Fire Roads/Motorways

[Quillz]

Is there any particular reason why a number of hiking trails/fire roads in California, especially SoCal, are known as motorways, or "mtwy?" I always thought it stood for "mountain way," until one day I finally looked up the abbreviation.

Motorway is predominately a British/European term, is it not? I've not heard it in use in the United States, and I don't understand why the term would be used for the fire roads to begin with, which are not open to public traffic at all, and don't even seem suitable for automotive use in the first place.

[realjd]

Is there any particular reason why a number of hiking trails/fire roads in California, especially SoCal, are known as motorways, or "mtwy?" I always thought it stood for "mountain way," until one day I finally looked up the abbreviation.

Motorway is predominately a British/European term, is it not? I've not heard it in use in the United States, and I don't understand why the term would be used for the fire roads to begin with, which are not open to public traffic at all, and don't even seem suitable for automotive use in the first place.

Motorway is the British term for "freeway". I've heard it used on occasion here in the US as a synonym for freeway but not often. I've never heard it used for a non-controlled access road.

[cpzilliacus]

Is there any particular reason why a number of hiking trails/fire roads in California, especially SoCal, are known as motorways, or "mtwy?" I always thought it stood for "mountain way," until one day I finally looked up the abbreviation.

In some parts of the United States, the National Park Service calls roads that are open to the public for use by motor vehicles motor roads. 

I have never heard that phrase elsewhere, but it is somewhat common within the NPS.

[The High Plains Traveler]

I remember seeing that term on Thomas Maps for fire roads in the mountains behind L.A. Those were depicted the same as any other road accessible to the general public.

[hm insulators]

These "motorways," also known as "truck trails," are not related to the ones in England. Hikers and bicyclists refer to them as "fire roads" and they were built for the purpose of fighting brush fires. The only motor vehicles allowed on them is US Forest Service ones, but as mentioned, hikers and bicyclists are allowed. The fire roads are usually dirt and quite rough.