A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places that has been surfaced or otherwise improved to allow travel by foot or some form of conveyance, including a motor vehicle, cart, bicycle, or horse. Roads have been adapted to a large range of structures and types in order to achieve a common goal of transportation under a large and wide range of conditions. The specific purpose, mode of transport, material[1][2] and location of a road determine the characteristics it must have in order to maximize its usefulness. Following is one classification scheme.
Taxonomy of Road
Marohn distinguishes between roads that are designed for mobility which he terms "roads" and those that function to "build a place", build community wealth and provide access to land. He argues the value of a road in terms of both community wealth and mobility is maximised when the road speed is either low or high, but not at midpoints such as 45mph. He refers to this low-value midpoint of speed and land access as a stroad.[3]: 69
Roads also may be classified based on their pavement material types. For instance, the Long-Term Pavement Performance database includes more than 30 types of pavement types for roads in the US and Canada.[2][4][5] However, a more generic classification of roads based on material type is as follows.[5][6]
In this list, roads names are used in different areas and the features of the roads varies. So this table address the differences in that usage when needed.
^ abElkins, G.E., Schmalzer, P., Thompson, T., and Simpson, A. 2003. Long-Term Pavement Performance Information Management System Pavement Performance Database User Reference Guide.
^Marohn, Charles L. Jr. (2021). Confessions of a recovering engineer: transportation for a strong town (1st ed.). Hoboken, New Jersey. ISBN978-1-119-69929-3. OCLC1253442641.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Piryonesi, S. M.; El-Diraby, T. E. (2020) [Published online: December 21, 2019]. "Data Analytics in Asset Management: Cost-Effective Prediction of the Pavement Condition Index". Journal of Infrastructure Systems. 26 (1): 04019036. doi:10.1061/(ASCE)IS.1943-555X.0000512. S2CID213782055.
^"shunpike". Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com, LLC. Retrieved 15 May 2019. A side road taken, instead of a turnpike or expressway, to avoid tolls or to travel at a leisurely pace.