While the design characteristics listed above are generally applicable around the globe, every jurisdiction provides its own specifications and design criteria for controlled-access highways.
Africa Algeria In
Algeria, the motorway network has about in 2x3 lanes. The network is expanding increasingly, along with other kinds of infrastructure, though this is only true for the northern region of the country, where most of its population lives. And this infrastructure is pretty well developed for
North African standards. For the moment, the entire Algerian motorway network is toll-free. The toll stations are being finalized and the launch of the motorway toll is scheduled for early 2021. The maximum speed authorized on the entire network is . File:Autoroute A1 à Oran (Algérie).jpg|
East–West Highway near
Oran File:Autoroute est ouest ghomri.JPG|Autoroute Est-Ouest, near Ghomri,
Relizane Province File:La vue la plus spectaculaire depuis l'autoroute Est Ouest Bouira Algérie.jpg|
Autoroute A2 near Bouira File:Médéa - Autoroute Nord-Sud المدية - الطريق السريع شمال جنوب 09.jpg|
Autoroute Nord-Sud near
Médéa Egypt Egypt has many multiple-lane, high-speed motorways. Two routes in the
Trans-African Highway network originate in
Cairo. Egypt also has multiple highway links with Asia through the
Arab Mashreq International Road Network. Egypt has a developing motorway network, connecting Cairo with
Alexandria and other cities. Though most of the transport in the country is still done on the national highways, motorways are becoming increasingly an option in road transport within the country. The existing motorways in the country are: • Cairo–Alexandria Desert Road: Running between Cairo and Alexandria, with an extension of , it is the main motorway in Egypt. • International Coastal Road: It runs from Alexandria to
Port Said, along the northern
Nile Delta. It has a length of . Also, among other cities, it connects
Damietta and
Baltim. • Geish Road: It runs between
Helwan and
Asyut, along the
Nile, also connecting
Beni Suef and
Minya. Its length is . • Ring Road: It serves as an inner ring-road for Cairo. It has a length of . • Regional Ring Road: It serves as an outer ring road for Cairo, also connecting its suburbs like
Helwan and
10th of Ramadan City. Its length is .
Ethiopia Much of
Ethiopia's highway network is developing. Road projects now represent around a quarter of the annual infrastructure budget of the Ethiopian government. Additionally, through the Road Sector Development Program (RSDP), the government has earmarked $4 billion to construct, repair and upgrade roads over the next decade. Ethiopia has over of roads. In 2014, the
Addis Ababa–Adama Expressway opened, becoming the first expressway in Ethiopia.
Kenya The
Kenya National Highways Authority is responsible for the maintenance, management, development, and rehabilitation of highways. According to the Kenya Roads Board, Kenya has of roads. Two routes of the
Trans-African Highway network cross
Kenya: the
Cairo-Cape Town Highway and the
Lagos–Mombasa Highway. Roads in Kenya are divided into classes: • Class S: "A Highway that connects two or more cities and carries safely a large volume of traffic at the highest speed of operation." • Class A: "A Highway that forms a strategic route and corridor connecting international boundaries at identified immigration entry and exit points and international terminals such as international air or sea ports." • Class B: "A Highway that forms an important national route linking national trading or economic hubs, County Headquarters and other nationally important centers to each other and to the National Capital or to Class A roads."
Morocco The motorways and expressways of
Morocco are a network of multiple-lane, high-speed, controlled-access highways. As of November 2016 the total length of Morocco's motorways was and expressways. Morocco plans to expand the road network. In the country of motorways and of expressways are currently under construction in different parts of the country. In the year 2035 the total length of the motorways will be of motorways and of expressways. According to the minister of Morocco, this plan also includes a program specific to rural roads for the construction of of roads for an investment of 30 billion dirhams. File:A1 Rabat.jpg|The first expressway in Morocco -
A1 Casablanca–Rabat File:A3 Rabat-Casa tollstation.jpg|Toll station at
Bouznika File:A7 motorway in Morocco 2.JPG|
A3 Casablanca–Agadir Mozambique Mozambique's highways are classified as a national or primary road ( or ), or as regional – secondary or tertiary – roads ( and ). National roads are given the prefix "N" or "EN" followed by a one- or two-digit number. The numbers generally increase from the south of the country to the north. Regional roads are given the prefix "R", followed by a three-digit number. Mozambique has over of paved roads.
Nigeria Nigeria has the largest highway network in
West Africa. Although much of the highways are poorly maintained, the Federal Roads Maintenance Agency has drastically improved them. Due to Nigeria's strategic location, four routes of the
Trans-African Highway network are situated in the country: the
Trans-Sahara Highway to Algeria; the
Trans-Sahelian Highway to
Dakar, Senegal; the
Trans–West African Coastal Highway; and the
Lagos–Mombasa Highway.
South Africa In
South Africa, the term
freeway differs from most other parts of the world. A freeway is a road where certain restrictions apply. The following are forbidden from using a freeway: • a vehicle drawn by an animal; • a pedal cycle (such as a bicycle); • a motorcycle having an engine with a cylinder capacity not exceeding 50 cm3 or that is propelled by electrical power; • a motor tricycle or motor quadricycle; • pedestrians Drivers may not use hand signals on a freeway (except in emergencies) and the minimum speed on a freeway is . Drivers in the rightmost lane of multi-carriageway freeways must move to the left if a faster vehicle approaches from behind to overtake. Despite popular opinion that "freeway" means a road with at least two carriageways, single carriageway freeways exist, as is evidenced by the statement that "[South Africa's] roads include of dual carriageway freeway, of single carriageway freeway and of single carriage main road with unlimited access."
Americas Argentina Argentina has a national route system. It is connected to the
Pan-American Highway. Argentina has a total of over of paved roads.
Brazil Few highways in Brazil prohibit cyclists or pedestrians and are built according to the motorway standards defined by the
Vienna Convention on Road Traffic, ratified by Brazil in 1980. There is no distinct designation for controlled-access highways in the
Brazilian federal and state highway systems. The term (Portuguese for "motorway" or "freeway") is not commonly used in Brazil; the terms ("road") and especially ("highway") are instead preferred, though neither refers specifically to motorways. Nevertheless, the most technically advanced motorways in Brazil are defined
Class 0 expressways by the National Department of Transport Infrastructure (DNIT). These expressways are built to safely allow for vehicular speeds of up to . In mountainous terrain, the maximum allowable gradient is 5%, and the minimum allowable radius of curvature is (with 12% super-elevation).
São Paulo state has the most motorways in the country. It is also the state with more highways conceded to the private sector. Brazil's first expressway, the
Rodovia Anhanguera in São Paulo state, was completed in 1953 as an upgrade of the earlier undivided highway. That same year, construction of the second highway,
Rodovia Anchieta, between São Paulo and the Atlantic coast, began. Expressway construction, most of them upgrades of older undivided highways, quickened in the following decades. The current Class 0 expressways include:
Rodovia dos Bandeirantes,
Rodovia dos Imigrantes,
Rodovia Castelo Branco,
Rodovia Ayrton Senna/Carvalho Pinto,
Rodovia Osvaldo Aranha (also known as "Free-way") and São Paulo's Metropolitan Beltway
Rodoanel Mário Covas – all modern, post-1970s highways meeting modern European standards. Other stretches of highway such as the under-construction south BR-101 and
Rodovia Régis Bittencourt are of older design standards. File:Billings_2008051702.jpg|
Rodovia dos Imigrantes,
São Paulo File:Ponte Rio-Niteroi01 2005-03-15.jpg|The
Rio–Niterói Bridge, officially part of the federal
BR-101 highway; a landmark of
Rio de Janeiro File:BR116 Viaduto em Fortaleza.jpg|BR-116 in
Ceará British overseas territories , UK A number of the
United Kingdom's
overseas territories have controlled-access highways, including the
Turks and Caicos Islands and
Cayman Islands.
Canada Canada has no current national system for controlled-access highways. All controlled-access freeways, including sections that form part of the
Trans-Canada Highway, are under provincial jurisdiction, and have no numeric continuation across provincial boundaries. The largest networks in the country are in
Ontario (
400-series highways) and
Quebec (
Autoroutes). Speed limits are not federally set, since provincial governments set speed limits for their respective regions. These roads are influenced by, and have influenced, US standards, but have design innovations and differences. The total length of dual-carriageways with controlled access in Canada is , of which are in
British Columbia, in
Alberta, in
Saskatchewan, in Ontario, in Quebec, and in the
Maritimes.
El Salvador The
RN-21 (East–West, Boulevard Monseñor Romero), is the very first freeway to be built in
El Salvador and in
Central America. The freeway passes the northern area of the city of
Santa Tecla, La Libertad. It has a small portion serving
Antiguo Cuscatlán, La Libertad, and merges with the
RN-5 (East–West, Boulevard de Los Proceres/Autopista del Aeropuerto) in
San Salvador. The total length of the RN-21 is and is currently working as a traffic reliever in the metropolitan area. Although the RN-21 was to be named in honour of the first mayor of San Salvador,
Diego de Holguín, due to political reasons it was renamed Boulevard Monseñor Romero, in honour of
Óscar Romero. The first phase of the highway was completed in 2009, and the second phase was completed and opened in November 2012.
