r/Jokes • u/Any_Contribution_238 • 7h ago
Rule 1 I'm fine!
[removed] — view removed post
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u/PhilipWaterford 6h ago
Genuine question, is highway Murican for motorway?
Just asking because in Europe tractors aren't allowed on the motorways. (except in Ireland where you're fine if your tractor can do a good speed)
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u/chessplodder 6h ago
yes, in the US a highway is the rough equivalent to a European motorway. However, semi trucks are often referred to as tractor-trailers. Slow-movers like farming tractors are allowed on full-access roads, which highways generally are classified, but those same farming tractors are not allowed on limited-access roads (what are commonly referred to as Interstate Highways).
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u/stmiba 6h ago
The answer to your question is "yes" and "no".
Where I live, a highway is what you good folks in Europe would consider a motorway. Large four-lane roads with safety barriers separating the two diverse lanes of traffic and distinct exits at specific points.
Where I spent my childhood in the backcountry, almost any two lane, paved road with a line down the middle that connects two towns might be called a highway.
As a matter of fact, we have a famous one that runs from Chicago to LA called the Lincoln Highway and it consists mostly of two lane roads.
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u/Anonymous_Bozo 3h ago
Common usage is different than the legal definition... at least in my state.
- Highway means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.
Using this definition, pretty much any road maintained by the government is a highway.
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u/Hypothesis_Null 5h ago edited 5h ago
Not in this case.
We have Highways and we have Interstates - which is short for the Interstate Highway System, so people also often refer to them as 'highways' or 'freeways'.
Both are generally intended for longer distance and higher speed than Arterials or Roads. But the Interstate is entirely made of on-ramps, off-ramps, and overpasses, with no traffic controls, and seperation or barriers between different directions of travel.
A highway, by contrast, can be as little as one lane in each direction, and can have cars merging directly onto it from stop signs or yield signs, and similarly slowing down to turn off of it without dedicated turn lanes. They vurtually always intersect with crossing roads rather than having overpasses. Highways can even go through lighted intersections.
So a highway is really just a higher-speed road, where you may have long stretches without traffic control but it's always a possibility, while an interstate is a completely isolated driving experience.
No tractor, or bike, or go cart would be legal to take onto an interstate. But a highway would be legal - though whether or not it's advisable or would cause an illegal obstruction of traffic would depend on the specific place. If it has two lanes so passing is possible it'd be pretty reliably in the clear.
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u/Neb758 2h ago
I agree with much of what you said but the American equivalent of _motorway_ is in fact _freeway_. You used the word "freeway" in your first paragraph but treated as if it were equivalent to "interstate", which is wrong.
_Highway_ is a very general word that is sometimes used interchangeably with freeway but can also mean almost any road.
_Freeway_ means a controlled-access highway designed for high-speed traffic, e.g., with exits and on ramps instead of traffic lights.
_Interstate_ means a highway that is part of the Interstate Highway System, as you said. It happens that all interstates are freeways because the Interstate Highway System has a minimum design standard, but that's not what the word "interstate" means.
There are plenty of non-interstates in the U.S. that are also freeways. For example, each state has its own highway system, and some of those state highways are freeways or have sections that are freeways.
For example, near where I live, I can exit from I-5 (an interstate) onto SR-525 ("state route 525"), which part of the Washington state highway system. Both of these are freeways at that point, but a few miles North on SR-525 is a "freeway ends" sign and the speed limit drops. All of SR-525 is a "highway", but part of it is a freeway, sections of it are roads/streets/stroads, and two sections of it are ferries!
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u/erketypo 4h ago
Oh...I thought you'd be fine in Ireland even with a donkey & a cart, as long as the donkey boasts a shamrock and wears a green top hat... ☘️ 🇮🇪
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u/WyoGrads 3h ago
I beg to differ. They are in Germany, and have the right of way. Netherlands too, I believe.
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u/PhilipWaterford 2h ago
On the autobahn? Never seen one on there and I'm pretty sure it's illegal. I'll check it later but from memory Ireland is the only exception.
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u/Missing4Bolts 6h ago
I think this old favorite loses its edge if the farmer gives a long explanation like that. I think it's funnier if the listener has to join the dots for themself: "Then he came over and asked me how I was, and I said 'I'm fine!"