the.com/turnpike
a road that bills you for the privilege of escaping itself.
means A major road, especially a highway, on which travelers pay a toll for the right to use it.
from From 'turn' plus 'pike' (a spike or pole) — originally a turnpike was a literal spiked barrier, a horizontal bar set with pikes that pivoted across a road. The bar stayed shut until you paid; then it turned aside to let you through. By the 17th century the word had spread from the gate itself to the toll-road it guarded, and eventually to broad highways generally, long after the spiked poles were gone.
- name origin
- Named for spiked turning gates blocking until tolls paid
- american first
- Lancaster Turnpike opened 1795 in Pennsylvania
- hidden cities
- Service plazas have their own zip codes
- toll math
- Early operators rarely turned real profits
new jersey turnpike — 118-mile toll highway completed in 1951, connects delaware river to new york state
pennsylvania turnpike — 360-mile toll highway opened in 1940, first superhighway in the united states
massachusetts turnpike — 138-mile toll road completed in 1965, major east-west route through new england