Mexico In
Mexico, federal highways () are a series of highways that connect with roads from foreign countries or that link two or more states of the Federation. File:Mezcala_Bridge_-_Mexico_edit2.jpg|
Mezcala Bridge on
Highway 95 in Mexico File:Ejido Tehuantepec Santa Rosa.jpg|Tehuantepec,
Baja California File:Jct Mex-1 San Ignacio BCS.jpg|Mexican Federal Highway 1 Junction in
San Ignacio, Baja California Sur File:Mexico-2 eastbound near Altar, Sonora.jpg|Eastbound Fed. 2 just outside
Altar, Sonora, after a summer rain
United States In the
United States, a
freeway is defined by the US government's
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices as a divided highway with full control of access. This means two things: first, adjoining property owners do not have a legal right of access, meaning all existing driveways must be removed and access to adjacent private lands must be blocked with fences or walls; instead,
frontage roads provide access to properties adjacent to a freeway in many places. Second, traffic on a freeway is "free-flowing". All cross-traffic (and left-turning traffic) is relegated to overpasses or underpasses, so that there are no traffic conflicts on the main line of the highway, which must be regulated by traffic lights, stop signs, or other traffic control devices. Achieving such free flow requires the construction of many overpasses, underpasses, and ramp systems. The advantage of grade-separated interchanges is that freeway drivers can almost always maintain their speed at junctions since they do not need to yield to vehicles crossing perpendicular to mainline traffic. In contrast, an
expressway is defined as a divided highway with partial control of access. Expressways may have driveways and at-grade intersections, though these are usually less numerous than on ordinary arterial roads. This distinction was first developed in 1949 by the Special Committee on Nomenclature of what is now the
American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. Prior to that distinction the first freeways were complete in 1940, the
Pennsylvania Turnpike and the
Arroyo Seco Parkway (Pasadena Freeway). In turn, the definitions were incorporated into AASHTO's official standards book, the
Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, which would become the national standards book of USDOT under a 1966 federal statute. The same distinction has also been codified into the statutory law of eight states:
California,
Minnesota,
Mississippi,
Missouri,
Nebraska,
North Dakota,
Ohio, and
Wisconsin. However, each state codified the federal distinction slightly differently.
California expressways do not necessarily have to be divided, though they must have at least partial access control. For both terms to apply, in
Wisconsin, a divided highway must be at least four lanes wide; and in
Missouri, both terms apply only to divided highways at least long that are not part of the Interstate Highway System. In
North Dakota and
Mississippi, expressways may have "full or partial" access control and "generally" have grade separations at intersections; a freeway is then defined as an expressway with full access control. Ohio's statute is similar, but instead of the vague word "generally", it imposes a requirement that 50% of an expressway's intersections must be grade-separated for the term to apply. Only
Minnesota enacted the exact MUTCD definitions, in May 2008. The term "expressway" is also used in some areas of the country for what the federal government calls "freeways". Where the terms are distinguished, freeways can be characterized as expressways upgraded to full access control, while not all expressways are freeways. Examples in the United States of roads that are technically expressways (under the federal definition), but contain the word "freeway" in their names:
State Fair Freeway in
Kansas,
Chino Valley Freeway in California,
Rockaway Freeway in
New York, and Shenango Valley Freeway (a portion of
US 62) in
Pennsylvania. Unlike in some jurisdictions, not all freeways in the US are part of a single national freeway network (although together with non-freeways, they form the
National Highway System). For example, many state highways such as
California State Route 99 have significant freeway sections. Many sections of the older
United States Numbered Highway System have been upgraded to freeways but have kept their existing US Highway numbers. In
Puerto Rico, controlled access highways are named . Autopistas are tolled roads in the island, but toll cabins do exist on other types of roads as well. One of the best known autopistas in Puerto Rico is the
Autopista Luis A. Ferré (Luis A. Ferré Expressway), which goes from
San Juan, the capital to the north, to
Ponce, the island's second largest city, to the south. File:45intoI-10 2.jpg|I-45 and I-10/US 90 next to
Downtown Houston File:I-5 north approaching I-10 east split- long view.jpg|
Interstate 5 (I-5) in
Los Angeles File:I70 at San Rafael swell-Green River.jpg|I-70 passes through Spotted Wolf Canyon at the eastern edge of the
San Rafael Swell. File:I-90 floating bridges looking east.JPG|I-90 crossing
Lake Washington File:I-25 southbound at Big I.jpg|At the
Big I in
Albuquerque, New Mexico File:Interstate_15,_Las_Vegas,_South_of_Flight_Path_on_Departure_(14203692275).jpg|Aerial view of I-15 looking south from Sunset Road in the
Las Vegas Valley File:McClure Tunnel west.jpg|Western end of I-10 at the
McClure Tunnel in
Santa Monica File:I91_Connecticut.jpg|
Interstate 91 with
HOV lanes north of
Hartford, Connecticut Asia Afghanistan at the Iran-Afghanistan border Many highways of Afghanistan were built in the 1960s with American and Soviet assistance. The Soviets built a road and tunnel through the Salang pass in 1964, connecting northern and eastern Afghanistan. A highway connecting the principal cities of Herat, Kandahar, Ghazni, and Kabul with links to highways in neighbouring Pakistan formed the primary highway. The historical
Highway 1 currently connects the major cities. Afghanistan has over of roads, with being paved. The highway infrastructure is currently going through reconstruction and can often be risky due to the instability of the country.
Armenia Armenia has about of paved roads, of which 96% are asphalted. Armenia is connected to Europe through the
International E-road network and Asia through the
Asian Highway Network. Armenia is a member of the International Road Transport Union and the TIR Convention.
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan has about of paved roads; the first paved roads were built during the Russian Empire. The road network, from rural roads to motorways, is today undergoing a rapid modernization with rehabilitations and extensions. For every of national territory, there are of roads. Azerbaijan is connected to Europe through the
International E-road network and Asia through the
Asian Highway Network.
China The expressway network of China, with the national-level expressway system officially known as the
National Trunk Highway System (; abbreviated as
NTHS), is an integrated system of national and provincial-level expressways in
China. By the end of 2019, the total length of China's expressway network reached , the world's largest expressway system by length, having surpassed the overall length of the American
Interstate Highway System in 2011. Planned length is by 2020. One of the earliest expressways nationwide was the
Jingshi Expressway between
Beijing and
Shijiazhuang in
Hebei province. This expressway now forms part of the
Jingzhu Expressway, currently one of the longest expressways nationwide at over . File:Jiangyin Yangtze River bridge-2.jpeg|The expressway crosses the
Yangtze River over the
Jiangyin Suspension Bridge File:PRC Expressway.jpg|G106,
Jingkai Expressway section in southern
Beijing File:G6 expressway from offramp to North Fifth Ring Road, Beijing.jpg|
G6 expressway at the interchange with the
Fifth Ring Road in northern Beijing File:DFTianjinFwySignWP.jpg|Signs using the new numbering system as seen on China National Expressway 1 in Tianjin
Georgia The road network in
Georgia consists of of main or international highways in good condition, of which by 2021 roughly are controlled-access highway, while further expansion is ongoing. The of domestic main roads are of mixed quality, although the conditions are improving. Some of local roads are generally in poor condition. Georgia is connected to Europe via the
International E-road network and Asia through the
Asian Highway Network.
Hong Kong In Hong Kong major motorways are numbered from 1 to 10 in addition to their names. Speed limits on expressways typically range from . File:North Lantau Highway 2016.jpg|
North Lantau Highway on Lantau Island File:Tolo Highway at night (Street Light rays improved).jpg|
Tolo Highway in Ma Liu Shui File:Fanling Highway Sheung Shui Section.jpg|
Fanling Highway in Sheung Shui File:Tsing Ma Bridge 2008.jpg|North West Tsing Yi Interchange near
Tsing Ma Bridge (
Lantau Link)
India Expressways (known as "Gatimarg/", or "Speedways" in
Hindi and other Indian languages) are the highest class of roads in India's road network and currently make up around of the
National Highway System, with additional under various phases of implementation. They have a minimum of six or eight-lane controlled-access highways where entrance and exit is controlled by the use of
slip roads. The expressways are operated and maintained by the
Union, through the
National Highways Authority of India. File:Delhi-Gurgaon_Airport_Expressway,_2007.jpg|Section of the
Delhi Gurgaon Expressway File:Express highway.jpg|The
Mumbai-Pune Expressway File:Delhi–Meerut Expressway.jpg|The
Delhi-Meerut Expressway File:Noida expressway.jpg|A section of
Noida–Greater Noida Expressway Indonesia , in
Bali, Indonesia In Indonesia all expressways (, "obstacle-free road") are tolled, so they are better known as
toll road (). Indonesia has expressway length so far, almost 70% of its expressways are in Java island. In 2009, the Indonesian government had planned to expand more expressway network in Java island by connecting
Merak to
Banyuwangi which is the total length of Trans-Java toll road including large cities expressway in Java such as
Jakarta,
Surabaya,
Bandung and its complements is more than . The Indonesian government also had planned to build the Trans-Sumatra toll road which connects
Banda Aceh to
Bakauheni spanning . In 2012, the government allocated 150 trillion rupiah for the construction of the toll roads. There are three stages of construction of Trans-Sumatra toll road which is expected to be connected together in 2025. The other islands in Indonesia such as
Kalimantan,
Sulawesi also has begun constructed its expressways including connecting
Manado to
Makassar in Sulawesi and also
Pontianak to
Balikpapan in Kalimantan. However, there are still no plans to build an expressway in
Western New Guinea due to its slow population growth. Indonesia is expected to have at least of expressway in 2030.
