Editing Highway (section)

== History ==
{{See also|Road|History of road transport}}
[[File:Autostrada between Varese and Como.jpg|thumb|right|The Italian ''[[Autostrada dei Laghi]]'' ("Lakes Highway" in the 1950s; now parts of the [[Autostrada A8 (Italy)|Autostrada A8]] and the [[Autostrada A9 (Italy)|Autostrada A9]]), the first [[controlled-access highway]] ever built in the world<ref name="independent"/><ref name="motorwebmuseum"/>]]

Large scale highway systems developed in the 20th century as [[automobile]] usage increased. The first United States [[limited-access road]] was constructed on Long Island, New York, and known as the [[Long Island Motor Parkway]] or the Vanderbilt Motor Parkway. It was completed in 1911.<ref name="Autobahnhistory">{{cite web |url = http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth08_autobt.htm |title = An Autobahn Timeline |publisher = About.com |access-date = 10 April 2010 |archive-date = 23 June 2006 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060623225946/http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth08_autobt.htm |url-status = dead }}</ref>  It included many modern features, including [[banked turn]]s, [[guard rail]]s and reinforced concrete [[Asphalt concrete|tarmac]].<ref name="NYT_LIMP">{{cite news |last = Patton |first = Phil |date = 9 October 2008 |title = A 100-Year-Old Dream: A Road Just for Cars |work = The New York Times <!-- |access-date = 16 September 2009--> }}</ref> Traffic could turn left between the parkway and connectors, crossing oncoming traffic, so it was not a [[controlled-access highway]] (or "freeway" as later defined by the federal government's [[Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices]]).

Italy was the first country in the world to build controlled-access highways reserved for fast traffic and for motor vehicles only.<ref name=independent>{{Cite news |first=Thea |last=Lenarduzzi |url=http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/europe/the-worlds-first-motorway-piero-puricellis-masterpiece-is-the-focus-of-an-unlikely-pilgrimage-a6840816.html|title=The motorway that built Italy: Piero Puricelli's masterpiece|date=30 January 2016|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|access-date=12 May 2022}}</ref><ref name="motorwebmuseum">{{cite web|url=https://www.motorwebmuseum.it/en/places/varese/the-milano-laghi-by-piero-puricelli-the-first-motorway-in-the-world/|title=The "Milano-Laghi" by Piero Puricelli, the first motorway in the world|access-date=10 May 2022}}</ref> The ''[[Autostrada dei Laghi]]''  ("Lakes Highway"), the first built in the world, connecting [[Milan]] to [[Lake Como]] and [[Lake Maggiore]], and now parts of the [[Autostrada A8 (Italy)|A8]] and [[Autostrada A9 (Italy)|A9]] highways, was devised by [[Piero Puricelli]] and was inaugurated in 1924.<ref name="motorwebmuseum"/> This highway, called ''[[autostrada]]'', contained only one lane in each direction and no interchanges.

The [[Southern State Parkway]] opened in 1927, while the [[Long Island Motor Parkway]] was closed in 1937 and replaced by the [[Northern State Parkway]] (opened 1931) and the contiguous [[Grand Central Parkway]] (opened 1936). In Germany, construction of the [[Bundesautobahn 555|Bonn-Cologne Autobahn]] began in 1929 and was opened in 1932 by [[Konrad Adenauer]], then the mayor of [[Cologne]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth08.htm |title = German Myth 8: Hitler and the Autobahn |work = German.about.com |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060508183403/http://german.about.com/library/blgermyth08.htm |archive-date = 8 May 2006 |df = dmy-all }}</ref> Soon the Autobahn was the first limited-access, high-speed road network in the world, with the first section from [[Frankfurt am Main]] to [[Darmstadt]] opening in 1935.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.iamexpat.de/expat-info/driving-germany/german-autobahn#:~:text=With%20the%20opening%20of%20the%20first%20section%20between,to%20complete%201.000%20kilometres%20of%20road%20per%20year. | title=The German autobahn {{!}} Driving in Germany }}</ref>

In the US, the [[Federal Aid Highway Act of 1921 (Phipps Act)]] enacted a fund to create an extensive highway system. In 1922, the first blueprint for a national highway system (the [[Pershing Map]]) was published. The [[Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956]] allocated $25 billion for the construction of the {{convert|41000|mi|km|adj=mid|-long|order=flip}} [[Interstate Highway System]] over a 20-year period.<ref>{{cite web |url = https://www.fhwa.dot.gov//interstate/history.cfm |title = History of the Interstate Highway System |publisher = Federal Highway Administration |access-date = 10 April 2010 }}</ref>

In [[Great Britain]], the [[Special Roads Act 1949]] provided the legislative basis for roads for restricted classes of vehicles and non-standard or no speed limits applied (later mostly termed [[motorway]]s but now with speed limits not exceeding 70&nbsp;mph);<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1949/pdf/ukpga_19490032_en.pdf |title = Special Roads Act 1949 |work = Office of Public Sector Information }}</ref> in terms of general road law this legislation overturned the usual principle that a road available to vehicular traffic was also available to horse or pedestrian traffic as is usually the only practical change when non-motorways are reclassified as ''special roads''. The first section of motorway in the UK opened in 1958 (part of the M6 motorway) and then in 1959 the first section of the [[M1 motorway]].<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.ciht.org.uk/motorway/m1m10m45.htm |title = M1 London: Yorkshire Motorway, M10 and M45 |work = Motorway Archives |access-date = 10 April 2010 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100416080957/http://www.ciht.org.uk/motorway/m1m10m45.htm |archive-date = 16 April 2010 }}</ref>