Ok Ok Make My life Easier

[Kasumi]

Alright guys, i've been registered for a while and have spoken and heard alot from the topics there have been about the roads you ride over there in the US of A. However my patchy information from this forum and from dad who worked in America for a while i STILL don't fully understand your road systems and how they compare to ours here in the UK. Im hearing about highways, routes, city streets.... wheres the country roads?

Uk road system;

Motorways - prefix of M so M1 or M62 or M6 toll. Also in some cases you can get A3 (M). These are all in all 3 lanes and a hard shoulder (emergency breakdown lane can only stop in emergencies). These are from getting from one end of the country to the other. Speed limit of 70mph. Although many people are going faster.

Primary A roads - Categorized by an A so A41 or A39 usually 1 or 2 digits. These are fast roads, usually you find them linking major destinations together where it is economically or environmentally unfriendly to put in a motorway. They are often duel carriage ways which have a speed limit of 70mph, when they are in single lane format they are national speed limit of 60mph. You can get from major destinations on these roads just like motorways however sometimes can be slower as minor roads can join them easily and they arn't direct from one place to another.

Main A Roads - Catagorized also by A but usually followed by 3 or 4 digits so A4114. These usually are for connecting more minor roads to primary A roads or motorways. Speed limit is 60mph as usual unless in dual carriageway format where it is 70mph.

B Roads - You can travel all over the country on B roads. They wind through the countryside, picking up minor roads and linking small towns together or to more major roads. These are the best roads in the UK to motorcycle on. They are built to deal with lots of traffic although remain reasonably quiet and they are twisty and wide with sweeping corners and good signage of hazards and upcoming tight spots. Excellent motorcycling roads.

Other Minor Roads - Most common road around where i live, often very narrow, or single track. Condition of most of the roads is abit here or there with some good bits some and, you have to be sooo careful of animals and mud on the roads from farm vehicles. You can't get more in the countryside than this. You have to follow these to link to more major B or A roads in order to get anywhere quickly, but they make excellent exploring and challanging rides and you can find yourself going along way without having to ride in any sort of traffic and just seeing countryside all around.

So what roads do you have in the US (or any other countries we have members from) which correspond to these. Also speed limits i have mentioned are national common limits for the types of roads. Towns and cities usually have 30 or 20mph centres with ring roads about 40mph. Most countryside roads are 60mph with motorways and dual carrigeways at 70mph. But there are some times when other limits are enforced for various reasons.

[frankieG]

well considering the US and Canada  is larger than europe i really dont think there is much comparison.  the I-95 runs from canada to florida which i think is about 2000 miles. 

[CndnMax]

Street:

590.   "Street" is a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Street includes highway.

Roadway:

530.   A "roadway" is that portion of a highway improved, designed, or ordinarily used for vehicular travel.

(Roadway and Street have pretty much the same meaning).

Freeway:

332.   "Freeway" is a highway in respect to which the owners of abutting lands have no right or easement of access to or from their abutting lands or in respect to which such owners have only limited or restricted right or easement of access.

In plain English, if the only way to access the roadway is by using on and off ramps, there are no cross streets or signal lights / stop signs, it’s a freeway. (i80, I680, I880, Ect).


Traffic:

620.   The term "traffic" includes pedestrians, ridden animals, vehicles, street cars, and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using any highway for purposes of travel.

Sidewalk:

550.   "Sidewalk" is that portion of a highway, other than the roadway, set apart by curbs, barriers, markings or other delineation for pedestrian travel.

Highway:

360.    "Highway" is a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Highway includes street.

People often misunderstand the term “Highway”. It refers to any land that is publicly maintained for traffic. This includes Freeways, streets, roadways, sidewalks, medians, shoulders, grass strips on the right side of the roadway, Ect.

[Kasumi]

That explains some of what i was confused about. I also have another question.

What the hell is Jay - J?!?! Walking, they talk about it in film but i aint got no clue.


p.s. I hope you can see the boxing were getting here in the UK. Amir Khan beating the living daylights out of Lawson. Wooopy go Khan.

[CndnMax]

jaywalking is when some1 crosses the street when/where they aren't supposed to- didnt cross in a crosswalk or crossed against the "red hand!". usualy used as probable cause to stop someone.

[Kasumi]

Woa, you can cross anywhere in the UK regardless of what the hand says or whether there is a crossing.

[jserio]

oh you can do as you wish here as well. there are just consequences. some of those consequences may include the mom in the SUV who's late for her hair apptmt and chatting on her cellphone trying to light a smoke and change the station and changing lanes at the same time.  now, even if you are in the right to cross, this doesn't mean you won't meet SUV mom described above. but it will help your case in court should you survive such altercation if you are not "jaywalking".  jaywalking is probably the most petty crime we have here. although i've heard rumor that there are some places that enforce really old, dumb laws that are still on the books such as no spiting on the sidewalks. 

[CndnMax]

one thing i realized when i moved to US is that if there isn't a red light good luck crossing the street. i was watching a woman with a stroller waiting at a crosswalk for like 10 min before cars stopped to let her cross 

[groff22]

 Wikipedia has EVERYTHING.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J-walking

[PuddleJumper]

Interstate highways would be the same as your motorway. They go across the nation.