Iran The history of
freeways in Iran goes back to before the
Iranian Revolution. The first freeway in Iran was built at that time, between Tehran and Karaj with additional construction and the studies of many other freeways started as well. Today Iran has about of freeway.
Iraq and
Mosul Iraq's network of highways connects it from the inside to adjacent countries such as
Syria,
Turkey,
Kuwait,
Saudi Arabia,
Jordan and
Iran. When
Saddam Hussein visited the United States, he was impressed at the highway style and ordered the highways to be built in American form.
Freeway 1 is the longest freeway in the country, connecting from
Umm Qasr Port in
Basra to
Ar Rutba in
Anbar, spreading to a new freeway connecting it to Syria and Jordan. Iraq has about of highways, with of them paved.
Israel Controlled-access highways in Israel are designated by a blue colour. Blue highways are completely grade-separated but may include bus stops and other elements that may slow down traffic on the right lane.
Highway 6 is Israel's longest freeway. It will extend to in length, from
Shlomi in the north to the Negev Junction in the south.
Japan , generally known as , make up the majority of controlled-access highways in Japan. The network boasts an uninterrupted link between
Aomori Prefecture at the northern part of
Honshū and
Kagoshima Prefecture at the southern part of
Kyūshū, linking
Shikoku as well. Additional expressways serve travellers in
Hokkaidō and on
Okinawa Island, although those are not connected to the Honshū-Kyūshū-Shikoku grid. Expressways have a combined length of . File:Satta yukei.jpg|Many Japanese expressways go through the steep mountains. File:Isewangan20180428H.jpg|A group of green-coloured directional signs on a Japanese expressway File:Tokai JCT 20150815B.JPG|Toll gates are placed at most of the entrances and exits of Japanese expressways. File:TOYOTA Interchange on TOMEI EXPWY and SHIN-TOMEI EXPWY.jpg|Aerial view of Toyota Junction, connecting Tomei Expressway and Ise-Wangan Expressway File:Shuto expressway takaracho.jpg|The
Shutoko C1 route forms a loop of the center of Tokyo.
Lebanon Lebanon has an extensive network of highways that are in varying condition throughout the country. Many highways are part of the
Arab Mashreq International Road Network. Some highways have been upgraded to four-lane motorways, including the Beirut–Tripoli highway.
Malaysia ,
Selangor Malaysia Controlled-access highways in Malaysia are known as ( – this is also the name for
highways). However, some expressways, particularly bridges and tunnels such as the
Penang Bridge, do not formally use the
expressway name; a small number confusingly use the term
highway, which is normally the designation for
limited-access roads.
Route numbers of designated expressways begin with the letter E. All expressways (excluding a section of the
South Klang Valley Expressway, which is a
two-lane expressway) are built with
dual carriageways and at least two lanes in each direction; urban expressways generally have three or more lanes in each direction. While all expressways are
grade separated at major roadways, many urban expressways in the
Greater Kuala Lumpur region often have at-grade intersections, including with residential roads and shopfronts, thus do not meet the strict definition of a controlled-access highway. These expressways were previously normal
arterial or
collector roads that had such intersections, and were not removed when the roads were converted to expressways due to the resulting accessibility and sometimes political issues. Despite this, no expressway allows traffic to cross the
median strip (apart from
U-turns on a limited number of expressways) and expressways do not have at-grade
traffic signals or
roundabouts. Expressways have a maximum speed limit of , while speed limits of or lower are typical in built-up areas. As of 2017, expressways have only been designated in
Peninsular Malaysia. There are 34 fully or partially open expressways with an approximate total length of . The vast majority of expressways are
tolled; the
North–South Expressway network,
East Coast Expressway and
West Coast Expressway predominantly use the
ticket system of toll collection, while all other expressways use the
barrier system. The construction and operation of expressways in Malaysia are usually privatized via
concession agreements with the
federal government, using the
build–operate–transfer system.
Pakistan The
motorways of Pakistan and
expressways of Pakistan are a network of multiple-lane, high-speed, limited-access or controlled-access highways in Pakistan, which are owned, maintained and operated federally by Pakistan's National Highway Authority. The total length of Pakistan's motorways and expressways is as of November 2016. Around of motorways are currently under construction in different parts of the country. Most of these motorway projects will be complete between 2018 and 2020. Pakistan's motorways are part of Pakistan's National Trade Corridor project that aims to link Pakistan's three
Arabian Sea ports of
Karachi,
Port Qasim and
Gwadar to the rest of the country. These would further link with
Central Asia and
China, as proposed in the
China Pakistan Economic Corridor. Pakistan's first motorway, the
M-2, was inaugurated in November 1997; it is a , six-lane motorway that links Pakistan's federal capital,
Islamabad, with
Punjab's provincial capital,
Lahore. It is ranked among the world's top five speed highways/motorways. Other completed motorways and expressways are M1
Peshawar–
Islamabad Motorway, M4 PindiBhattian–
Faisalabad-Multan Motorway, E75 Islamabad-
Murree–
Kashmir Expressway, M3
Lahore–
Multan Motorway, M8 Ratadero–Gawader Motorway, E8 Islamabad Expressway, M5
Multan-
Sukkur Motorway, M9
Karachi-
Hyderabad, Sindh and few others. File:M2-Motorway.jpg|The motorway
M-2 passes through the
Salt Range mountains. File:M1 motorway KPK.jpg|
M-1 motorway westbound towards Peshawar File:M1 motorway Peshawar Toll Plaza.jpg|
M-1 Peshawar Toll Plaza File:Under Construction at Mansehra.jpg|
M-15 at
Mansehra File:Makran Coastal Highway, Balochistan.jpg|The
Makran Coastal Highway (N10) passing through Balochistan
Philippines , maroon for built expressways and expressways under construction, red for proposed expressways Full control-access highways in the Philippines are referred to as
expressways, which are usually toll roads. The expressway network is concentrated in Luzon, with the
North Luzon Expressway and
South Luzon Expressway being the most important ones. The expressway network in Luzon do not form an integrated network, but there are ongoing construction projects to interconnect those highways as well as to decongest the existing roads in the areas they serve. Expressways are being introduced to Visayas and Mindanao through the construction of the
Cebu–Cordova Link Expressway in
Metro Cebu and
Davao City Expressway in
Davao City. File:View From NLEX Overpass, Bulacan, Philippines - panoramio.jpg|A portion of North Luzon Expressway in
Guiguinto, Bulacan File:Pic geo photos - ph=mm=muntinlupa=slex - view from bilibid overpass -philippines--2015-0428--ls-.jpg|
South Luzon Expressway Saudi Arabia Highways in Saudi Arabia vary from eight-laned roads to small two-lane roads in rural areas. The city highways and other major highways are well maintained, especially the roads in the capital Riyadh. The roads have been constructed to resist the consistently high temperatures and do not reflect the strong sunshine. The other city highways such as the one linking coast to coast are not as great as the inner-city highways but the government is now working on rebuilding those roads. Saudi Arabia is part of the Arab-Mashreq Highway Network and connects to the rest of Asia through the Asian Highway Network.
Singapore in
Singapore The expressways of Singapore are special
roads that allow motorists to travel quickly from one urban area to another. All of them are
dual carriageways with
grade-separated access. They usually have three to four
lanes in each direction, although there are two-lane carriageways at many expressway—expressway intersections and five-lane carriageways in some places. There are ten expressways, including the new
Marina Coastal Expressway. Studies about the feasibility of additional expressways are ongoing. Construction on the first expressway, the
Pan Island Expressway, started in 1966. , there are of expressways in Singapore. The Singaporean expressway networks are connected with
Malaysian expressway networks via
Ayer Rajah Expressway (connects with the
Second Link Expressway via the
Malaysia–Singapore Second Link) and
Bukit Timah Expressway (connects with the
Eastern Dispersal Link via the
Johor–Singapore Causeway).
