Editing Road transport (section)

===Toll roads===
{{globalize section|the United States|date=November 2021}}
{{main|Toll road}}
[[File:Eastlink - Wellington Rd Nortbound Toll Gantry.JPG|thumb|Eastlink - Wellington Rd Northbound Toll Gantry]]
Early [[toll road]]s were usually built by private companies under a government franchise. They typically paralleled or replaced routes already with some volume of commerce, hoping the improved road would divert enough traffic to make the enterprise profitable. Plank roads were particularly attractive as they greatly reduced rolling resistance and mitigated the problem of getting mired in mud. Another improvement, better grading to lessen the steepness of the worst stretches, allowed draft animals to haul heavier loads.

A ''toll road'' in the United States is often called a ''turnpike''. The term ''turnpike'' probably originated from the gate, often a simple pike, which blocked passage until the fare was paid at a ''toll house'' (or ''toll booth'' in current terminology). When the toll was paid the pike, which was mounted on a swivel, was turned to allow the vehicle to pass. Tolls were usually based on the type of cargo being transported, not the type of vehicle. The practice of selecting routes so as to avoid tolls is called [[shunpiking]]. This may be simply to avoid the expense, as a form of economic protest (or [[boycott]]), or simply to seek a road less traveled as a bucolic interlude.

Companies were formed to build, improve, and maintain a particular section of roadway, and tolls were collected from users to finance the enterprise. The enterprise was usually named to indicate the locale of its roadway, often including the name of one of both of the termini. The word ''turnpike'' came into common use in the names of these roadways and companies, and is essentially used interchangeably with ''toll road'' in current terminology.

In the [[United States]], toll roads began with the [[Lancaster Turnpike]] in the 1790s, within [[Pennsylvania]], connecting [[Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] and [[Lancaster, Pennsylvania|Lancaster]]. In the state of [[New York (state)|New York]], the [[Great Western Turnpike]] was started in [[Albany, New York|Albany]] in 1799 and eventually extended, by several alternate routes, to near what is now [[Syracuse, New York]].

Toll roads peaked in the mid 19th century, and by the turn of the twentieth century most toll roads were taken over by state highway departments. The demise of this early toll road era was due to the rise of canals and railroads, which were more efficient (and thus cheaper) in moving freight over long distances. Roads wouldn't again be competitive with rails and barges until the first half of the 20th century when the internal combustion engine replaces draft animals as the source of motive power.

With the development, mass production, and popular embrace of the automobile, faster and higher capacity roads were needed. In the 1920s limited access highways appeared. Their main characteristics were dual roadways with access points limited to (but not always) grade-separated interchanges. Their dual roadways allowed high volumes of [[traffic]], the need for no or few [[traffic light]]s along with relatively gentle grades and curves allowed higher speeds.

The first limited access highways were ''Parkways'', so called because of their often park-like [[landscaping]] and, in the metropolitan [[New York City]] area, they connected the region's system of parks. When the [[German autobahns]] built in the 1930s introduced higher design standards and speeds, road planners and road-builders in the United States started developing and building toll roads to similar high standards. The [[Pennsylvania Turnpike]], which largely followed the path of a partially built railroad, was the first, opening in 1940.

After 1940 with the [[Pennsylvania Turnpike]], toll roads saw a resurgence, this time to fund limited access highways. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, after [[World War II]] interrupted the evolution of the highway, the US resumed building toll roads. They were to still higher standards and one road, the [[New York State Thruway]], had standards that became the prototype for the [[Interstate highway|U.S. Interstate Highway System]]. Several other major toll-roads which connected with the Pennsylvania Turnpike were established before the creation of the Interstate Highway System. These were the [[Indiana Toll Road]], [[Ohio Turnpike]], and [[New Jersey Turnpike]].

====Interstate Highway System====
{{main|Interstate Highway System}}
[[File:Arizona - North America - Southwest - Interstate Highway System (4893585908).jpg|thumb|Arizona - North America - Southwest - Interstate Highway System (4893585908)]]
[[File:San Diego Trolley over Interstate 8.jpg|thumb|San Diego Trolley over Interstate 8]]
In the United States, beginning in 1956, Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly called the [[Interstate Highway System]] was built. It uses 12 foot (3.65m) lanes, wide [[Central reservation|medians]], a maximum of 4% [[Grade (slope)|grade]], and full access control, though many sections don't meet these standards due to older construction or constraints. This system created a continental-sized network meant to connect every population center of 50,000 people or more.

By 1956, most limited access highways in the eastern United States were toll roads. In that year, the [[Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956]] was passed, funding non-toll roads with 90% federal dollars and 10% state match, giving little incentive for states to expand their turnpike system. Funding rules initially restricted collections of tolls on newly funded roadways, bridges, and tunnels. In some situations, expansion or rebuilding of a toll facility using Interstate Highway Program funding resulted in the removal of existing tolls. This occurred in [[Virginia]] on [[Interstate 64]] at the [[Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel]] when a second parallel roadway to the regional 1958 [[bridge-tunnel]] was completed in 1976.

Since the completion of the initial portion of the Interstate Highway System, regulations were changed, and portions of toll facilities have been added to the system. Some states are again looking at toll financing for new roads and maintenance, to supplement limited federal funding. In some areas, new road projects have been completed with [[public-private partnerships]] funded by tolls, such as the [[Pocahontas Parkway]] (I-895) near [[Richmond, Virginia]].

The newest policy passed by Congress and the Obama administration regarding highways is the [[Surface and Air Transportation Programs Extension Act of 2011]].