What is the difference between an expressway and a freeway? What is the difference between limited access and controlled access?
According to AASHTO, a freeway is a fully controlled access road, one with no cross traffic. A freeway can be tolled; the “free” refers to the fact that traffic can ideally flow freely. An expressway is a divided highway with no private access BUT occasional traffic lights are allowed; essentially it is a freeway with intersections, usually with traffic signals, in place of interchanges. Major roads should get interchanges where traffic necessitates them. Many states, including California and Wisconsin, use this. This FAQ does too. However, most east coast states plus others use expressway for the “official” freeway, and freeway is simply an alternate term for the same thing, or absent from the vocabulary altogether. Many of these states use the “official” terms in legal matters but name them differently. There are two cases of an “official” expressway being named a freeway: the Rockaway Freeway in New York City and the State Fair Freeway (K-96) between Wichita and Hutchinson, Kansas.
According to AASHTO, a freeway is a fully controlled access road, one with no cross traffic. A freeway can be tolled; the “free” refers to the fact that traffic can ideally flow freely. An expressway is a divided highway with no private access BUT occasional traffic lights are allowed; essentially it is a freeway with intersections, usually with traffic signals, in place of interchanges. Major roads should get interchanges where traffic necessitates them. Many states, including California and Wisconsin, use this. This FAQ does too. However, most east coast states plus others use expressway for the “official” freeway, and freeway is simply an alternate term for the same thing, or absent from the vocabulary altogether. Many of these states use the “official” terms in legal matters but name them differently. There are two cases of an “official” expressway being named a freeway: the Rockaway Freeway in New York City and the State Fair Freeway (K-96) between Wichita and Hutchinson, Kansas.
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