A road is a thoroughfare for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, whose primary function is to serve as public spaces, the main function of roads is transportation.
Motorway is a term for both a type of road and a classification or designation. Motorways are high capacity roads designed to carry fast motor traffic safely. In the United Kingdom they are predominantly dual-carriageway roads, with a minimum of two lanes in each direction (typically three, and up to six on the Western section of the M25), and all have grade-separatedaccess, comparable with North Americanfreeways as a road type, and interstates as a classification.
In English-speaking countries the term is used in the United Kingdom (a motorway is also called a traffordd (plural: traffyrdd) in Welsh), parts of Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, some other Commonwealth nations, and Ireland (a motorway is also called a mótarbhealach (plural: mótarbhealaí) in Irish). In Ireland, a road built to motorway standard, but without the designation (and the regulations and traffic restrictions resulting from that designation), is known as a High-quality dual carriageway.
The following are images from various road-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1Pavement ends and turns into gravel surface road (from Road surface)
Image 2According to Eurostat, there is almost a linear proportion between the total number of passenger-km driven by car and road fatalities. (from Road traffic safety)
Image 3Worker in a cloud of concrete dust (from Roadworks)
Image 6The Great North Road near Highgate on the approach to London before turnpiking. The highway was deeply rutted and spread onto adjoining land. (from History of road transport)
Image 13John Metcalf, also known as Blind Jack of Knaresborough. Drawn by J R Smith in The Life of John Metcalf published 1801. (from History of road transport)
Image 14Vehicles experiencing a breakdown or an emergency can stop in the emergency lane; these lanes may themselves present risks to traffic. (from Road traffic safety)
Image 16The schedule of maximum tolls allowed on the Woodstock to Rollright Turnpike Trust on the Great Road to Worcester in 1751 (from History of road transport)
Image 17Closeup of asphalt on a driveway (from Road surface)
Image 21Sacrifices to the Modern Moloch, a 1922 cartoon published in The New York Times, criticizing the apparent acceptance by society of increasing automobile-related fatalities (from Road traffic safety)
Image 30According to Eurostat and European Railway Agency, in European railway mode of transport, there is a fatality risk for passengers and occupants 28 times lower compared with car usage. Based on data by EU-27 member nations, 2008–2010. (from Road traffic safety)
Image 35Different layers of road including asphalt layer. The total thickness of a pavement can be measured using granular base equivalency (from Road surface)
Image 36The Dutch Reach - Use far hand on handle when opening to avoid dooring cyclists or injuries to exiting drivers and passengers. (from Road traffic safety)
Image 38Car fatalities per pax-km vs. car usage per pax-day; in Europe. It seems, at least in these European countries, that car fatalities per person-km have no strong correlation with massification of car usage. The average car usage in these countries is around 30km per person-day with varying number of fatalities ratios. These differences might be related with different cultural approaches to traffic codes, or more safety measures implemented on such countries. (from Road traffic safety)
Image 39Road workers crushing rocks, in the mountains near Kullu (from Roadworks)
Improve: You may always improve the quality of road articles by adding more information and references to enhance the overall readers' experience. Improvements to GA and FA quality is much appreciated! Also, nominations for Selected article and Selected picture are always needed, as with Did you know and News. Add to the Portal
Photo request: Just about all of them! Any pictures of Highways regions, road surface or infrastruture varieties or Highways would be useful. In particular we need Highways region maps that can be licensed for Wikipedia.
This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Portal:Roads, and is written by contributors.
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