South Korea Since
Gyeongin Expressway linking
Seoul and
Incheon opened in 1968, national expressway system in
South Korea has been expanded into 36 routes, with total length of as of 2017. Most of expressways are four-lane roads, while (26%) have six to ten lanes. Speed limit is typically for routes with four or more lanes, while some sections having fewer curves have limit of . Expressways in South Korea were originally numbered in order of construction. Since 24 August 2001, they have been numbered in a scheme somewhat similar to that of the Interstate Highway System in the United States. Furthermore, the symbols of the South Korean highways are similar to the US red, white and blue. • Arterial routes are designated by two-digit numbers, with north–south routes having odd numbers, and east–west routes having even numbers. Primary routes (i.e. major thoroughfares) have 5 or 0 as their last digit, while secondary routes end in other digits. • Branch routes have three-digit route numbers, where the first two digits match the route number of an arterial route. This differs from the American system, whose last two digits match the primary route. • Belt lines have three-digit route numbers where the first digit matches the respective city's postal code. This also differs from American numbering. • Route numbers in the range 70–99 are not used in South Korea; they are reserved for designations in the event of
Korean reunification. • The Gyeongbu Expressway kept its Route 1 designation, as it is South Korea's first and most important expressway. File:NoojiJCT IncheonInternationalAirportExpressWay.jpg|Approaching
Seoul from
Incheon Airport File:SeohaeGrandBridge.jpg|
Seohae Bridge File:Airport Town Square Junction Incheon Korea 20091031.jpg|Airport Town Square junction File:Incheon bridge toll gate 20091031.jpg|Incheon Bridge Toll Gate
Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka currently has over of designated expressways serving the southern part of the country. The first stage of the E01 Expressway (Southern Expressway) which opened in 2011 was Sri Lanka's first expressway spanning a distance of . The second stage of the Southern Expressway opened in 2014 and extends to Matara. The E03 Expressway (Colombo–Katunayake Expressway) opened in 2013 and connects Sri Lanka's largest city
Colombo with the Bandaranaike International Airport covering a distance of . All E-Grade highways in Sri Lanka are access controlled, toll roads with speeds limits in the range of . The network is to be expanded to by 2024. Operational (fully or partially): •
Kottawa-
Hambantota •
Kottawa-
Kerawalapitiya •
Colombo-
Katunayake • Enderamulla-
Kurunegala-
Kandy • Kahatuduwa-Pelmadulla Planned: •
Colombo Metropolitan expressway (
Colombo Fort to
Peliyagoda, connecting
Colombo with the
E03 expressway (Sri Lanka) Colombo-Katunayaka expressway.)
Syria Syria has a well-developed system of motorways in the western half of the country. As the eastern part is underpopulated, it only has two lanes. Highways have been important in terms of transport for the ongoing
civil war. The main motorways are: •
M1 - Runs from Homs to Latakia. It also connects Tartus, Baniyas and Jableh. Its length is . •
M2 - Runs from Damascus to Jdeidat Yabous, on the border with Lebanon. It also connects Al-Sabboura. Its length is . •
M4 - Runs from Latakia to Saraqib. It also connects Arihah and Jisr al-Shughur. Its length is . It continues to the Iraqi border all the way to Mosul. •
M5 - Often described as the most important highway, it runs through much of the major cities in Syria and runs to the Jordanian border.
Taiwan (Republic of China) Taiwan has an extensive road network that includes two types of controlled-access highway: freeways and expressways. Only cars and trucks are allowed onto freeways, the first of which —
Freeway 1 — was completed in 1974. Expressways allow car and truck traffic as well as motorcycles with engines of 250cc or more. Expressways in Taiwan may be controlled-access highways similar to national freeways or limited-access roads. Most have urban roads and intra-city expressways (as opposed to Highway system) status, although some are built and maintained by cities. File:Light trail along Wugu–Yangmei Elevated Road.jpg|
Freeway 1 in
New Taipei City File:National Highway No. 1 (Taiwan).JPG|
Taichung section File:TaiwanFwy3Jct.jpg|Freeway entrance
Thailand Controlled-access highways in Thailand are separated into urban expressways called
expressways, which are operated by the
Expressway Authority of Thailand and
BEM (except
Don Mueang Tollway, which is operated by Don Muang Tollway Public Company Limited) and have a span of , while intercity expressways are called
motorways, which have a span of . The network is to be extended to according to the master plan. File:Makkasan Interchange at night by Mark Fischer.jpg|A motorway interchange in Makkasan,
Bangkok File:Srinagarindra Interchange head to Rama IX new sign.jpg|Srinagarindra Interchange head to Rama IX Road
Uzbekistan Uzbekistan has of roads, about of which were paved. Much of the highways are in need of repair, although the condition has been improving. In 2017, the governments of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan agreed to open a section of the M39 Highway by the Kazakh border.
Vietnam At present, the expressway system of Vietnam is long. The Vietnamese government plans to complete the national expressway system with a total length of by 2045. The expressway system in Vietnam is separate from the national highway system. Most of the expressways are located in the North, especially around Hanoi. Of the 21 expressways in Vietnam, 8 emanate from Hanoi and 14 are in the north, with a length of . The first expressway in Vietnam is the
Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway, which is inaugurated and opened for traffic on 3 February 2010. Currently, most of the expressways in Vietnam are four-lane highways, with some routes like Ha Noi - Haiphong, and Phap Van - Cau Gie being six-lane. The only elevated expressway in Vietnam is Mai Dich - Thanh Tri Bridge (also known as the third beltway in Hanoi). The cost of building Vietnam's highways is one of the most expensive in the world, with an average cost of $12 million per kilometre. Compared with China, where there are similarities, their highway costs only $5 million per kilometre, where in the US and European countries, costs $3–4 million per kilometre. According to road traffic laws of Vietnam, an expressway is a road for motor vehicles, with a divider separating opposing traffic directions, no at-grade crossings with intersecting roads, fully equipped facilities to ensure continuous traffic flow, safety and short journey times, and access allowed only at interchanges. Quoclo1Amoi.JPG|Ha Noi - Bac Giang Expressway in Bac Ninh Cầu Long Thành, Đường cao tốc TP.HCM - Long Thành - Dầu Giây.JPG|Long Thanh bridge of Ho Chi Minh City - Long Thanh - Dau Giay Expressway Cao-toc-sai-gon-trung-luong-tuonglamphotos.jpg|Cho Dem - Ben Luc elevated part of Ho Chi Minh City - Trung Luong Expressway Lien Khuong - Da Lat highway 01.jpg|Lien Khuong - Prenn Pass Expressway Cầu Vân Tiên - Cây cầu dài nhất tuyến cao tốc Vân Đồn - Móng Cái cũng là cây cầu dài nhất tỉnh Quảng Ninh.jpg|Van Tien bridge of Hai Phong - Mong Cai Expressway
Europe Regarding road function, motorways serve exclusively the function of flow. They allow for efficient throughput of, usually long distance, motorized traffic, with unhindered flow of traffic, no traffic signals, at-grade intersections or property access and elimination of conflicts with other directions of traffic, thus, dramatically improving both safety and capacity. Some European treaties also define aspects such as the range of speed limit, or for some geometric aspects of roads, in particularly for the
International E-road network. According to
Eurostat: A motorway is a road specially designed and built for motor vehicle traffic, which does not directly provide access to the properties bordering on it. Other characteristics of motorways include: • two separated carriageways for the opposing directions of traffic, except at special points or, temporarily, due to carriageway repairs etc.; • carriageways that are not crossed at the level of the carriageway by any other road, railway or tramway track, or footpath; and • the use of special signposting to indicate the road as a motorway and to exclude specific categories of road vehicles and/ or road users. In determining the extent of a motorway its entry and exit lanes are included irrespective of the location of the motorway signposts. Urban motorways are also included in this term. Most of the European countries use the above motorway definition but different national definitions of motorways can be found in some countries. File:Sweden road sign E1.svg|Sweden File:Spain traffic signal s1.svg|Spain File:Zeichen 330 - Autobahn, StVO 1992.svg|Germany File:UK motorway symbol.svg|United Kingdom, Ireland File:CH-Hinweissignal-Autobahn.svg|Switzerland File:Autoroute F.svg|France File:Italian traffic signs - inizio autostrada.svg|Italy and Albania File:RO road sign G06.svg|Romania File:309 Diaľnica.svg|Slovakia File:Portugal road sign H24.svg|Portugal File:MK road sign 351.svg|North Macedonia The peripheral northern and eastern regions of the EU have a lower density motorway network. Within the European Union, there are 26 regions (
