motorway

Etymology

motor + way

noun

1. (In Europe, New Zealand and parts of Australia) A highway with grade-separated crossings (rather than level crossings) and designed (and only permitted) for high-speed motor-traffic (in Europe motor vehicles with a higher speed limit than 40 km/h) running in two directions on one separate carriageway each
   All the R. R.'s of America will have to be furnished with a biking way and a motor way on each side of the rails. 1895 October, “Real Estate”, in California Banker's Magazine, page 429
   Work of constructing the Texas Motorway, a stone highway which when completed will extend from Fort Worth to Del Rio, Tex., a distance of 500 miles, has been commenced and a section between 18 and 20 miles long running out from Glenrose, the county seat of Somervell County, has been completed. 20 September 1913, Good Roads, page 137
   It is presumed that in the working out of the program the motor trucks will automatically have the major use of the local low-speed highways paralleling the motorway. 1925 December, C. L. Norton, “Our Industrial Highways”, in Trade Winds, volume 4, number 10
   In 1959, Ernest Marples became the new Minister of Transport. His business career had been as a road builder and he saw the future in a network of motorways, whereas he believed there was serious overcapacity in the railway network. March 8 2023, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, number 978, page 43
2. (Chiefly in the U.S.) A racetrack venue designated especially for the sport of auto racing.
   In December, track operators replaced the crushed rock with brick, earning the motorway the nickname, Brickyard. 2018, Paul R. Wonning, A Year of Indiana History Stories, volume 1, Greensburg, Indiana: Mossy Feet Books, page 250
   The 9-degree banking you see in the Speedway’s four turns is believed to be the first intentionally banked motorway in the United States. 2020-07-13, Jeff Olson, “Race To Develop Automotive, Safety Technology Never Stops at IMS”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Indianapolis Motor Speedway, archived from the original on 2021-12-16