For other uses, see Parkway (disambiguation).

A parkway is a general designation of a type of limited-access highway in the US. Like all limited-access highways, parkways are designed particularly for through traffic, and many can be classified generally as freeways or toll highways. Many parkways are restricted to non-commercial traffic and cars; trucks, buses, and the like are banned.

Historically, the term "parkway" has often implied that the road was designed specifically with a naturalistic or manicured landscaping of the median and adjacent land areas meant to suggest a pastoral driving experience, isolated from the manifestations of commerce and advertising, even when the road passes through populated areas; for this reason commercial traffic is excluded. Many parkways have signature road signs with special emblems that suggest a thematic driving experience and increase the sense of isolation from civilization in the vicinity of the road.

History of Parkways

The system of parkways predate such later limited-access highways as the Pennsylvania Turnpike, the German autobahn system, and the United States Interstate highway system. The first of these parkways were in and around the greater New York City area. Construction on the Bronx River Parkway began in 1907, and on the Long Island Parkway (also known as the Vanderbilt Parkway) in 1908. In the 1920s, the parkway system around New York City grew extensively under the direction of master builder Robert Moses, who saw parkways as a active means to promote automobile use and to transfer population from crowded urban areas onto undeveloped areas on Long Island.

In the 1930s, the concept of the parkway was extended to the federal government, which constructed several national parkways designed for recreational driving and to commemorate historic routes. Such two-lane parkways typically have a relatively low speed limit and are maintained by the National Park Service. Examples include the CCC-built Blue Ridge Parkway / Skyline Drive in North Carolina and Virginia, and the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee.

In Kentucky, "parkway" is used to designate a controlled-access highway built as a toll road. Many Kentucky parkways became freeways after the bonds that financed their construction were paid off, but retained their "Parkway" designations. In the Greater New York City region, parkways are generally (but not always) controlled-access highways restricted to non-commercial traffic.

A recurring bit of humor about the name parkway has had some fun poked at it, as it is ironic that one would park on a driveway, and instead drive on a parkway.

List of Parkways

National Parkways

• Blue Ridge Parkway
• Natchez Trace Parkway
• George Washington Memorial Parkway, Virginia
• Clara Barton Parkway, Virginia, Maryland

Freeways and Toll Roads

• Audubon Parkway (Kentucky)
• Baltimore-Washington Parkway (Maryland)
• Bert T. Combs Mountain Parkway (Kentucky)
• Bronx River Parkway (New York)
• Cross-County Parkway (New York)
• Edward T. Breathitt Parkway (Kentucky)
• Garden State Parkway (New Jersey)
• Hal Rogers Parkway (Kentucky)
• Henry Hudson Parkway (New York)
• Hutchinson River Parkway (New York)
• Julian M. Carroll Purchase Parkway (Kentucky)
• Long Island Parkway (New York)
• Louie B. Nunn Parkway (Kentucky)
• Martha Layne Collins Blue Grass Parkway (Kentucky)
• Merritt Parkway (Connecticut)
• Wilbur Cross Parkway (Connecticut)
• Palisades Interstate Parkway (New Jersey/New York)
• Saw Mill River Parkway (New York)
• Sprain Brook Parkway (New York)
• Storrow Drive (Boston, Massachusetts)
• Taconic State Parkway (New York)
• Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway (Kentucky)
• William H. Natcher Parkway (Kentucky)

Surface streets with parkway in the names

• Grosse Ile Parkway (Detroit area) (Michigan)
• Metropolitan Parkway (Detroit area) (Michigan)

External Links

• Why do we drive on the parkway and park on the driveway? (from The Straight Dope)
• Long Island Vanderbilt Parkway
• Bronx River Parkway
• Merritt Parkway
• Blue Ridge Parkway
• Natchez Trace Parkway

See also

• Highway
• Freeway
• National Scenic Byway