NUTS level 2) with no motorway network in 2013. Those regions are islands or remote regions, for instance four overseas French regions and Corsica. The Baltic member state of Latvia, as well as four regions from Poland, and two regions from each of Bulgaria and Romania also reported no motorway network; several of these regions bordered onto adjacent non-member countries to the east of the EU. European motorways provide reduced accident risks: 50% to 90% lower compared to standard roads, when new motorways only reduce injuries by 7%. This involved the construction of new roadways and the putting of contemporary signs. However, some state roads continue to deteriorate from lack of maintenance while others remain unfinished. File:Autostrada Durrës-Morina-04.jpg|A1 Nation's Highway in Northern Albania connecting Albania with Kosovo File:Krraba Tunnel.JPG|Krraba Tunnel on the A3 Tirana,
Elbasan, Albania File:A2 Levan Vlora.JPG|A2 Fier - Vlore known as the Independence Highway
Austria The Austrian autobahns () are controlled-access highways in Austria. They are officially called () under the authority of the federal government according to the Austrian Federal Road Act (), not to be confused with the former Bundesstraßen highways maintained by the Austrian states since 2002. Austria currently has 18 , since 1982 built and maintained by the self-financed ASFiNAG stock company in Vienna, which is wholly owned by the Austrian republic and earns revenue from road-user charges and tolls. Each route bears a number as well as an official name with local reference, which however is not displayed on road signs. Unusually for European countries, interchanges (between motorways called , "knots") are numbered by distance in kilometres starting from where the route begins; this arrangement is also used in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Spain, and most provinces of Canada (and in most American states, albeit in miles). The current Austrian Autobahn network has a total length of . File:Brenner-Autobahn_mit_der_Europabrücke_bei_Patsch.jpg|Brenner Autobahn near Innsbruck File:A22_Floridsdorfer_Brücke.jpg|A22 Donauuferautobahn, near the exit Floridsdorfer Brücke
Belgium In 1937, the first motorway between
Brussels and
Ostend was completed, following the example of neighbouring countries such as
Germany. It mainly served local industries and tourism as a connection between the capital city and a coastal region. However, the
Second World War and the reparation of the complete road network after the war caused a serious delay in the creation of other motorways. In 1949, the first plans were made to build a complete motorway network of that would be integrated with the neighbouring networks. Although the plans were ready, the construction of the motorway network was much slower than in neighbouring countries because the project was deemed not to be urgent. Because of economic growth in the 1960s, more citizens could afford cars, and the call for good-quality roads was higher than ever before. In each year between 1965 and 1973, over of motorway were built. At the end of the 1970s, the construction of motorways slowed down again due to costs, combined with an economic crisis, more expensive fuel and changing public opinion. In the following years, the only investments done were to complete already started motorway constructions. But most important cities were already connected. In 1981, the responsibilities for construction and maintenance of the motorways shifted from the federal to the regional governments. This sometimes caused tensions between the governments. For example, the part of the ring road around
Brussels that crosses
Wallonian territory has never been finished, since only
Flanders suffers from the unfinished ring. Belgium today has the longest total motorway length per area unit of any country in the world. Most motorway systems in Belgium have at least three lanes in each direction. Nearly all motorways have overhead lighting including those in rural areas. The dense population of Belgium and the still unfinished state of some motorways, such as the ring roads around Brussels and
Antwerp cause major traffic congestion on motorways. On an average Monday morning in 2012, there was a total of of traffic jams and the longest traffic jam of the year was , purely on the motorways.
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina has more than of highway, which connects
Kakanj-
Sarajevo. There is a plan to build highway on
Corridor Vc, which will go from
river Sava, across
Doboj, Sarajevo and
Mostar to
Adriatic Sea. Next sections are
Kakanj-Drivuša , Zenica Sjever-Drivuša , Svilaj-Odžak , Vlakovo-Tarčin , Počitelj-Bijača . The speed limit is or in tunnels. File:A1 - Bijaca (2).JPG|
A1 motorway, exit
Bijača, towards the Zvirovići interchange File:Mahovljanska.jpg|Mahovljanska interchange File:Autobahn-Sarajevo.jpg|A1 motorway
Bulgaria Legislation in
Bulgaria defines two types of highways: motorways (, ) and expressways (, ). The main differences are that motorways have
emergency lanes and the maximum allowed
speed limit is , while expressways do not have emergency lanes and the speed limit is . , of motorways are in service, with another under various stages of construction. More than are planned. Also, several expressways are planned. File:Trakia highway near to Nova Zagora.jpg|Trakia motorway near
Nova Zagora File:AM Evropa Dragoman-Slivnica 2.jpg|Europe motorway
Croatia The primary high-speed
motorways in
Croatia are called '''''' (singular: ; ), and they are defined as roads with at least two lanes in each direction (including
hard shoulder) and a speed limit of not less than . The typical speed limit is . As of 2025, there are of motorways in Croatia. There is also a category known as , meaning "expressway". These roads have a speed limit up to and are not legally required to be grade-separated, but nearly all are.
Cyprus Motorways (, ) connect all cities in Cyprus, although in the territory under
de facto Turkish control these do not meet international standards for the definition of motorways. In the areas administered by the Republic of Cyprus, motorway numbers are prefaced with the letter A, and run from A1 to A6, to distinguish them from all other roads, designated B roads. Of the A roads, all are designated motorways, except for the A4, linking Larnaca with Larnaca Airport. Motorways are also distinguishable by the use of green-backed road signs, with standard international graphics, and text in yellow in Greek and white in English, distinguishable from B road signage, which has signs with blue backgrounds. Motorway junctions are theoretically designated with junction numbers, but signage is not consistent is indicating the exit numbers.
Czech Republic The Czech Republic has currently (2023) of motorways () whose speed limit is (or within a town). The total length should be around 2030. The number of a motorway (in red) copies the number of the national route (in blue) which has been replaced by the motorway. There are also roads for motorcars (). Those common roads are not subject to a fee (in form of vignette) for vehicles with total weight up to and their speed limit is , partially up to .
Denmark Denmark has a well covered motorway system today, which has been difficult to build due to the county's geography with many islands. The longest bridges are the
Great Belt and the
Øresund bridges to Skåne (
Scania) in southern Sweden. Both are motorways with dual electrical train tracks added.
Finland Finland has of motorway, which is only a small proportion of the whole highway network. More than half of the length of the motorway network consists of six radial motorways originating in
Helsinki, to
Kirkkonummi (
Länsiväylä),
Turku (
Vt1/
E18),
Tampere (
Vt3/
E12),
Tuusula (
Kt45),
Heinola (
Vt4/
E75) and
Vaalimaa (
Vt7/
E18). These roads have a total length of . The other motorways are rather short sections close to the biggest cities, often designed to be bypasses. The motorway section on national roads
4 and
29, between
Simo and
Tornio, is said to be the northernmost motorway in the world. Finnish motorways do not have a separate road numbering scheme. Instead, they carry national highway numbers. In addition to signposted motorways, there are also some
limited-access two-lane expressways, and other grade-separated four-lane expressways (perhaps the most significant example being
Ring III near Helsinki). File:Valtatie 1.jpg|
Valtatie 1 near
Halikko File:Lassila KehaI+TietoEnator1m.jpg|
Ring I (
Kehä I) in
Pohjois-Haaga, a northern district of
Helsinki File:Itäväylä itäkeskuksen kohdalta kuvattuna.JPG|
Itäväylä in
Itäkeskus, the center of
East Helsinki France The
autoroute system in
France consists largely of
toll roads, except around large cities and in parts of the north. It is a network of worth of motorways. Autoroute destinations are shown in blue, while destinations reached through a combination of autoroutes are shown with an added autoroute logo. Toll autoroutes are signalled with the word (toll). File:Séparation A430 & A43.JPG|Cross between A430 motorway and A43 motorway File:Autoroute A2 - Barrière de péage de Hordain-5705.jpg|alt=Barrière de péage|Toll barrier in Hordain (south of Hordain), on
autoroute A2 Germany Germany's network of controlled-access expressways includes all federal and some parts of and usually no
Landesstraßen (state highways),
Kreisstraßen (district highways) nor
Gemeindestraßen (municipal highways). The federal Autobahn network has a total length of in 2020, making it one of the densest networks in the world. The German autobahns have no general
speed limit for some classes of vehicles (though nearly 30% of the total autobahn network is subject to local and/or conditional limits), but the
