On 7/25/06, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
Richard Holton wrote:
I'd say that definition is unusual, even in the US. In common usage, a limited-access highway is a divided highway, with no cross roads--instead using on & off ramps.
Limited access highway would probably be understood generically in most of the US, but the term would not normally be used in the context, "Take the limited access highway to get there." Instead people would say, "Take the freeway (or expressway, or Interstate, or turnpike according to local custom)."
<chuckle> I talk that way all the time, don't you? You're correct, or course, (virtually) no one talks that way, but as you say, most would understand the term.
The USGS offers this common-sense definition:
Limited Access Highway: A route that is part of the United States
Interstate
Highway System or other similar expressway. (http://www-atlas.usgs.gov/metadata/roadtrl020.faq.html)
That definition would be US-centric
Guily as charged. I wasn't really trying to find a non-US-centric definition, but rather attempting to demonstrate that the odd secondary defintion given several e-mails ago isn't the common understanding in the US.
In fact, "expressway" seems like a good synonym (to my very US-centric ears).
I don't think that its usage is uniform throughout the USA.
Given the other responses, you seem to be correct.
Perhaps we need to stay away from any of the regional/national/continental terms for the category name. We don't need to create a neologism--we could use a short descriptive phrase that gives a hint as to the meaning, and rely on text on the category page to clarify.
Something like "Ramped roads", though I'm sure others will have better ideas.
Rich Holton