Glossary

[ilvny]

Is there a glossary page on this site for highway and transportation terms (i.e. expressway, freeway, etc) or a page explaining the different types of highways (expressway, freeway, parkway, limited-access road, etc)?  If not, where can I find this information?

[Alps]

There are a couple of sites around the web with that. I maintain one at www.alpsroads.net/roads/faq.html and there's the old MTR FAQs at http://www.roadfan.com/mtrfaq.html.

[Alex]

We also have an old one posted at https://www.aaroads.com/glossary.html

[Molandfreak]

Or the best one ever: https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=8579.0

[bugo]

A couple of terms were missed:

Oklahoma Y = Y shaped intersection commonly found in the Sooner State.  Here's a good example, with an older one just to the west, on US 64 and OK 99: http://goo.gl/maps/gC5c7

Here's another, no longer on the state highway system, at old US 59 and 271: http://goo.gl/maps/wyNy5

Missouri expressway: A 4 lane divided highway where one carriageway is flatter than the other.  Common in many states.  The original lanes were reused as one direction of the expressway, and they are hillier and often narrower than the new, flatter lanes.

[NE2]

Those wyes exist everywhere.

[kphoger]

Those wyes exist everywhere.

That's what I was thinking.  The first one that came to mind was in Illinois.  Then, when I asked myself where I see them most commonly, I thought of Missouri.  And I call them delta junctions, FWIW.

[bugo]

I see more Oklahoma Y's in Oklahoma than in any other state.  There are even some on county roads that were never state highways.

[kphoger]

I see more Oklahoma Y's in Oklahoma than in any other state.  There are even some on county roads that were never state highways.

I've seen them on gravel roads in Kansas, state highways in Illinois, primary and secondary state highways in Missouri, etc., etc.  I haven't very much two-lane driving in Oklahoma, though.

[hbelkins]

Missouri expressway: A 4 lane divided highway where one carriageway is flatter than the other.  Common in many states.  The original lanes were reused as one direction of the expressway, and they are hillier and often narrower than the new, flatter lanes.

I see that more often in Virginia than anywhere else, so I call that "Virginia Twinning."

[empirestate]

Missouri expressway: A 4 lane divided highway where one carriageway is flatter than the other.  Common in many states.  The original lanes were reused as one direction of the expressway, and they are hillier and often narrower than the new, flatter lanes.

I see that more often in Virginia than anywhere else, so I call that "Virginia Twinning."

US 15 north of Williamsport was like that, although it's since been re-tooled and pretty well evened out on both sides.

[djsinco]

A couple of terms were missed:

Oklahoma Y = Y shaped intersection commonly found in the Sooner State.  Here's a good example, with an older one just to the west, on US 64 and OK 99: http://goo.gl/maps/gC5c7

Here's another, no longer on the state highway system, at old US 59 and 271: http://goo.gl/maps/wyNy5

Missouri expressway: A 4 lane divided highway where one carriageway is flatter than the other.  Common in many states.  The original lanes were reused as one direction of the expressway, and they are hillier and often narrower than the new, flatter lanes.

Classic MO Expressway - - MO13 north of Springfield. I think that 15 mile stretch takes about 10 minutes longer southbound.

[NE2]

Classic MO Expressway - - MO13 north of Springfield. I think that 15 mile stretch takes about 10 minutes longer southbound.

Not anymore. They fixed it.

Does I-24 at Monteagle count?

[kphoger]

Classic MO Expressway - - MO13 north of Springfield. I think that 15 mile stretch takes about 10 minutes longer southbound.

Not anymore. They fixed it.

Yeah, they did, and I'll miss it.  The old curvy section was awesome.

[djsinco]

Classic MO Expressway - - MO13 north of Springfield. I think that 15 mile stretch takes about 10 minutes longer southbound.

Not anymore. They fixed it.

Yeah, they did, and I'll miss it.  The old curvy section was awesome.

My thoughts exactly. Even though I have no reason to drive 13 anymore, it is another relic of the past gone...

[NE2]

You can still drive it; it's now local and secondary roads (and it was northbound, not southbound).

[kphoger]

You can still drive it; it's now local and secondary roads (and it was northbound, not southbound).

Is it still one-way, though?  That was part of the awesomeness, for me.

[NE2]

You can still drive it; it's now local and secondary roads (and it was northbound, not southbound).

Is it still one-way, though?  That was part of the awesomeness, for me.

I doubt it, but there's probably little enough traffic that you can pretend it is.

[bugo]

I nearly got killed on that stretch of Missouri 13.  I don't miss it.  It's now a 2 way road.

[djsinco]

I nearly got killed on that stretch of Missouri 13.  I don't miss it.  It's now a 2 way road.

When was it a one-way road? That does sound dangerous...

[kphoger]

I nearly got killed on that stretch of Missouri 13.  I don't miss it.  It's now a 2 way road.

When was it a one-way road? That does sound dangerous...

When they were twinning the highway, they opened one direction on a new alignment but kept the other direction on the old alignment for a while during construction–but changed it from one-way to two-way.  I can see how it would be dangerous, especially with the combination of driveways and curves, but I did find it fun to drive.  I only actually drove that section one time, on our way from our wedding in Branson to the Kansas City airport for our honeymoon.  And I drove it in the other direction after returning from our honeymoon, on our way from Kansas City to southern Illinois, by way of Branson.  IMO, switching a road with driveways from two-way to one-way only encourages local residents to drive the wrong way for short distances, which is a good recipe for disaster.

[bugo]

I was driving northbound one night and met a car in the left lane going southbound.  Had I been in the left lane, I would have hit it head on, as I was going around a curve when I met it.  I also was riding in a car on US 71 (Future I-49) somewhere between Jasper and Harrisonville when we met a car going southbound in the northbound lanes.  And a couple of weeks ago I met a car going eastbound in the westbound lanes of the I-44 frontage roads (Skelly Drive.)

[djsinco]

I have thrice almost been in head-on collisions due to wrong way drivers on an interstate. The most memorable and scary, was on I-40 in NM about 1 AM on Saturday morning. I had driven about non-stop from LA and was getting ready to stop for the night. The road was pretty quiet, and for a moment I forgot that I was not on a two lane road. I saw a car approaching and then realized I was on the Interstate. I just maintained my lane until he passed, then I got on the CB to alert the authorities...

The area with the highest DUI rate in the nation was about an hour or so behind me, (Gallup, NM.)

[agentsteel53]

The area with the highest asshole rate in the nation was about an hour or so behind me, (Gallup, NM.)

fixed that for ya.

[kphoger]

You can still drive it; it's now local and secondary roads (and it was northbound, not southbound).

Is it still one-way, though?  That was part of the awesomeness, for me.

I doubt it, but there's probably little enough traffic that you can pretend it is.

Interestingly, Google Maps (both the map itself and GMSV images from 2009) show it still one-way.  Does anyone have recent firsthand knowledge?

Oh....wait....satellite imagery shows a yellow line down the middle.