Word Origins

*THOROUGHFARE

New York perhaps thought it had created a new word when it opened its first section of cross-state toll road in 1954, the Throughway, which quickly became known by the non-standard, shortened spelling of Thruway. Beyond the temporary distinction of applying Throughway to a single highway, there is nothing in it that did not already exist in the six hundred-year-old word thoroughfare. Thorough is the ancient spelling of through; fare, used for “passage money,” formerly meant “passage, way.” And thoroughfare has long indicated a “through way between places.”

*Inspired by Charles Funk (1881–1957)

The Cloverleaf Interchange

A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange in which all turns are handled by slip roads. This makes them well-suited for the intersection of two freeways. The cloverleaf possesses advantages such as linking ramps safely in order to accommodate left turns. Many cloverleafs today have been highly modified into a complex maze of overpasses in some sprawling cities. 

Though the first cloverleaf interchange was patented in the United States in 1916 by Arthur Hale, a Maryland civil engineer, the first, Woodbridge Cloverleaf, did not open until 1929 at the intersection of the Lincoln Highway, Route 25 and Amboy, Route 4 in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. Those highway routes have long since been renumbered. The first cloverleaf west of the Mississippi River opened in 1931 at Watson Road and Lindbergh Boulevard near St. Louis, Missouri, as part of an upgrade of Route 66, which utilizes the bridge in the above photo.

An Unavoidable Bottleneck

 

A cloverleaf interchange is a two-level interchange common in the United States for over forty years as the Interstate Highway System expanded rapidly. In 1929, the first cloverleaf interchange built in the United States was the Woodbridge Cloverleaf at the intersection of the Lincoln Highway (Route 25) and Amboy—now St. Georges—Avenue Route 4—now U.S. 1/9 and Route 35—in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey. The first cloverleaf west of the Mississippi River opened in 1931, at Watson Road and Lindbergh Boulevard near St. Louis, Missouri, as part of an upgrade of Route 66. The primary drawback of the classic design of the cloverleaf is that vehicles merge onto the highway at the end of a loop immediately before other vehicles leave to go around another loop, creating conflict known as weaving. Weaving limits the number of lanes of turning traffic. Most road authorities have since been implementing new interchange designs with less-curved exit ramps.

Main Street of America

 

U.S. Highway 40 (US 40) is a major east–west United States Highway extending across the United States from the Mid-Atlantic to the Mountain States. As with most routes ending in a zero, US 40 once traversed the entire United States. It is one of the first U.S. Highways created in 1926 spanning from San Francisco, California to Atlantic City, New Jersey. The route was built on top of several older highways, most notably the National Road/Cumberland Road. Built between 1811 and 1837, the National Road was the first major improved highway in the United States built by the federal government. In the western United States, US 40 has been replaced by Interstate 80, resulting in the route being truncated multiple times. US 40 currently ends at a junction with I-80 in Silver Summit, Utah, near Salt Lake City.

Rolling on The Deegan

 

By 1956, drive time from the New York Thruway to Manhattan was nearly cut in half by the eight-mile stretch of the Interstate Highway System, designated the Major Deegan Expressway after William Francis Deegan. Known officially as Interstate 87 by 1957, the highway now extends over 333 miles along the eastern edge of New York State becoming a major thoroughfare between New York City and Montreal. 

According to a Portland Cement Association advertisement, the expressway was a dramatic example of the benefits of the Interstate Highway System then being built. Their "new-type concrete" became 20% stronger in the first five years. What happens after five years is up for debate. Concrete may break apart under stress or sections may rise or lower due to winter freezing and thawing. Given the advancements in paving machinery and materials, it would seem today the preferred highway paving material is [new-type] asphalt offering quieter travel and less expense to produce per mile.