Limited-access road

 ( Limited-access Roads By Country ) 

In South Australia the terms "expressway" and "freeway" can be synonymous. The Southern and Northern Expressways are both controlled-access highways. However, perhaps confusingly, the Port River Expressway is a limited-access highway.

that connect capital cities and regional centres, such as the M31 Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne, are almost all limited-access highways. In spite of this, 'freeway' terminology is used on signage for most regional limited access highways in the state of Victoria.

Expressways in China are a fairly recent addition to a complex network of roads. China's first expressway was built in 1988. Until 1993, very few expressways existed. The network is expanding rapidly after 2000. In 2011, 11,000 kilometres (6,800 mi) of expressways were added to the network.

Like on expressways, motorcycles are not permitted.

An important difference with an autosnelweg is that crossroads as well as traffic lights can be on an autoweg.

In Belgium there is no specific speed regulation for an autoweg.

Only motor vehicles and their trailers (with the exception of mopeds), agricultural vehicles and the towing of fairground vehicles, as well as four-wheelers (without passenger compartment), are allowed to drive on an autoweg.

An autoweg can consist of two or more lanes. The driving directions can be separated by a roadmarking, or by a central reservation. If a public road ( autosnelweg, autoweg, weg) consists of two or more lanes that are clearly separated from each other by a roadside or a space that is not accessible to vehicles, the drivers may not drive on the lane opposite to them.

The construction of transregional Kraftfahrstraßen highways ( Autostraßen) rank below the standard of German autobahns. With regard to the general German speed limits, on roads with lanes separated by a median or with a minimum of two marked lanes per direction, an advisory speed limit ( Richtgeschwindigkeit) of applies. At-grade intersections are admissible, regulation at junctions is usually provided by or . and any deliberate stopping are prohibited. Kraftfahrstraßen are out of bounds to , except for special crosswalks.

In Hungary there are multiple types of dual carriageways. One part is almost identical with motorways, but the driving lanes are narrower.

Parameters of a 2+2 lane dual carriageway off-habitat area:

• Total width of road: 25.60 m
• Driving lane width: 3.50 m
• Pavement width: 2x10.25 m
• Parking lane: 3.00 m
• Middle separation area width: 3.60 m

Parameters of a 2+2 lane dual carriageway in habitat (town/city) area:

• Total width of road: 24.10 m
• Driving lane width: 3.50 m
• Pavement width: 2x10.75 m
• Parking lane: 3.00 m
• Middle separation area width: 3.60 m

There are also semi-motorways with only one side of the motorway built. After the missing lanes are built, they will become standard motorways.

Speed limits are normally compared to on motorways

Type C highway (or strada extraurbana secondaria), a single carriageway with at least one lane for each direction and shoulders. It may have at-grade, at-level crossings with railways, roundabouts and traffic lights. This category contains also dual carriageways that can not be classified as type-B highways because of the lack of one or more required features. In absence of specific regulation signs, a type-C road is accessible by all vehicles and pedestrians, even if it has separate carriageways and no cross-traffic.

The sign shown here on the left allows access only to motorized vehicles. Speed limit on type-C roads is .

Dutch expressways are built to significantly varying standards. Designs range from fully controlled-access with grade separation, traffic barrier and full hard shoulders, to single carriageways with just one lane per direction and only intermittent shoulder patches called Vluchthavens (small Lay-bys). Intersections are frequently at grade with traffic lights, or they are . There can be in these roads. In either case, the speed limit is frequently reduced to before reaching the junction or the bridge.

Since 1997 a national traffic safety program called Sustainable Safety has introduced a new road categorisation and new design standards. Although autowegen don't have to conform completely to the new Dutch design standard for regional flow roads ( stroomwegen), many of these roads require at least some upgrades. The ideal is to make expressways divided and grade-separated, as much as possible. Otherwise these roads are downgraded to the safety category of distributor roads, thereby losing their expressway status.

