the.com/roadway
The part of the road humans drive on and still find a way to hit each other.
means The paved, traveled portion of a road meant for vehicles, as distinct from shoulders, sidewalks, or verges.
from A straightforward English compound: 'road' plus 'way,' both ancient words for a path of travel. 'Road' traces back to Old English 'rad,' meaning a journey or ride (related to 'ride'), only later narrowing to mean the surface traveled on. 'Way' comes from Old English 'weg,' a cousin of German 'Weg,' simply meaning a path or route. Stitched together in English, 'roadway' emerged to specify the traveled strip itself — the part actually meant for wheels, not the ditches, verges, or sidewalks beside it.
- legal scope
- excludes shoulders and sidewalks, strictly the travel surface
- oldest kind
- paved roadways predate cars by over 2000 years
- width rules
- lane width laws exist mainly to limit truck sideswipes
- not a road
- a road includes roadway plus shoulders, ditches, and signage