ˈfreeway orig. U.S.
[way n.1 1.]
a. A thoroughfare with restricted access (see quots. 1930, 1936). b. An express highway.
| 1930 Amer. City Feb. 95 A freeway is a strip of public land, dedicated to movement, over which the abutting owners have no right of light, air or access. 1935 Harvard City Planning Studies VII. 40 Such master plan shall show desirable streets, highways, freeways..and other planning features. 1936 E. M. Bassett Zoning (new ed.) 83 The increase of freeways, which are thoroughfares to which the abutting owners have no right of direct access, will help to solve the problem of too extensive business districts along main arteries. 1939 Sun (Baltimore) 16 Jan. 5/7 Construction of freeways, either elevated or on the ground, would be necessary to facilitate movement of traffic in and out of Washington. 1943 Life 22 Nov. 118/2 Almost everybody in Los Angeles has some pet plan for rebuilding large parts of the city after the war and opening up new ‘freeways’ (express auto highways). 1946 Archit. Rev. XCIX. 127/3 The internal by-pass or ‘freeway’ is a feature that will demand high technical skill. 1951 Engineering 17 Aug. 196/1 Distinction between a freeway and an ordinary highway is in the..access to the freeway... ‘Owners of abutting lands have no..or only restricted right..of access.’ 1959 Guardian 18 Sept. 7/2 The freeways... Mile after mile of smooth, three or four-lane road, unbroken by intersection or traffic lights..minimum permissible speed about 40 m.p.h. |
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Add: c. attrib., as freeway exit.
| 1970 J. Didion Play it as it Lays 5 A motel that would have been advantageously situated at a freeway exit. 1985 Los Angeles Times (San Diego County ed.) 30 July ii. 3/1 A..man died..after he drove his truck off a freeway exit and hit a tree. |