Road hierarchy
While sources differ on the exact nomenclature, the basic hierarchy comprises freeways, arterials, collectors, and local roads.
Controlled-access highways do not have traffic signals nor at-grade crossings with other roads (intersections), railways, or pedestrian paths.
The course of a ramp is often curved as needed in order to connect the two roads without sharp turns, which require vehicles to slow down considerably to traverse them safely.
The full set of ramps that connect a controlled-access highway to another road is called a grade-separated junction (UK) or interchange (US).
The degree of isolation from local traffic varies between countries and regions, as does a precise definition of the term itself.
Key community functions such as schools, churches, and recreational facilities can often be found on collector roads.
Two-way stops are generally used at intersections with local streets that favour traffic movement on the collector.
Speed limits are typically 20‑35 mph (30‑60 km/h) on collector roads in built-up areas, depending on the degree of development and frequency of local access, intersections, and pedestrians, as well as the surrounding area (the speed tends to be lowest in school zones).
Different types of local roads include residential streets, avenues, and alleys.
Frontage roads are often used to reduce the conflict between the high-speed nature of an arterial and property access concerns.
Județean Motorways, similar to freeways, these high-speed roads are designated with an M prefix or (M) suffix.
Emergency telephones are located every mile along the route so motorists with broken-down vehicles can contact the authorities, although this is increasingly being done using mobile phones.
Some of the major dual carriageway primary routes have numbered junctions or hard shoulders in the style of the Continental semi-motorways.
Many N-Class roads are dual carriageway for some or all of their length, with a few also being given the designation of semi-motorway, where junctions are grade-separated and there is a central reservation with crash barrier.
The hard shoulder, or bande d'arrêt d'urgence, is often narrower than on full motorways and there are fewer emergency telephones.
France (including overseas territory) is split into 100 departments, the second-highest tier of local government, similar to a UK county or US state.
Italy was the first country in the world to build motorways, the so-called autostrade, reserved for fast traffic and for motor vehicles only.
[7] Other motorways (or autostrade) built before World War II in Italy were Naples-Pompeii, Florence-Pisa, Padua-Venice, Milan-Turin, Milan-Bergamo-Brescia and Rome-Ostia.
From 1 October 2012 the granting body is the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and no longer Anas[13] and the majority (5,773.4 km (3,587.4 mi) in 2009[14]) are subject to toll payments.
Legal provisions allow operators to set the limit to 150 km/h (95 mph) on their concessions on a voluntary basis if there are three lanes in each direction and a working SICVE, or Safety Tutor, which is a speed-camera system that measures the average speed over a given distance.
In order for a road to be classified as an autostrada, various geometric and construction conditions must be satisfied and these, although very similar in basis (for example the width of the travel lanes must be 3.75 m (12.3 ft)) are not constant: there are different technical-legal regulations for motorways built in urban or extra-urban areas.
[17][18] Other operators include ASTM, ATP, and Autostrade Lombarde in the north-west; Autostrada del Brennero, A4 Holding, Concessioni Autostradali Venete [it], and Autovie Venete [it] in the north-east; Strada dei Parchi [it], SALT, SAT, and Autocisa in the center; and CAS in the south.
Italian Highway Code (Codice della strada) divides dual carriageways into three different classifications:[19] These are the roads present within inhabited centers.
The general speed limit for motorways in both countries is 130 kilometers per hour, which is implicitly decreased to 80 km/h (Czech Republic) or 90 km/h (Slovakia) in urban areas.
The term "motor vehicle road" (Czech: silnice pro motorová vozidla, Slovak: cesta pre motorové vozidlá) has also been used variably to refer to the network, although in both countries this term is now used for a separate category of roads.
In both countries, all motorways and expressways are owned and maintained by the state and the use of most of their sections is paid via electronic vignettes or toll.
Bypasses of large towns and other sections that are used for local traffic tend to be exempt from the vignette requirement.
A section of a highway can also be signed as a road for motor vehicles (Czech: silnice pro motorová vozidla, Slovak: cesta pre motorové vozidlá), which are off-limits for other kinds of traffic.
Until 1938, separate lands of Czechoslovakia have different laws and road systems, inherited from the Austro-Hungarian period.
Příjezdní komunikace (access communications) to the railway stations were a special class of roads before 1938 in Slovakia nad Zakarpattia.