Freeways are usually part of the Interstate system, but going through big cities. Many times with connecting loops from one Interstate to another if applicable.

Then we have US highways. They were the main highways before the Interstate system was put in.

Not really sure about the difference between a US highway and a "route"
As in route 66, The most famous of the old highways.

Then we have state highways, which don't necessarily stop at a state line.

County road come next and can be pavement, chip and seal, or gravel. Sometime these can be pretty primitive.

Then comes the city streets.

Speed limits are 70 to 75 on Interstates. This can drop to 60 when inside some city limits.
55 to 65 on state highways (usually)
60 or less on most county roads.
And whatever a city feels like putting on city streets.

Hope this helps. As a frame of reference I live in eastern Oklahoma.
Some things on west or east coast could be a bit different.

BeSafe

[Jughead]

Around here it's just Road and Back road.If your Going your Either Going up the Road or Down the Road whether it be a Highway or Back Road.My Neighbor Moved here from Cincinnati  and Was Asking Every one about Something up the Street while Pointing Down the Road.I broke him by saying "Mmmmmmm that must be Yankee for Down the Road.

All of the Locals don't go by Street names and Never had and Probably never will if Someone needs to know where to go they just say Next to so and so and there isn't any Problems.If any of the Transplants ask me where a road is I just send them 30 Miles out of the Way into the rough part of the next County.

[yamahonkawazuki]

well considering the US and Canada  is larger than europe i really dont think there is much comparison.  the I-95 runs from canada to florida which i think is about 2000 miles. 

aye 75 goes from south florida to the canadian border as well. but as other posters have said. pretty much says it all. btw heres a riddle, ( ill give you the clues/answers in a bit)

" an gentleman, was driving cross country, lost. he pulls into a local filling station, and asks the proprietor, hey!, where can i find interstate 45 west?, the proprietor looks at him, deadpans it and says, you never will." now how did he know that?

in the interstate system here in teh us, odd numbers are north/south, and even numbers are east'/west

[CndnMax]

because it doesnt go est-west 

[MrDan]

Speed limits are 70 to 75 on Interstates. This can drop to 60 when inside some city limits.
55 to 65 on state highways (usually)
60 or less on most county roads.
And whatever a city feels like putting on city streets.

I believe the National Speed Limit is still 55 mph.

Locally, in the Mid Atlantic these will be a little lower.

Interstates 55-65 up to 75 in the rural areas
State Highways 55 unless it's really rural then 60-65
County Roads - 35-55
City streets - completely random
West Virginia - all bets are off.  Highways at 45, hairpin turns through the mountains at 55 

[MrDan]

in the interstate system here in teh us, odd numbers are north/south, and even numbers are east'/west

Also, 3 digits will be offshoots or beltways/loops (ring roads over there?).  So I95 is the major East coast Interstate.  495 is the Washington Beltway, 695 is Baltimore, 295 for Richmond, VA, 285 for Atlanta (off of I85), etc etc

[bettingpython]

Mr Dan,

The national speed limit was an outgrowth of the federal governments 1970's energy policies and found to be legally enforceable under the interstate commerce act. The national speed limit no longer exists it was done away with and individual states were allowed to decide on reasonable and prudent speed limits that is why there is such diversity from state to state. As a side not the federal government enforced this speed limit by reducing or denying federal highway matching funds states that did not comply. Some states held out for a while but eventually all came into line.

For a period of time after the 55mph limit was done away with in the late 90's Montana had a daytime speed limit law which allowed drivers to travel at autobahn like speeds through it's largely unpopulated areas on 4 lane interstates it read something like speed of travel that is reasonable and prudent for the driving conditions. They have since done away with it.

Even during the enrgy conservation period of the 55mph speed limit Montana's standard ticket was a failure to conserve energy ticket for travelling in excess of the speed limit. The fine was $5.00 payable on the spot to the issuing officer and cash, check or credit cards were accepted. A friend of mine was ticketed for 107mph paid his fine and brought the ticket home and had it framed.

Here is some interesting reading on the subject of speed limit diversity amongst states.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_the_United_States

Another interesting note the same interstate commerce rider act and enforcement method of witholding federal highway funding is how the fed dictates the 21yr old drinking age. Louisianna was the last hold out and allowed 18yr olds to drink into the 90's before they finally caved and wanted those federal matching funds for highway maintenance and construction.

I won't get into a huge fight over it but the usurpation of states rights to self governance by the federal government is wrong and places far too much power into the hands of far too few people.

[jserio]

nice post BP. very good reading. you were at least intelligent enough to post a link from whence your info came from.   

[bettingpython]

What's bad is I had not seen the wikipedia article till I went to find everyone some research to back up my post. Is it sad that I know such things? Or should I ask is it sad that many americans who vote don't know those thing's and only what they hear in the media?

At any rate the good old day's of 5 dollar speeding tickets in Montana are part of a bygone era, I always wanted to go drive the interstate up there just once before the law changed.

[MrDan]

I had a nice response all queued up last week - then I got a bunch of 403 errors and couldn't post it.  Gist of it was - didn't know the national speed limit was gone - thought states were just accepting the loss in federal funds.  And the wiki article is interesting because it has different information on the map and chart.  Virginia is actually 70 (as shown on the chart), not 65 like the map.

Thanks for the info though.  +1 on the usurption