What does tollway mean?
A tollway is a road on which motorists or other users must pay a fee, commonly called a toll, to travel along it. The word is used chiefly in the United States and is particularly associated with major highways and other roads operated as toll facilities. Tollways may charge different rates according to the time of day, the vehicle class, or the method of payment, and some use electronic systems that identify vehicles automatically. In ordinary usage, tollway carries a practical rather than strongly emotional connotation: it identifies both the road and the payment required to use it. The term is useful because it distinguishes fee-charging routes from ordinary freeways and other public roads. Although toll road can be used in a broader international sense, tollway is especially common in American transportation reporting, highway planning, and travel discussions.
nounA road for which a fee, called a toll, must be paid to use. The term is especially common for major toll highways in the United States.
- A road on which users pay a fee or toll.
"Traffic on the tollway slowed after the collection system malfunctioned."
"We took the tollway to avoid the congestion on the main highway."
"The proposal would add a new tollway linking the city to the northern suburbs."
The plural is used for multiple tolled roads or for a network of toll roads.
"Several tollways serve the metropolitan area."
A tollway turns the familiar highway journey into a tollbooth-scale negotiation between the driver and the road.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does tollway come from?
Tollway is a compound of toll and way. Toll comes through Middle English from Old English toll, ultimately borrowed from Latin telonium, based on a Greek word meaning a toll or tax; way is native English. The compound became especially prominent with the development of American toll highways during the twentieth century.
How tollway is actually used
Chiefly a North American, especially American, transportation term. Outside the United States, toll road is generally the more usual expression.
Easily confused with tollway
A tollway requires payment to use, whereas a freeway is a controlled-access road that may or may not charge tolls.