advisory speed limit () is . The lower class expressways usually have speed limits of or lower. File:Garching Bundesautobahn 9.jpg|German Motorway (
Autobahn) - one of the world's earliest motorways File:A5Langen.jpg|An autobahn with 4 lanes in each direction of travel for . The section between Zeppelinheim and Darmstadt is the oldest Autobahn. File:Bundesarchiv B 145 Bild-F088783-0003, Bei Bad Honnef, Ferienverkehr auf der A 3.jpg|The
A 3 in 1991 File:Verkehrszeichen auf der Bundesautobahn 20090320 001.JPG|Dynamic traffic signs on an Autobahn
Greece Greece's motorway network has been extensively modernised throughout the 1980s, 1990s and especially the 2000s, while part of it is still under construction. Most of it was completed by mid 2017 numbering around of motorways, making it the biggest highway network in Southeastern Europe and the Balkans and one of the most advanced in Europe. There are a total of 10 main routes throughout the Greek mainland and Crete, from which some feature numerous branches and auxiliary routes. Most important motorways are the
A1 Motorway connecting Greece's two largest cities (Athens and Thessaloniki), the
A2 motorway (Egnatia Odos), also known as the "horizontal road axis" of Greece, connecting almost all of Northern Greece from west to east and the
A8 motorway (Olympia Odos) connecting Athens and Patras. Another important motorway is the
A6 motorway (Attiki Odos), the main beltway of the Athens Metropolitan area. File:Motorway 1 (A1) as viewed from Katerini South interchange.png|
A1 south of
Katerini File:A2 Motorway, Greece - Section Siatista-Kozani - Kalamia Exit - 04.jpg|
A2 exit near
Kozani File:Athens-Kiffisia-aerial.jpg|Aerial view of an
A6 interchange north of
Athens Hungary In Hungary, a controlled-access highway is called an (plural ). File:M0 Eastern Sector.JPG|Eastern section of
M0 File:AutobahnM1HU-2.JPG|
M1 between,
Vértes and
Gerecse Mountains File:Koroshegy viaduct 02.jpg|
M7 motorway in Köröshegyi völgyhíd File:M7 Near Budapest.JPG|M1 - M7 common phase, near
Budapest Ireland In
Ireland the
Local Government (Roads and Motorways) Act 1974 made motorways possible, although the first section, the
M7 Naas Bypass, did not open until 1983. The first section of the
M50 opened in 1990, a part of which was Ireland's first
toll motorway, the
West-Link. However it would be the 1990s before substantial sections of motorway were opened in Ireland, with the first completed motorway—the
M1 motorway—being finished in 2005. Under the
Transport 21 infrastructural plan, motorways or high quality dual carriageways were built between
Dublin and the major cities of
Cork,
Galway,
Limerick and
Waterford by the end of 2010. Other shorter sections of motorway either have been or will be built on some other main routes. In 2007 legislation (the
Roads Bill 2007) was created to allow
existing roads be designated motorways by order because previously legislation allowed only for newly built roads to be designated motorways. As a result, most HQDCs nationwide (other than some sections near Dublin on the
N4 and
N7, which did not fully meet motorway standards) were reclassified as motorways. The first stage in this process occurred when all the HQDC schemes open or under construction on the N7 and N8, and between
Kinnegad and
Athlone on the N6 and
Kilcullen and south of
Carlow on the N9, were reclassified motorway on 24 September 2008. Further sections of dual carriageway were reclassified in 2009. As of December 2011, the Republic of Ireland has around of motorways. File:NewM50Dublin.JPG|Gantry signage on the
M50 File:M8 at junction 15 tolled.JPG|A section of the
M8 Italy Roads in Italy are an important mode of
transport in Italy. The world's first motorway was the , inaugurated on 21 September 1924 in
Italy. It linked
Milan to
Varese; it was then extended to
Como, near the border with
Switzerland, inaugurated on 28 June 1925.
Piero Puricelli, the engineer who designed this new type of road, decided to cover the expenses by introducing a
toll. Other motorways (or ) built before
World War II in
Italy were
Naples-
Pompeii,
Florence-
Pisa,
Padua-
Venice,
Milan-
Turin, Milan-
Bergamo-
Brescia and
Rome-
Ostia. The total length of the
Italian motorway system is about , as of 30 July 2022. To these data are added 13 motorway
spur routes, which extend for . The density is of motorway for every of Italian territory. Italian motorways (or ) are mostly managed by concessionaire companies. From 1 October 2012 the granting body is the
Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport and no longer
Anas and the majority ( in 2009) are subject to
toll payments. On Italian motorways, the
toll applies to almost all motorways not managed by
Anas. The collection of motorway tolls, from a tariff point of view, is managed mainly in two ways: either through the "closed motorway system" (km travelled) or through the "open motorway system" (flat-rate toll). Italy's motorways (or ) have a standard speed limit of for cars. Limits for other vehicles (or when visibility is poor due to weather) are lower. Legal provisions allow operators to set the limit to 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. Type B highway (), commonly but unofficially known as (Italian equivalent for
expressway), is a divided highway with at least two lanes in each direction, paved shoulder on the right, no cross-traffic and no at-grade intersections. Access restrictions on such highways are exactly the same as motorways (or ). The signage at the beginning and the end of the is the same, except the background colour is blue instead of green. The general speed limit on is , unless otherwise indicated. are not tolled. File:Autostrada A20 Torregrotta.jpg|
Autostrada A20 runs through the island of
Sicily linking
Palermo to
Messina File:MassarosaA11A12.JPG|
Autostrada A11 runs through
Tuscany linking
Florence to
Pisa File:Tribiano - tangenziale est esterna.jpg|
Autostrada A58 is the second
ring road east of
Milan after the
Autostrada A51 File:A22 Autostrada - Brenner Pass from Verona to Bolzano (5994736833).jpg|
Autostrada A22 runs through
Po Valley and
Alps linking
Modena to
Brenner Pass, a
mountain pass which forms the
border between Italy and
Austria File:A4 uscita Bergamo.jpg|
Autostrada A4 runs through
Po Valley linking
Turin and
Trieste via
Milan and
Venice File:Fort of Bard.JPG|
Autostrada A5 connects
Turin and the
Aosta Valley to
France, through the
Mont Blanc Tunnel Latvia There is currently one category of controlled-access highways in
Latvia, which are expressways () with maximum speed . The first expressway in Latvia opened in October 2023, the Ķekava Bypass, which is a part of the
A7. Current length of the expressway network is .
Lithuania There are two categories of controlled-access highways in
Lithuania: expressways () with maximum speed and motorways () with maximum speed . The first section
Vilnius–
Kaunas of
A1 highway was completed in 1970.
Kaunas–
Klaipėda section of
A1 was completed in 1987.
Vilnius-
Panevėžys (
A2 highway) was completed in stages during the 1980s and finished in the 1990s. Complete length of the motorway network is . Expressway network length - . Motorway section between
Kaunas and the Polish border is planned to be completed in the 2020s. File:A1_by_Augustas_Didzgalvis.jpg|
A1 motorway near
Kaunas File:Kelias_A2,_ties_Tauj%C4%97nais.JPG|
A2 motorway near
Taujėnai File:U_turn_A2_Lithuania.JPG|Motorway junction with U-turns.
A2 motorway near
Raguva.
Montenegro Montenegro has had a
motorway since 13 July 2022, when the first section of the
Bar-Boljare motorway was inaugurated. On Montenegrin motorways, the speed-limit is 100 kilometres per hour (62 mph). In May 2015 work started on the first section in Montenegro,
Smokovac -
Uvač -
Mateševo, with a length of 41 kilometres File:A-1 motorway in Montenegro.jpg|Princess Xenia motorway A-1 of July 2022
Netherlands Roads in the Netherlands include at least of motorways and expressways, and with a motorway density of 64 kilometres per 1,000 km2 (103 mi/1,000 mi2), the country has one of the densest
motorway networks in the world. About are fully constructed to motorway standards, These are called or simply , and
numbered and signposted with an
A and up to three digits, like
A12. They are consistently built with
at least two carriageways,
guard rails and
interchanges with
grade separation. Since September 2012, the nationwide maximum speed has been raised to , but on many stretches speed is still limited to . Dutch motorways may only be used by motor vehicles both
capable and
legally allowed to go at least . In March 2020, the general speed limit on Dutch motorways was lowered to during the day (6 am until 7 pm). At night, the maximum speed is different per stretch, but remained the upper limit. Dutch roads are used with a very high intensity in relation to the network length
Norway Norway has (2022) of motorways, in addition to of
limited-access roads (in Norwegian ) where pedestrians, bicycles, etc. are forbidden, though with a bit lower standard than true motorway. Most of the network serves the big cities, chiefly
Oslo,
Stavanger and
Bergen. Northernmost motorway is, as of 2022, on E6 just south of
Trondheim: see also the E6, E18 and the E39. Most motorways use four-ramp
Dumbbell interchanges, but also
Roundabout interchanges can be found. The first motorway was built in 1964, just outside Oslo. The motorways' road pattern layout is similar to those in the United States and Canada, featuring a yellow stripe towards the median, and white stripes between the lanes and on the edge. The speed limits are .
