A parkway is a landscaped
thoroughfare.
[''"parkway."''Webster's Third New International Dictionary, Unabridged. Merriam-Webster, 2002. http://unabridged.merriam-webster.com (14 Apr. 2007).] The term is particularly used for a roadway in a
park
A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...
or connecting to a park from which trucks and other
heavy vehicles are excluded.
Over the years, many different types of roads have been labeled parkways. The term may be used to describe city streets as narrow as 2 lanes with a landscaped median, wide landscaped setbacks, or both.
The term has also been applied to scenic highways and to
limited-access road
A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, dual-carriageway, expressway, limited access freeway, and partial controlled access highway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which ...
s more generally. Many parkways originally intended for scenic, recreational driving have evolved into major urban and commuter routes.
United States
Scenic roads
The first parkways in the
United States were developed during the late 19th century by landscape architects
Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as roads that separated pedestrians, bicyclists, equestrians, and
horse carriages, such as the
Eastern Parkway, which is credited as the world's first parkway, and
Ocean Parkway in the
New York City borough of
Brooklyn. The terminology "parkway" to define this type of road was coined by
Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted in their proposal to link city and suburban parks with "pleasure roads".
In
Buffalo, New York, Olmsted and Vaux used parkways with landscaped medians and setbacks to create the first interconnected park and parkway system in the United States.
Bidwell Parkway and Chapin Parkway are 200 foot wide city streets with only one lane for cars in each direction and broad landscaped medians that provide a pleasant, shaded route to the park and serve as mini-parks within the neighborhood. The
Rhode Island Metropolitan Park Commission
The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM) is a Rhode Island state government agency charged with supervising and controlling the protection, development, planning, and utilization of the natural resources of the state, inclu ...
developed several parkways in the Providence area.
Other parkways, such as Park Presidio Boulevard in
San Francisco, California, were designed to serve larger volumes of traffic.
During the early 20th century, the meaning of the word was expanded to include
limited-access highways designed for recreational driving of automobiles, with
landscaping. These parkways originally provided
scenic routes without very slow or
commercial vehicles, at
grade intersections, or pedestrian traffic. Examples are the
Merritt Parkway in Connecticut and the
Vanderbilt Motor Parkway in New York. But their success led to more development, expanding a city's boundaries, eventually limiting the parkway's recreational driving use. The
Arroyo Seco Parkway between
Downtown Los Angeles
Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...
and
Pasadena, California
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
I ...
, is an example of lost
pastoral
A pastoral lifestyle is that of shepherds herding livestock around open areas of land according to seasons and the changing availability of water and pasture. It lends its name to a genre of literature, art, and music (pastorale) that depicts ...
aesthetics. It and others have become major commuting routes, while retaining the name "parkway".
Early high speed roads
In New York City, construction on the
Long Island Motor Parkway
The Long Island Motor Parkway, also known as the Vanderbilt Parkway, Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, or Motor Parkway, was a roadway on Long Island, New York, in the United States. It was the first roadway designed for automobile use only. The parkway ...
(Vanderbilt Parkway) began in 1906 and planning for the
Bronx River Parkway
The Bronx River Parkway (sometimes abbreviated as the Bronx Parkway) is a long parkway in downstate New York in the United States. It is named for the nearby Bronx River, which it parallels. The southern terminus of the parkway is at Story Avenue ...
in 1907. In the 1920s, the
New York City Metropolitan Area
The New York metropolitan area, also commonly referred to as the Tri-State area, is the largest metropolitan area in the world by urban area, urban landmass, at , and one of the list of most populous metropolitan areas, most populous urban agg ...
's parkway system grew under the direction of
Robert Moses
Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid 20th century. Despite never being elected to any office, Moses is regarded ...
, the president of the New York State Council of Parks and
Long Island State Park Commission, who used parkways to provide access to newly created state parks, especially for city dwellers. As Commissioner of New York City Parks under Mayor LaGuardia, he extended the parkways to the heart of the city, creating and linking its parks to the greater metropolitan systems.
