A
tourist highway,
tourist route, or
holiday route is a road that is
marketed as being particularly suited for
tourists. Tourist highways may be formed when existing roads are promoted with
traffic signs and
advertising material. Some tourist highways such as the
Blue Ridge Parkway are built especially for tourism purposes. Others may be roadways enjoyed by local citizens in areas of unique or exceptional natural beauty, such as the
Lake District. Still others, such as the
Lincoln Highway in Illinois are former main roads, only designated as "scenic" after most traffic bypasses them (termed
scenic highway in the United States). Some tourist routes, such as
Great West Way, can be described as '
multi-modal', able to be followed by a mix of transportation types, including road, waterway, rail, bicycle or on foot. In Europe and other countries around the world, they are often marked with brown
tourist signs with the individual route symbol or name, or both.
United States In the United States, a
scenic route may also refer to a type of
special route of the
U.S. highway system that travels through a particularly beautiful area. These special routes, which boast "Scenic" banners are typically longer than the "parent route". There is only one route in the country that remains with the official scenic designation:
U.S. Route 40 Scenic in
Maryland. Scenic byways in the United States also include state,
National Scenic Byway,
National Forest Scenic Byways and
Bureau of Land Management Back Country Byways programs which designate roads or routes as scenic byways due to some unique characteristics.
National Parkways are scenic roads in the
National Park System built for recreational driving through scenic or historic areas. Unlike most scenic routes, National Parkways are built with a buffer of park land along both sides of the roadway. They also may have large satellite parks or recreation areas built periodically along their length. Most
National Historic Trails are commemorative motor routes which follow historic pathways. ==Theme routes==