As of May 2004 the Polish government documents indicated that the country had plans of an expressway and motorway network totalling (including about of motorways). Dz.U. 2004 nr 128 poz. 1334

Those limited-access roads, which are not part of the Polish national highway network, are signposted with a separate B-6/8/9 prohibitory sign, which bans all traffic not allowed on highways. Dz. U. z 2019 poz. 2311

The legal term via reservada a automóveis e motociclos (reserved way for automobiles and motorcycles) is used to designate a non-motorway road where motorway rules apply (except the speed limit which is lower). However, this term refers only to the road rules and not to the road technical characteristics.

There are two main types of roads commonly referred as vias rápidas in Portugal. The first type is a limited access road, with dual carriageway and with interchanges grade separation. Many of these roads have all or almost all the technical characteristics of full motorways. Examples are the several urban highways in cities like Lisbon, Porto, Coimbra and Braga. In Madeira, the main regional highways, that connect the cities and other important places of the island, are mainly of these type, there are two vias rápidas classified as motorways in the region, VR1 and VR2.

The second Portuguese type of via rápida is a highway with all the same characteristics of the above first type, except the number of carriageways that is only one. Examples of this type of roads are the ancient IP4 and IP5 (before being transformed in full motorways), the Portalegre-Beja section of the IP2, the Coimbra-Viseu section of the IP3 and several complementary routes (IC).

The dual carriageway vias rápidas can be classified and signalized as reserved ways for automobiles and motorcycles, cases in which general motorway rules apply, except speed limited which is never above . In dual carriageway vias rápidas not signalized as reserved ways, normal road rules apply, including speed limit which is never above . Single carriageway vias rápidas cannot be classified and signalized as reserved ways and so normal road rules always apply there.

Expressways were introduced for the first time on the 2014 roads masterplan. This masterplan envisaged building most planned motorways up to expressway standards, provided that in the future they would be converted to actual motorways. However, by mid-2019, no expressway has been built, nevermind starting works on one, although contracts were signed to allow for their construction, meaning that in the 2020s more expressways will likely be completed.

Planned expressways according to CNADNR (Romanian National Company of Motorways and National Roads), based on the 2014 roads masterplan:

In March 2015, it was announced that a new standard would be developed to formally designate certain high-quality routes in England as Expressways. This new standard would have the same motorway regulations as traditional motorways, however would lack a hard shoulder and use traffic management systems like those on smart motorways. An "expressway" is limited to 3 through lanes, they are to be built largely to the same standards as a smart motorway, although some non-standard existing alignments are allowed to remain if they are just short of being standard.

Some roads have "expressway" in their name, this has no reflection on the purpose or standard of the road. For example, the Aston Expressway or the North Wales Expressway.

The Veterans Memorial Parkway in London, Ontario, has intersections instead of interchanges, and thus is considered an expressway and not a freeway. It was originally designed with sufficient right-of-way to be built as a full freeway, but a lack of funding forced it to be built with at-grade intersections. Similarly, the Hanlon Parkway in Guelph and Highway 40 in Sarnia, Ontario were originally opened with intersections in lieu of interchanges, save for the couple grade-separated interchanges. Regional Road 420 in Niagara Falls is also an expressway. While Allen Road and Highway 400 were originally full freeways, their extensions (for Allen Road to meet Sheppard Avenue and Dufferine Street, and the 400 South Extension which became Black Creek Drive and handed over to Metro Toronto upon completion) were built as expressways with at-grade intersections.

Two sections of Highway 11, between Barrie and Orillia as well as between Orillia and Gravenhurst, are a right-in Right-out (RIRO) expressway rather than a full freeway. The joint route of Highway 35/115 in Durham Region is also a RIRO expressway.