Poland The highways in
Poland are divided into motorways and expressways, both types featuring grade-separated
interchanges with all other roads,
emergency lanes, feeder lanes, wildlife protection measures and dedicated roadside
rest areas. Motorways can be only
dual carriageways, while expressways can be dual or, rarely,
single carriageways. The start of an expressway in Poland is marked with a sign of white car on blue background, while number sign for an expressway is of red background and white letters, with the letter S preceding a number. Speed limits in Poland are on motorways and on dual-carriageway expressways. The Regulation of the
Council of Ministers defines the network of motorways and expressways in Poland totalling about (including about of motorways). As of July 2022, there are of motorways and expressways in operation (58% of the intended network), while contracts for construction of further of motorways and expressways (15% of the intended network) are ongoing. File:Autostrada A4 w Polsce w okolicy Jaworzna, czerwiec 2022, 556.jpg|A4 near Jaworzno, opened in 1983 File:Wezelsosnicafromthesky.JPG|Interchange of
A1 and
A4 near
Gliwice File:New bridge (Rędziński).jpg|
Rędziński Bridge File:Wrocław, Autostradowa obwodnica Wrocławia A8 (AOW) - fotopolska.eu (239268).jpg|
Wrocław Stadion junction File:S5 Bydgoszcz z węzła Lotnisko 2.jpg|
Expressway S5 near
Bydgoszcz Portugal Portugal was the third country in Europe—after Italy and Germany—to build a motorway (, plural: ), opening, in 1944, the
Lisbon-
Estádio Nacional section of the present
A5 (Autoestrada da Costa do Estoril). Additional motorway sections were built in the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. However, the large-scale building of motorways started only in the late 1980s. Currently, Portugal has a very well-developed network of motorways, with about a extension, that connects all the highly populated coastal regions of the country and the main cities of the less populous interior. This means that 87% of the Portuguese population lives at less than 15 minutes' driving time from a motorway access. Unlike the neighbouring Spanish network, most of Portuguese motorways are tolled, although there are also some non-tolled highways, mostly in urban areas, like those of
Greater Lisbon and
Greater Oporto. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the
Government of Portugal created seven
shadow toll concessions, the SCUT toll (, no costs for the user). In those concessions it were included more than of motorways and highways, some of them already built, others which were built in the following years. However, due to economical and political reasons, the shadow toll concept was abolished between 2010 and 2011, with electronic toll equipment being installed in these motorways, to charge their users. Having only electronic tolls, former SCUT motorways can now only be used by vehicles equipped with electronic payment devices or vehicles registered in the system. Portuguese motorways form an independent network (, National Motorway Network), that overlaps with the Fundamental and Complementary subnetworks of the National Highway Network (). Each motorway section overlapping with the Fundamental subnetwork is part of an IP (, Principal route) and each motorway section overlapping with the Complementary subnetwork is part of an IC (, Complementary route). Thus, a motorway can overlap with sections of different IP or IC routes and - on the other hand - an IP or IC route can overlap with sections of different motorways. An example is
A22 motorway, which overlaps with sections of IP1 and of IC4 routes; another example is IP1 route, which overlaps with sections of the A22,
A2, A12,
A1 and
A3 motorways. The National Motorway Network has a proper numbering system in which each motorway has a number prefixed by the letter "A". In most cases, a motorway signage indicates only its A number. The number of the IP or IC of which a motorway section is a part is not signed except in some short motorways which lack a proper A number. File:A5 Lisbon.jpg|A5 (Lisbon-Cascais) motorway, inaugurated in 1944 as the first motorway in Portugal File:Auto estrada A1.jpg|A1 (Lisbon-Oporto) motorway, the main road link between the two largest cities of the country File:Viaduto do Corgo (Corgo Viaduct), Vila Real, Portugal (2015-01) (17679614363)2.jpg|
Corgo viaduct, part of the A4 (Oporto-Bragança) motorway File:A27 Ponte Lima Viana Castelo 20050801.jpg|Tunnel at the A27 (Ponte de Lima-Viana do Castelo) motorway
Romania As of 27 November 2025, Romania has of highways in use, with more under construction. The first motorway in Romania was completed in 1972, linking
Bucharest and
Pitești. The
Romanian Government has adopted a General Master Plan for Transport that was approved by the European Union in July 2015, containing the strategy for expanding the road (including motorway) network until 2040, using EU co-financing. File:A1 Arad-Timisoara - 02.JPG|A1 motorway between Arad and Timișoara File:A1 (Rumänien) 03.JPG|A1 motorway near Sibiu File:A2 motorway Romania.JPG|A2 motorway near Cernavodă interchange File:A3 (Romania).jpg|A3 motorway between Gilău and Turda File:A7 Bacău Bypass, Holt Interchange.jpg|A7 motorway near Bacău Bypass File:A10 motorway between Turda and Aiud, Romania.jpg|A10 motorway and the hills of Transilvania
Russia In 2025,
Russia will have a nationwide motorway network with a length of and expressway network of . The motorways and expressways have the numbering of the
Russian federal highway network or their own name, as there is no separate numbering system for motorways and expressways and their sections are mostly part of the Russian federal highway network. The legal
speed limit on motorways and expressways is 110 km/h, and 130 km/h on some newly upgraded sections of motorway. Sections of Russian federal highway that have been upgraded to motorway status are marked with green signs. Federal highway roads that have been upgraded to expressways or
dual and single carriageway with
road junction are marked with blue signs. In the classification of Russian federal highway roads, motorways are assigned to technical category IA and expressways to technical category IB. File:Транспортная развязка на пересечении М-2 «Крым» и А-107 «Московское малое кольцо» (август 2017).jpg|Transportation interchange at the intersection of
M2 and
A107 File:М11 указатель.jpg|Motorway
M11 between
Moscow and
Klin File:Die neu eröffnete Autobahn M4 bei Nowotscherkassk.jpg|Motorway
M4 in
Novocherkassk File:M9 Istrinsky District 2.JPG|Motorway
M9 and European route
E22 with green signs File:Развязка на М11 1.jpg|Motorway
M11 interchange
Okulovka File:Spb 06-2017 img39 Krestovsky Stadium.jpg|The
Western High-Speed Diameter next to the
Krestovsky Stadium Serbia Motorways () and expressways () are the backbone of the road system in
Serbia. As of July 2025 there are of motorways in total. Motorways in Serbia have three lanes (including emergency lane) in each direction, signs are white-on-green, as in the rest of former Yugoslavia and the normal speed limit is . Expressways, unlike motorways, do not have emergency lanes, signs are white-on-blue and the normal speed limit is . As the Serbian word for motorway is , the "A1", "A2" or "A3"
road designations are used since November 2013. All state roads categorized as class I, that are motorways currently of in the future, are marked with one-digit numbers and known as class Ia. All other roads, which belong to class I, are marked with two-digit numbers and known as class Ib. Expressways belong to class Ib, too.
E-numeration is also widely used on motorways. The core of the motorways is what was once called during Yugoslav period, the
Brotherhood and Unity Highway, which was opened in 1950 and goes from the border with Croatia, through
Belgrade, Central Serbia,
Niš, and to border with North Macedonia. It was one of the first modern highways in Central-Eastern Europe. It is the most direct link between Central and Western Europe with Greece and Turkey, and subsequently the Middle-East. File:E-75 in Serbia.JPG|
A1/
E-75 motorway in Serbia File:Petlja Dobanovci - Niš - Budapest.jpg|Dobanovci interchange, directions to
Niš and
Budapest File:Motorway A2 (Serbia), Tunnel Savinac.jpg|Motorway
A2, Tunnel Savinac
Slovakia Slovakia has currently (2022) of motorways (, ) and
expressways (, ) whose speed limit is . They are split into expressways and motorways with expressways starting with a , short for "", but from April 2020 all the expressways in Slovakia were known as motorways due to that the expressways are very similar to the motorways in Slovakia. An e-vignette is paid to use the motorways in Slovakia, while before drives used to pay a sticker vignette, but from 2016 drivers pay electronically through the website. There is another type of road called road for motor vehicles () and the speed limits on these roads range from (but most are limited to ). They are built as dual carriageways with a few sections being single carriageways. Some motorways that are single carriageways are labeled as "roads for motor vehicles". File:Slovakia15D1Highway92.JPG|Motorway
D1 near
Spišské Podhradie with
Spiš Castle in the background File:Povazsky Chlmec.jpg|Považský Chlmec Tunnel on
D3 before opening File:VysokeTatry11Slovakia17.JPG|View of the
High Tatras from the D1 near
Poprad File:R1Expressway11Slovakia29.jpg|Expressway
R1 near
Nitra File:Dopravná značka IP23a.svg|Old sign for motorways File:Dopravná značka IP22a.svg|Old sign for expressways File:D4 luzny bridge.jpg|The
D4 crossing the
Danube river File:Povazka Bystrica viaduct.jpg|The
Považská Bystrica viaduct
Slovenia The highways in Slovenia are the central state roads in Slovenia and are divided into
motorways (, ) and
expressways (, ). Motorways are
dual carriageways with a speed limit of . They have white-on-green road signs as in Italy, Croatia and other countries nearby. Expressways are secondary roads, also dual carriageways, but without an
emergency lane. They have a speed limit of and have white-on-blue road signs. File:Avtocesta A1 v Vodolah.jpg|
A1 motorway at
Vodole Klanec Medvedjek A2.jpg|The Medvedjek Slope on the eastern part of the
A2 (
Lower Carniola) File:Toll station Log Slovenia 2.jpg|The toll station at Log pri Brezovici Avtocesta a1 IMG 2347,.jpg|A1 near
Postojna Spain The Spanish network of and has a length of , making it the largest in Europe and the third in the world. are specifically reserved for automobile travel, so all vehicles not able to sustain at least are banned from them. General speed limits are mandated by the Spanish Traffic Law as . Specific limits may be imposed based on road, meteorological or traffic conditions. Spanish legislation requires an alternate route to be provided for slower vehicles. Many, but not all, are toll roads, which also mandates an alternate toll-free route under the Spanish laws. File:M40 outside Madrid.jpg|The
M-40 (motorway) is one of the beltways serving Madrid. It is one of the few non-toll of significant length. File:A5 Navalcarnero.jpg|The
A-5 (expressway) near Navalcarnero,
Madrid. Note the mostly nonexistent acceleration lane in the road joining from the bottom right. File:Algaba.jpg|Modern (expressway) such as the A-66 near Guillena,
Seville, offer most, if not all, features that are required by an (motorway).
