The first roads, as you know, began to be built back in ancient Rome. This article will focus on modern communications, referred to as highways. These are paved and marked roads that allow cars to reach high speeds. What are the characteristics of the highway? And what does this word mean in Russia? You will find the answers to these questions below.
The highway is ...
The term itself came from the French word chaussée. Around the middle of the XIX century, he migrated to the Russian language and became a synonym for the concept of “horse-drawn road”. Nowadays, the highway is a multi-lane road with artificial hard surface, passing between settlements.
It is necessary to distinguish between the concepts of "street" and "highway". The latter is distinguished by the fact that it is intended exclusively for cars. There is a roadside, but there are usually no sidewalks for pedestrians. As well as unregulated pedestrian crossings (only underground or elevated crossings are allowed). Highways usually run outside the city, and residential buildings do not adjoin them.
The longest highway on the planet
The longest in the world is the Pan American Highway. This is a grand highway stretching over 24 thousand kilometers and connecting the twelve states of North, Central and South America. The highway starts in Alaska and ends in Chile. Passes the famous Nazca desert in Peru. However, this track cannot be called continuous. On the border of Panama and Colombia, there remains a hundred-kilometer gap - the so-called Darien gap.
In Eurasia, the Trans-Siberian highway in Russia is considered to be the longest. It connects St. Petersburg with Vladivostok, passing through Moscow, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk and Khabarovsk. The length of the route is about 11,000 km. Although, in fact, the Trans-Siberian highway consists of seven federal highways (according to the Russian classification of roads). Many sections of the route require major repairs.
Highway in Russia
In Russia there is no unambiguous use of the term "highway". According to the official classification of roads in the country, ordinary, high-speed roads and highways are distinguished. Highways, as a rule, mean highways of federal significance (see map below). Their total number, today, is 123. Each of these routes has its own number (for example, Moscow highway - M10, Ilinsk highway - A109, etc.).
The word "highway" in Russia is also often referred to as main streets in large cities leading from the city center to the outskirts. A vivid example here is the Warsaw highway in Moscow. It starts from Bolshaya Tula Street and leads to the southern border of the city, connecting Moscow districts such as Chertanovo, Northern Butovo, Nagorny and Donskoy. In some cases, the name "highway" has developed historically (as, for example, Lanskoye highway in St. Petersburg).
One of the busiest in the country is the M10 "Russia" highway (in Soviet times - E95, in the 19th century - the Moscow highway, and even earlier - the St. Petersburg highway). It passes through the territories of four regions of the Russian Federation (Moscow, Tver, Novgorod and Leningrad), connecting the current capital of the state with the historical one. The road was laid at the beginning of the XVIII century by decree of Peter the Great. Today its total length reaches 700 kilometers.