The first highway paved with portland cement, or concrete, is built near Pine Bluff, Arkansas, 22 years after Bellefontaine, Ohio, first paved its Main Street with concrete. Invented in 1824 by British stone mason Joseph Aspdin from a mix of calcium, silicon, aluminum, and iron minerals, portland cement is so-named because of its similarity to the stone quarried on the Isle of Portland off the English coast.
The world’s first limited access road was constructed in Italy in 1922.
Longest international highway
The Pan-American Highway is the longest highway in the world! It has a total of 47,958 kilometers (29,800 miles). The Pan American Highway is neither a single road nor part of a centrally administered road-building program. The chief coordinating body is the Pan American Highway Congress, which meets once every four years. Except in Central America, where United States aid has been heavy, each republic finances its road-building program.
The Pan American Highway was proposed in 1923 at the Fifth International Conference of American States, meeting in Santiago, Chile. Two years later the Pan American Highway Congress was created as a permanent institution to foster the building of the road. Routes were tentatively selected and plans were drafted, but only modest progress was made in construction until a final agreement was reached by the member states in 1936.
World War II brought increased interest in the United States for a highway south to the Panama Canal. Mexico completed its section of the Inter-American in 1950. The rest of the Inter-American, built largely with United States aid, was opened to through traffic in 1963.
The Pan-American Highway travels through 14 countries: Canada,United States, Mexico, Guatemala,El Salvador,Honduras,Nicaragua,Costa Rica,Panama,Colombia,Ecuador,Peru,Chile,Argentina
Longest national highway
Highway 1 is Australia’s greatest highway, following the coast for the most part along its circumferential route around the country. A spur in Tasmania also connects Hobart with Launceston, Devonport and Burnie. At a total length of approximately 14,500 kms (9,000 miles) it is one of the longest national highways in the world, along with the Trans-Siberian Highway (over 11,000 km/6,800 miles) and the Trans-Canada Highway (8,030 km/4,990 miles). When the National Route Numbering system was adopted in 1955, Highway 1 was the only truly national highway, although it was not necessarily the shortest distance between many town centres. Most of the other national routes are at some point a tributary of Highway 1. It could be argued that Highway 1 starts /end its track in the historical Rocks precinct in the heart of Sydney, Australia’s first city. Crossing the Sydney Harbour Bridge north, it becomes the Pacific Highway, going south via George St (Australia’s first street) it becomes the Princes Highway.
Widest highway by lane number
The Katy Freeway (part of Interstate 10) in Houston, Texas, has a total of 26 lanes in some sections as of 2007.
In Houston, from the western suburb of Katy to downtown, I-10 is known as the Katy Freeway. This section is currently being widened to as much as 26 lanes (12 main lanes, 8 lanes of access roads, and 4-6 mid-freeway HOT/HOV lanes, not counting access road turning lanes)[8] and will be one of the widest freeways in the world.
Highest international highway
The Karakoram Highway at an altitude of 4,693 m/15,397 ft , stretches some 700 kilometers from Islamabad, through the Karakoram mountains and into China. It is an incredible feat of engineering cutting its way through deep valleys and desert plains into the mountains of northern Pakistan, providing communication between the districts of Chitral, Gilget and Balistan, with the major cities of Islamadad, Rawalpindi and Lahore.
Some say that due to its high elevation and the difficult conditions in which it was constructed, it is also referred to as the “Ninth Wonder of the World.”
Karakoram Highway provides the pathway to expeditions for almost all peaks in Gilgit-Baltistan of Pakistan, Kashmir and several peaks in Xinjiang China. The region includes some of the world’s largest glaciers like the Baltoro Glacier. Five of the Eight-thousanders (mountains taller than 8,000m) of the world that are in Pakistan are accessible by the highway.
Largest national highway system
The United States has the largest network of roadways of any country with 6,430,366 kilometres (3,995,644 mi) (2005). The People’s Republic of China is second with 3,583,715 kilometres (2,226,817 mi) of roadway (2007)
Busiest highway
Highway 401 - the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway has volumes surpassing an average of 500,000 vehicles per day in some sections of Toronto as of 2006, giving Highway 401 the distinction of being North America’s busiest highway.
This surpasses the Santa Monica Freeway in Los Angeles, and several Interstate freeways in Houston, Texas.
King’s Highway 401 is the primary through route across Southern, Central and Eastern Ontario. Since the highway’s completion in the late 1960s, Highway 401 has evolved from being a convenient bypass to a vital economic corridor.
Today the stretch of Highway 401 that passes through the Greater Toronto Area ranges from 6 to 18 lanes, and the stretch between Highway 403 and Brock Road in Pickering is thought to be the world’s longest continuous stretch of highway having 10 or more lanes.
There are 19 Service Centres located along Highway 401. These centres are open 24 hours a day and offer motorists convenient access to fuel, restaurants and picnic areas. The centres are located about every 80 km (50 miles) except through the GTA, where services are generally available at almost every interchange. The posted speed limit on Highway 401 is 100 km/h (60 mph).
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