Most of the New York metropolitan parkways were designed by Gilmore Clark. The famed "Gateway to New England"
Merritt Parkway in
Connecticut was designed in the 1930s as a pleasurable alternative for affluent locals to the congested Boston Post Road, running through forest with each bridge designed uniquely to enhance the scenery. Another example is the
Sprain Brook Parkway from lower-
Westchester
Westchester most commonly refers to Westchester County, New York, immediately north of New York City.
__NOTOC__
It may also refer to: Geography Canada
*Westchester Station, Nova Scotia, Canada
United States
*Town of Westchester, the original seat ...
to become the
Taconic State Parkway
The Taconic State Parkway (often called the Taconic or the TSP and known administratively as New York State Route 987G or NY 987G) is a Parkways in New York State, parkway between Kensico Dam and Chatham (town), New York, Chatham, the ...
to
Chatham, New York.
Landscape architect
A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...
George Kessler designed extensive parkway systems for
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
;
Memphis, Tennessee;
Indianapolis
Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...
; and other cities at the beginning of the 20th century.
New Deal roads
In the 1930s, as part of the
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. Major federal programs agencies included the Civilian Cons ...
the U.S. federal government constructed
National Parkways designed for recreational driving and to commemorate historic trails and routes. These divided four-lane parkways have lower
speed limits and are maintained by the
National Park Service. An example is the
Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) built
Blue Ridge Parkway in the
Appalachian Mountains of
North Carolina and
Virginia.
Others are:
Skyline Drive in
Virginia; the
Natchez Trace Parkway
The Natchez Trace Parkway is a national parkway in the southeastern United States that commemorates the historic Natchez Trace and preserves sections of that original trail. Its central feature is a two-lane road that extends 444 miles (715  ...
in
Mississippi,
Alabama, and
Tennessee; and the
Colonial Parkway in eastern Virginia's
Historic Triangle area. The
George Washington Memorial Parkway and the
Clara Barton Parkway, running along the
Potomac River near
Washington, D.C. and
Alexandria, Virginia, were also constructed during this era.
Post-war parkways
In
Kentucky the term "parkway" designates a
controlled-access highway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...
in the
Kentucky Parkway system, with nine built in the 1960s and 1970s. They were
toll roads until the
construction bond
A performance bond, also known as a contract bond, is a surety bond issued by an insurance company or a bank to guarantee satisfactory completion of a project by a independent contractor, contractor. The term is also used to denote a collateral dep ...
s were repaid; the last of these roads to charge tolls became
freeways in 2006.
The
Arroyo Seco Parkway from
Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
Its ...
to
Los Angeles, built in 1940, was the first segment of the vast
Southern California freeway system. It became part of
State Route 110
Route 110 or Highway 110 can refer to multiple roads:
Australia
* Nepean Highway
* Bellarine Highway
Bangladesh
*
Brazil
* BR-110
Canada
* Manitoba Highway 110
* New Brunswick Route 110
* Prince Edward Island Route 110
China
* China Nat ...
and was renamed the Pasadena Freeway. A 2010 restoration of the freeway brought the Arroyo Seco Parkway designation back.
In the
New York metropolitan area, contemporary parkways are predominantly controlled-access highways restricted to non-commercial traffic, excluding
trucks and
tractor-trailers. Some have low overpasses that also exclude buses. The Vanderbilt Parkway, an exception in western
Suffolk County, is a surviving remnant of the
Long Island Motor Parkway
The Long Island Motor Parkway, also known as the Vanderbilt Parkway, Vanderbilt Motor Parkway, or Motor Parkway, was a roadway on Long Island, New York, in the United States. It was the first roadway designed for automobile use only. The parkway ...
that became a
surface street, no longer with controlled-access or non-commercial vehicle restrictions. The
Palisades Interstate Parkway is a post-war parkway that starts at the
George Washington Bridge, heads north through New Jersey, continuing through Rockland and Orange counties in New York. The Palisades Parkway was built to allow for a direct route from New York City to
Harriman State Park.
