.
US Freeway = UK Motorway.
US Highway = UK Dual Carraigeway.
it’s a regional vernacular difference - dude you are sadly mistaken and uninformed
Fun fact: The AASHTO's definitions are illogical and deeply outdated and no longer make any sense to stick with, if you're a "but the official definitions are the only acceptable ones".
@@TheCriminalViolinThe correct way (from a linguistics perspective) is however people use them. If people use them interchangeably, then they're synonyms. This doesn't mean they can't still have different meanings in certain situations.
@@MarcHarder Sure, but that just further confuses and complicates it. It is one of the biggest peeves I have with how the English Language works in the first place, which I could rant about for eternity. lol.
@@TheCriminalViolin Hate to break it to you, but that's how language works. If it's that important a distinction, people will find some other way to differentiate them.
@@MarcHarder Doesn't matter to me if that's how it works. It wasn't how language at least originally worked either, as one of the key foundational rules of language as a whole was/is that if you lack a currently existing word and/or definition, you INVENT A NEW ONE. Not tack it on to and/or co-opt/corrupt a pre-existing word, adding on a growing list of entirely different uses and definitions. The fact that rule was thrown away by so many languages, most notably English so long ago, is in reality just being fucking lazy. Like I said, I could rant forever about it. Just because it's how language works now doesn't mean it is logical or how it should function.
thanks. What's an expressway then?
That I'm not entirely sure. It is only a thing in select metro areas in the US. I feel like in the US, its likely a tolled freeway, and probably functioning as a sort of a bypass. It could be more general, not specific, but again because its uncommon here, I don't entirely know. Its a good question.
As someone who lives in Michigan, our expressways are most always divided highways with at grade intersections and “ Michigan left” u-turn bays. So a mixture of all of it is my take on them.😊
A road that takes you from one place to another. Usually a shortcut.