A freeway, also known as a highway, superhighway, autoroute, autobahn, autostrada, dual carriageway, expressway, Autosnelweg or motorway, depending on the country of discussion, is a type of road designed for safer high-speed operation of motor vehicles through the elimination of at-grade intersections. This is accomplished by preventing access to and from adjacent properties and eliminating all cross traffic through the use of grade separations and interchanges; railroad crossings are also removed. Such highways are usually divided with at least two lanes in each direction. Because traffic never crosses at-grade, there are generally no traffic lights or stop signs.
The word "freeway" first surfaced in the mid-1930s in proposals for the improvement of the New York City parkway network. It is currently in regular use in the United States, as well as parts of Australia. Other countries refer to a freeway as a grade-separated highwaycitation needed] or a superhighwaycitation needed]. In the United States the term "freeway" is frequently used in the western part of the country. Other terms are predominant in other regions, such as "interstate" in the South (and particularly in Florida) and "highway", "expressway", or "turnpike" in the Northeast and Midwest. While some people use these terms interchangeably, "turnpikes" and "thruways" have specific associations with some toll roads and other limited access highways such as the West Virginia Turnpike, New Jersey Turnpike, Florida's Turnpike, and New York State Thruway.citation needed]