In New Jersey, the
Garden State Parkway, connecting the northern part of the state with the
Jersey Shore
The Jersey Shore (known by locals simply as the Shore) is the coastal region of the U.S. state of New Jersey. Geographically, the term encompasses about of oceanfront bordering the Atlantic Ocean, from Perth Amboy in the north to Cape May Po ...
, is restricted to buses and non-commercial traffic north of the
Route 18 interchange, but trucks are permitted south of this point. It is one of the busiest toll roads in the country.
In the
Pittsburgh region, two of the major Interstates are referred to informally as parkways. The Parkway East (
I-376
Interstate 376 (I-376) is a major auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System in the US state of Pennsylvania, located within the Allegheny Plateau. It runs from I-80 near Sharon south and east to a junction with the Pennsylvania Tur ...
, formally the
Penn-Lincoln Parkway
Interstate 376 (I-376) is a major auxiliary Interstate Highway, auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System in the US state of Pennsylvania, located within the Allegheny Plateau. It runs from Interstate 80 in Pennsylvania, I-80 near ...
) connects Downtown Pittsburgh to
Monroeville, Pennsylvania
Monroeville is a Home rule municipality (Pennsylvania), home rule municipality in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. It is located about 10 miles east of Pittsburgh.
Monroeville is a suburb with mixed residential and commercial developments. As ...
. The Parkway West (
I-376
Interstate 376 (I-376) is a major auxiliary route of the Interstate Highway System in the US state of Pennsylvania, located within the Allegheny Plateau. It runs from I-80 near Sharon south and east to a junction with the Pennsylvania Tur ...
) runs through the
Fort Pitt Tunnel and links Downtown to
Pittsburgh International Airport, southbound
I-79,
Imperial, Pennsylvania, and westbound US 22/US 30. The Parkway North (
I-279
Interstate 279 (I-279), locally referred to as Parkway North, is a north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway that lies entirely within Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Its southern end is at I-376 at the Fort Pitt Bridge in Pittsburgh, an ...
) connects Downtown to
Franklin Park, Pennsylvania
Franklin Park is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,470 at the 2010 census.
Geography
Franklin Park is located at (40.590459, -80.092046).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough ...
and northbound
I-79.
In the suburbs of
Philadelphia,
U.S. Route 202
U.S. Route 202 (US 202) is a spur route of US 2. It follows a northeasterly and southwesterly direction stretching from Delaware to Maine, also traveling through the states of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massa ...
follows an at-grade parkway alignment known as the "U.S. Route 202 Parkway" between
Montgomeryville and
Doylestown. The parkway varies from two to four lanes in width, has shoulders, a walking path called the
US 202 Parkway Trail
The US 202 Parkway Trail is a multi-use trail in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania that follows the U.S. Route 202 (US 202) parkway between Montgomery Township in Montgomery County and Doylestown Township in Bucks County. The trail has a length o ...
on the side, and a speed limit. The parkway opened in 2012 as a bypass of a section of US 202 between the two towns; it had originally been proposed as a four-lane freeway before funding for the road was cut.
In
Minneapolis, the
Grand Rounds Scenic Byway
The Grand Rounds National Scenic Byway is a linked series of park areas in Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, that takes a roughly circular path through the city. The Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board developed the system over many years. ...
system has of streets designated as parkways. These are not freeways; they have a slow speed limit, pedestrian crossings, and stop signs.
In
Cincinnati, parkways are major roads which trucks are prohibited from using. Some Cincinnati parkways, such as Columbia Parkway, are high-speed, limited-access roads, while others, such as Central Parkway, are multi-lane urban roads without controlled access. Columbia Parkway carries US-50 traffic from downtown towards east-side suburbs of Mariemont, Anderson, and Milford, and is a limited access road from downtown to the Village of Mariemont.