In most of Western Canada, an expressway is a high-speed arterial road along the lines of the California definition, while a freeway is fully controlled access with no at-grade intersections. In Alberta, the term "Trail" refers to both full freeways (e.g. Stoney Trail), or high-speed arterials with a mix of signalized intersections and interchanges (e.g. Crowchild Trail). The Yellowhead Trail as it passes through Edmonton, Alberta has both intersections and interchanges. It is the main east–west artery for the northern half of the city. There are plans to upgrade many of the most congested remaining intersections into interchanges in the near future.

In Quebec, the term freeway is never used, with the terms expressway (in English) and autoroute (in English and French) being preferred. English terms are rare, and only found on bilingual signage of expressways (abbreviated "expy") found in Montreal around bridges and on the Bonaventure Expressway; these signs are controlled by the federal government. Most of the Autoroutes are built or at least designed to be upgraded to a full freeway (initially constructed as a two-lane expressway), a notable exception is the section of Autoroute 20 through Vaudreuil-Dorion and L'Île-Perrot which is an urban boulevard.

This distinction was first developed in 1949 by the Special Committee on Nomenclature of what is now the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO).American Association of State Highway Officials, AASHO Highway Definitions (Washington D.C., American Association of State Highway Officials, 1962), 1-3. In turn, the definitions were incorporated into AASHTO's official standards book, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which would become the national standards book of the U.S. Department of Transportation under a 1966 federal statute. The same distinction has also been codified into the statutory law of eight states: California,Cal. Sts. & High. Code § 257. Minnesota,Minn. Stat., § 160.02, subds. 18b & 19. Mississippi,Miss. Code Ann., § 65-5-3, subds. (b) and (c). Missouri,Mo. Rev. Stat., § 304.010. Nebraska,Neb. Rev. Stat., §§ 60-618.01 and 60-621. North Dakota,N.D. Cent. Code, § 24-01-01.1 (2006). Ohio, Ohio Rev. Code Ann., § 4511.01, subds. (YY) and (ZZ). and Wisconsin.Wis. Stat., §§ 59.84(1)(b) and 346.57(1)(am).

However, each state codified the federal distinction slightly differently. California expressways do not necessarily have to be divided, though they must have at least partial access control. For both terms to apply in Wisconsin, a divided highway must be at least four lanes wide. In Missouri, both terms apply only to divided highways at least 10 miles long that are not part of the Interstate Highway System. In North Dakota and Mississippi, an expressway may have "full or partial" access control and "generally" has grade separations at intersections; a freeway is then defined as an expressway with full access control. Ohio's statute is similar, but instead of the vague word "generally", it imposes a requirement that 50% of an expressway's intersections must be grade-separated for the term to apply. Only Minnesota enacted the exact MUTCD definitions, in May 2008.

However, many states around the Great Lakes region and along the Eastern Seaboard have not conformed their terminology to the federal definition. The following states officially prefer the term expressway instead of freeway to describe what are freeways in federal parlance: Connecticut,Conn. Gen. Stat. § 13a-20(a). Florida,Fla. Stat. § 348.0002(8). Illinois,625 Ill. Comp. Stat. 5/1-119.3. Maryland,Md. Transp. Code Ann. § 8-620(c). and West Virginia.W. Va. Code § 17-4-2(a). In those states, it is common to find Interstate highways that bear the name expressway. Ultimately, by law it is the federal definition that defines whether a road is classified as an expressway or freeway. No state, for instance, could have what is technically an expressway given Interstate status just because semantically they use the term interchangeably with freeway.

Most expressways under the federal definition have of in urban areas and in rural areas. Urban expressways are usually free of private driveways, but occasional exceptions include direct driveways to Filling station and at major intersections (which would never be allowed on a true freeway).

The vast majority of expressways are built by , or by private companies, which then operate them as pursuant to a license from the state government.

A famous example of a local government getting into the expressway business is Santa Clara County in California, which deliberately built its own expressway system in the 1960s to supplement the freeway system then planned by Caltrans. Although the county originally planned to upgrade the expressways into full-fledged freeways, such a project became politically infeasible after the rise of the tax revolt movement in the mid-1970s, which began with California Proposition 13 in 1978.

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