Sweden Sweden has the largest motorway network in
Scandinavia (). It is, however, unevenly allocated. Most motorways are located in the south of the country, where the
population density is the highest. The first motorway in Sweden opened in 1953, between
Lund and
Malmö. Four-lane expressways had been built before, an early example is
E20 between
Gothenburg and
Alingsås, built in the early 1940s. Most of the current network was built in the 1970s and 1990s.
E6 starts i
Trelleborg in southern Sweden, it then continues along the Swedish western coast, up to the
Svinesund bridge which is where Sweden borders to Norway. Its length is close to on Swedish territory alone, and it connects four of
Scandinavia's six largest cities,
Copenhagen,
Malmö,
Gothenburg and
Oslo together, as well as around 20 other more or less notable towns and cities. A Swedish (partly motorway) route (rather than road) that also has a significant portion of the Swedish motorway network, is
European route E4, which runs from the border city of
Tornio in northern Finland to
Helsingborg in southern Sweden. E4 is the main route that connects the capital Stockholm with
Scania. All of E4 south of the city
Gävle is of motorway standard. The part of E4 that runs through western
Stockholm is called
Essingeleden and is the busiest road in Sweden. Other highways that have a significant portion of motorway standard are E20,
E18 and
E22. Motorways in Sweden are however not restricted to European routes; so called and other regional road types can also be of motorway standard. An example of this is . is the main link between the largest cities in the country, Stockholm and
Gothenburg. Notably, not even the majority of the
European route- network in Sweden is motorway or even have expressway standard. All of this is because road numbering and road standard is separate in Sweden, as in the rest of Scandinavia. File:E22 Nättraby motorväg västerut mot Karlskrona.jpg|E22 Motorway westbound towards
Karlskrona File:Sodra lanken vasterut.jpg|The
Södra länken Rv-75 ring road in
Stockholm Switzerland Switzerland has a two-class highway system: motorways with separated roads for oncoming traffic and a standard maximal speed limit of , and expressways often with oncoming traffic and a standard maximal speed limit of . In
Switzerland as of April 2011, there were of a planned of motorway completed. The country is mountainous with a high proportion of tunnels: there are 220 totalling , which is over 12% of the total motorway length. File:Gotthard autobahn.jpg|Autobahn
A2 near the northern portal of the
Gotthard tunnel File:A3 - Käferberg - Zürich-Wollishofen-Brunau 2010-09-10 15-51-52.JPG|
A3 in
Zürich File:CH HighwayPictures AG 62.jpg|Autobahn
A1/A3 near Birrfeld
Turkey Motorways () of
Turkey are a network in constant development. All motorways (O coded), except beltways, are toll roads (using only
RFID methods for the roads that operated by
KGM; cash and credit card payment is also possible for the roads that operated by private companies), mostly six lanes wide, illuminated and with speed limit. As of 2024, total length of the motorways is long in total. File:Turkish state road D 750.JPG|
D.750 at
Konya junction.
Toros Mountains in the background. File:ORHANGAZİ KAVŞAĞI-min.jpg|Orhangazi Junction in Bursa, O-5
United Kingdom Great Britain near Heathrow Airport A map
Showing Future Pattern of Principal National Routes was issued by the
Ministry of War Transport in 1946 shortly before the law that allowed roads to be restricted to specified classes of vehicle (the
Special Roads Act 1949) was passed. The first section of motorway, the
M6 Preston Bypass, opened in 1958 followed by the first major section of motorway (the
M1 between
Crick and Berrygrove in
Watford), which opened in 1959. by 1972 the first of motorway had been built. While roads outside of urban areas continued to be built throughout the 1970s, opposition to urban routes became more pronounced. Most notably, plans by the
Greater London Council for a series of
ringways were cancelled following extensive
road protests and a rise in costs. In 1986 the single-ring,
M25 motorway was completed as a compromise. In 1996 the total length of motorways reached . Motorways in Great Britain, as in numerous European countries, will nearly always have the following characteristics: • No traffic lights (except occasionally on slip roads before reaching the main carriageway). • Exit is nearly always via a numbered junction and slip road, with rare minor exceptions. • Pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles below a specified engine size are banned. • There is a central reservation separating traffic flowing in opposing directions (the only exception to this is the A38(M) in
Birmingham where the central reservation is replaced by another lane in which the direction of traffic changes depending on the time of day. There was another small spur motorway near
Manchester with no solid central reservation, but this was declassified as a motorway in the 2000s.) • No at grade junctions. On motorways in Great Britain there were 99 fatalities in 2017 for 69 billion vehicle miles travelled, a reduction from 183 fatalities in 2007. which is equivalent to 1.43 fatalities per billion vehicle miles travelled.
Northern Ireland Legal authority existed in the
Special Roads Act (Northern Ireland) 1963 similar to that in the 1949 Act. The first motorway to open was the
M1 motorway, though it did so under temporary powers until the Special Roads Act had been passed. Work on the motorways continued until the 1970s when the
oil crisis and
The Troubles both intervened causing the abandonment of many schemes.
Oceania Australia Australia's major cities,
Sydney,
Melbourne,
Brisbane,
Perth, and
Adelaide feature a network of freeways within their urban areas, while
Canberra,
Hobart,
Darwin, and the regional centres of
Newcastle,
Geelong,
Gold Coast and
Wollongong feature a selection of limited-access routes. Outside these areas traffic volumes do not generally demand freeway-standard access, although heavily trafficked regional corridors such as Sydney–Newcastle (
M1 Pacific Motorway (F3)), Sydney–Wollongong (
M1 Princes Motorway (F6)), Brisbane–Gold Coast (M1
Pacific Motorway), Melbourne–Geelong (M1
Princes Freeway), Perth-Mandurah (SR2
Kwinana Freeway) and that form part of major long-distance routes feature high-standard freeway links. The M31
Hume Highway/Freeway/Motorway connecting
Sydney and
Melbourne, the M23
Federal Highway spur route that connects
Canberra with
Sydney and the A1/M1
Pacific Highway/Motorway connecting
Sydney and
Brisbane are the only major interstate highways that are completed to a continuous dual carriageway standard. There are also plans to upgrade the A25
Barton Highway, another spur off the M31 that connects
Canberra with
Melbourne, to a dual carriageway highway. Although these inter-city highways are dual carriageway they are not all controlled access highways. Some of these inter-city highways have driveways to adjacent property and at-grade junctions with smaller roads. Unlike many other countries, some of Australia's freeways are being opened to cyclists. As the respective state governments upgrade their state's freeways, bicycle lanes are being added and/or
shoulders widened alongside the freeways. The state of Queensland is an exception however, as cyclists are banned from all freeways, including the breakdown lane. Motorways referred to as an expressway in Australia include the
Hunter Expressway, which connects the
Hunter Valley with
Newcastle, and the
Southern Expressway, which connects Adelaide's outer southern suburbs to the southwestern suburbs. File:Tuggeranong Parkway.jpg|Aerial view of
Tuggeranong Parkway in the
Australian Capital Territory File:Deer Park Bypass eastbound at Western Ring Road.jpg|Deer Park Bypass on the
Western Freeway File:Tasman-hwy-warrane.jpg|The
Tasman Highway in
Tasmania File:Mooney Mooney Bridge, Sydney-Newcastle Fwy..JPG|The
M1 Pacific Motorway is the major road transport link between the cities of
Sydney and
Brisbane.
New Zealand The term
motorway in
New Zealand encompasses multilane divided freeways as well as narrower two- to four-lane undivided
expressways with varying degrees of
grade separation; the term
motorway describes the legal traffic restrictions rather than the type of road. New Zealand's motorway network is small due to the nation's low population density and low traffic volumes making it uneconomical to build controlled-access highways outside the major urban centres. New Zealand's first motorway opened in December 1950 near
Wellington, running from
Johnsonville to
Tawa. This motorway now forms the southern part of the
Johnsonville-Porirua Motorway and part of
State Highway 1. Auckland's first stretch of motorway was opened in 1953 between Ellerslie and Mount Wellington (between present-day exit 435 and exit 438), and now forms part of the
Southern Motorway. Most major urban areas in New Zealand feature limited-access highways.
Auckland,
Wellington,
Christchurch,
Hamilton,
Tauranga, and
Dunedin contain motorways, with only Auckland having a substantial motorway network. ==See also==