In
Boston, parkways are generally four to six lanes wide but are not usually controlled access. They are highly trafficked in most cases, transporting people between neighborhoods quicker than a typical city street. Many of them serve as principal arterials and some (like
Storrow Drive,
Memorial Drive, the
Alewife Brook Parkway
Alewife Brook Parkway is a short parkway in Cambridge and Somerville, Massachusetts. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It begins at Fresh Pond in Cambridge (linking to Fresh Pond Parkway via Concord Avenue), and heads nor ...
and the
VFW Parkway
The Veterans of Foreign Wars Parkway (referred to locally as the VFW Parkway) is a historic parkway in Boston, Massachusetts. The southern terminus of the parkway is at Washington Street at the Dedham-West Roxbury border, from where it trave ...
) have evolved into regional commuter routes.
Canada
"Parkway" is used in the names of many
Canadian roads, including major routes through
national parks, scenic drives, major urban thoroughfares, and even regular freeways that carry commercial traffic.
Parkways in the
National Capital Region are administered by the
National Capital Region (Canada)
The National Capital Region (french: Région de la capitale nationale), also referred to as Canada's Capital Region and Ottawa–Gatineau (formerly ''Ottawa–Hull''), is an official federal designation for the Canadian capital of Ottawa, On ...
. However, some of them are named "drive" or "driveway".
The term in Canada is also applied to multi-use paths and
greenways
Greenway or Greenways may refer to:
* Greenway (landscape), a linear park focused on a trail or bike path
* Another term for bicycle boulevards in some jurisdictions
People
* Greenway (surname)
Places
Australia
* Electoral Division of Greenway ...
used by walkers and cyclists.
*
Airport Parkway (Ottawa)
Airport Parkway ( Ottawa Route 79) is an expressway in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from the Ottawa Macdonald–Cartier International Airport to an interchange with Heron Road where it turns into Bronson Avenue.
Route description
Airport Pa ...
*
Aviation Parkway (Ottawa)
* Broad Street in
Saint John, New Brunswick
*
Colonel By Drive
Colonel By Drive (french: Promenade Colonel By) is an long scenic parkway in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada named after Colonel John By. It runs along the Rideau Canal from the end of Sussex Drive at Rideau Street. It then continues south and west to ...
in
Ottawa, Ontario
*
Conestoga Parkway
The Conestoga Parkway, officially the Kitchener–Waterloo Expressway,
is a controlled-access highway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress ...
in
Kitchener, Ontario
*
Don Valley Parkway in
Toronto, Ontario
*
Emil Kolb Parkway
Emil or Emile may refer to:
Literature
*'' Emile, or On Education'' (1762), a treatise on education by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
* ''Émile'' (novel) (1827), an autobiographical novel based on Émile de Girardin's early life
*'' Emil and the Detecti ...
in
Bolton, Ontario
*
Erin Mills Parkway
This page lists all of the numbered regional roads in Peel Region, Ontario.
See also
* List of roads in Brampton
*List of roads in Mississauga
The following is a list of non-numbered and numbered ( Peel Regional Roads) in Mississauga, O ...
in
Mississauga, Ontario
Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...
*
Forest Hills Parkway
A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...
in
Halifax, Nova Scotia
*
Hanlon Expressway
The Hanlon Expressway or Hanlon Parkway is a high-capacity at-grade suburban limited-access road connecting Highway 401 with the city of Guelph in the Canadian province of Ontario. The route travels in a generally north-south direction on ...
in
Guelph, Ontario
*
Icefields Parkway in
Alberta
*
Island Park Drive in
Ottawa, Ontario
*
Lauzon Parkway
The road network in Windsor, Ontario is a grid system with elongated blocks, generally aligned with the Detroit River, with East-West roads running parallel to it, and North-South streets running perpendicular (90 Degrees) to it. This is an adoptio ...
in
Windsor, Ontario
*
Lincoln M. Alexander Parkway
The Lincoln Alexander Parkway, nicknamed The Linc, is a municipal expressway in the city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, which connects Highway 403 with the Red Hill Valley Parkway, which continues north to the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW). Co ...
in
Hamilton, Ontario
*
Niagara Parkway
The Niagara Parkway, formerly known as Niagara Boulevard and historically as the Niagara Road, is a scenic road in the province of Ontario that travels on the Canadian side of the Niagara River from the town of Fort Erie to Niagara-on-the-Lake. ...
in Southern
Ontario
*
Ojibway Parkway in
Windsor, Ontario
*
Queen Elizabeth Driveway in
Ottawa, Ontario
*
Red Hill Valley Parkway in
Hamilton, Ontario
*
Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway
The Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, formerly the Ottawa River Parkway, is a four-lane scenic parkway along the Ottawa River in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It runs from Carling Avenue near Connaught Avenue, to Booth Street at the Canadian War Museum ...
in Eastern
Ontario
*
The Parkway in
St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
St. John's is the capital and largest city of the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, located on the eastern tip of the Avalon Peninsula on the island of Newfoundland.
The city spans and is the easternmost city in North America ...
*
Thousand Islands Parkway in Eastern
Ontario
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, the term "parkway" more commonly refers to
park and ride railway stations, where this is often indicated as part of the name, as with
Bristol Parkway
Bristol Parkway, on the South Wales Main Line, is in the Stoke Gifford area in the northern suburbs of the Bristol conurbation. It is from London Paddington. The station was opened in 1972 by British Rail, and was the first in a new gener ...
, the first such station, opened in 1972. Parkways fitting the definition applied in this article also exist, as listed in this section.
Peterborough
The city of
Peterborough has roads branded as "parkways" which provide routes for much through traffic and local traffic. The majority are dual carriageways, with many of their junctions numbered. Five main parkways form an orbital outer ring road. Three parkways serve settlements.
Plymouth
In the
City of Plymouth, the
A38 is called "The Parkway" and bisects a rural belt of the
local authority area, which coincides with the geographical centre; it has two junctions to enter the downtown part of the city.
Australia
Australian Capital Territory
The
Australian Capital Territory uses the term "parkway" to refer to roadways of a standard approximately equivalent to what would be designated as an "expressway", "freeway", or "motorway" in other areas. Parkways generally have multiple lanes in each direction of travel, no intersections (crossroads are accessed by interchanges), high speed limits, and are of dual carriageway design (or have high crash barriers on the median).
EPBC Referral - Majura Parkway to DEWHA (Revision 1)
, SMEC, Page 9, 19 August 2009
Victoria
Victoria uses the term "parkway" to sometimes refer to smaller local access roads that travel through parkland. Unlike other uses of the term, these parkways are not high-speed routes but may still have some degree of limited access.
Other countries
Singapore uses the term "parkway" as an alternative to "expressway
Expressway may refer to:
* Controlled-access highway, the highest-grade type of highway with access ramps, lane markings, etc., for high-speed traffic.
* Limited-access road, a lower grade of highway or arterial road.
*Expressway, the fictional s ...
". As such, parkways are also dual carriageways with high speed limits and interchanges
Interchange may refer to:
Transport
* Interchange (road), a collection of ramps, exits, and entrances between two or more highways
* Interchange (freight rail), the transfer of freight cars between railroad companies
* Interchange station, a rai ...
. The East Coast Parkway is currently the only expressway in Singapore that uses this terminology.
In Russia, long, broad (multi-lane) and beautified thoroughfares are referred to as prospekts.
See also
* Central reservation
The median strip, central reservation, roadway median, or traffic median is the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways such as divided highways, dual carriageways, freeways, and motorways. The term also a ...
* Green belt
* Road verge
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types of ...
* Linear park
References
External links
"Why do we drive on the parkway and park on the driveway?"">The Straight Dope">
"Why do we drive on the parkway and park on the driveway?"
{{Road types
Parkways">
Landscape">The Straight Dope
"Why do we drive on the parkway and park on the driveway?"
{{Road types
Parkways">
Landscape
Types of roads
Environmental design
Limited-access roads
Urban studies and planning terminology