1.
Controlled-access
–
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway which has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow and ingress/egress regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway, other similar terms include Interstate and parkway. Some of which may be limited-access highways, although this term can refer to a class of highway with somewhat less isolation from other traffic. In countries following Vienna convention, the motorway qualification implies they are forbidden for walking or parking, a controlled-access highway provides an unhindered flow of traffic, with no traffic signals, intersections or property access. They are free of any at-grade crossings with roads, railways, or pedestrian paths. Entrances and exits to the highway are provided at interchanges by slip roads, on the controlled-access highway, opposing directions of travel are generally separated by a median strip or central reservation containing a traffic barrier or grass. Elimination of conflicts with other directions of traffic dramatically improves safety and capacity, controlled-access highways evolved during the first half of the 20th century. Italy opened its first autostrada in 1924 connecting Milan to Varese, Germany began to build its first 30-kilometre autobahn controlled-access highway without speed limits in 1932 between Cologne and Bonn. It then rapidly constructed a system of such roads in anticipation of their use in the Second World War. The first North American freeways opened in the New York City area in the 1920s, Britain, heavily influenced by the railways, did not build its first motorway, the Preston By-pass, until 1958. Most technologically advanced nations feature a network of freeways or motorways to provide high-capacity urban travel, or high-speed rural travel. Many have a national-level or even international-level system of route numbering, exit is marked with another symbol. The definitions of motorway from the OECD and PIARC are almost identical, british Standards Motorway, Limited-access dual carriageway road, not crossed on the same level by other traffic lanes, for the exclusive use of certain classes of motor vehicle. ITE Freeway, A divided major roadway with full control of access and this definition applies to toll as well as toll-free roads. Freeway A, This designates roadways with greater complexity and high traffic volumes. Usually this type of freeway will be found in areas in or near the central core. Freeway B, This designates all other divided roadways with full control of access where lighting is needed, principal arterials may cross through urban areas, serving suburban movements. The traffic is characterized by high speeds and full or partial access control, other roads leading to a principal arterial are connected to it through side collector roads
Controlled-access
–
The interchange between US-131, M-6 and 68th Street in
Wyoming, Michigan, shows many of the features of controlled-access highways—opposing traffic on separate carriageways, no
at-grade intersections and no direct access to properties.
Controlled-access
–
French A10 near Orléans showing hard shoulder and emergency telephone. The broken demarcation line for the hard shoulder is specific to France, and serves as a safety reference mark for drivers: the advisory distance from the vehicle ahead is two dashes minimum.
Controlled-access
–
De Lucht Rest Area on the Dutch A2 - A typical rest area with services (fuel, refreshments and toilets). The only access is via the highway that it serves.
Controlled-access
–
Traffic congestion, such as this on the
Downtown Connector in
Atlanta, is tied to
photochemical smog.
2.
Dual-carriageway
–
A dual carriageway or divided highway is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation. Roads with two or more carriageways which are designed to higher standards with controlled access are generally classed as motorways, freeways, a road without a central reservation is a single carriageway regardless of the number of lanes. Dual carriageways have improved road traffic safety over single carriageways and typically have speed limits as a result. In some places, express lanes and local/collector lanes are used within a system to provide more capacity. A very early example of a dual carriageway was the Via Portuensis, in 1907 the Long Island Motor Parkway opened, and roughly 20% of it featured a semi-dual-carriageway design. The New York City Belt Parkway system, which was built between 1907 and 1934, also pioneered the same design, however the majority of it featured concrete or brick railings as lane dividers instead of grass medians. In 1924 the first Italian autostrada was opened running 55 km from Milan to Varese and it featured a broad road bed and did not feature lane dividers except near cities and through the mountains. The London end of the Great West Road became Britains first dual carriageway when it was opened in 1925 by King George V, in 1927 the Rome bypass was opened. It ran 92 km bypassing Rome to the east, almost the entire length featured a dual-carriageway design. In the early 1930s it was extended all the way to Naples. Most of the routing was destroyed by the Allies in the World War II. By 1930 several US and European cities had built dual-carriageway highways, in 1932 the first German autobahn opened between Cologne and Bonn. It ran 21 km and became a precedent for future highways, although it, like the first autostrada, did not feature a dual-carriageway design, it inspired the mass construction of future high-speed roadways. During the 1930s, Germany, Italy, and the Soviet Union began construction of a network of dual carriageway expressways. By 1942, Germany had over 3,200 km of dual carriageway roads, Italy had nearly 1,300 km, opened to traffic in 1940, the 160-mile-long Pennsylvania Turnpike was the first rural dual carriageway built in the United States. By 1955 several states had built dual carriageway freeways and turnpikes, completed in 1994, the major highway system links all the major cities of the United States. In the UK, although the dual carriageway applies to any road with physically separated lanes. Such major dual carriageways usually have two lanes of traffic in each direction, with the lane nearest the centre being reserved for overtaking, occasionally dual carriageways have only one lane in each direction, or more than two lanes each way
Dual-carriageway
–
A typical British dual carriageway with central barrier on the
A63 near
Hull,
England
Dual-carriageway
–
Clara Barton Parkway outside
Washington, D.C.
Dual-carriageway
–
A German dual carriageway in the 1930s
Dual-carriageway
–
Sign informing motorists of an upcoming section of dual carriageway in
Seacroft,
Leeds
3.
Ring road
–
A ring road is a road or a series of connected roads encircling a town or city. Australia and India also use the ring road, as in Melbournes Western Ring Road. In Canada the term is the most commonly used, with orbital also used to a lesser extent. In Europe, some ring roads, particularly those of standard which are longer in length, are often known as orbital motorways. Examples include the London Orbital, Rome Orbital and Manchester Orbital, in the United States, many ring roads are called beltlines, beltways, or loops, such as the Capital Beltway around Washington, D. C. Some ring roads, such as Washingtons Capital Beltway, use Inner Loop and Outer Loop terminology for directions of travel, the term ring road is occasionally – and inaccurately – used interchangeably with the term bypass. Construction of fully circumferential ring roads has generally occurred more recently, beginning in the 1960s in many areas, Interstate Highway System and similar-quality roads elsewhere were designed. Columbus, Ohio, in the United States, also has two, while Houston, Texas will have three official ring roads, some cities have far more – Beijing, for example, has five ring roads, simply numbered in increasing order from the city center. Geographical constraints can complicate or prohibit the construction of a ring road. Adjacency of international boundaries may also prohibit ring road completion in other cases, sometimes, the presence of significant natural or historical areas limits route options, as for the long-proposed Outer Beltway around Washington, D. C. C. Ring roads can also exist around radio masts carrying an umbrella antenna at the basements of the anchor of the wire of the umbrella antenna, such ring roads are usually only for internal use and closed to the public. Most orbital motorways are purpose-built major highways around a town or city, in the United States, beltways are commonly parts of the Interstate Highway System. Similar roads in the United Kingdom are often called orbital motorways, an excellent example of this is Londons North Circular/South Circular ring road. Such loops not only function as a bypass for through traffic, in the United States, an Interstate highway loop is usually designated by a three-digit number beginning with an even digit before the two-digit number of its parent interstate. Interstate spurs, on the hand, generally have three-digit numbers beginning with an odd digit. Circumferential highways are prominent features in or near large cities in the United States. In many cases, such as Atlanta, Georgia, Interstate 285 serves as a bypass while other highways pass directly through the city center. However, if a primary Interstate passes through a city and a loop bypasses it on one side
Ring road
–
The
Leeds Inner Ring Road was built in a series of tunnels to save space and avoid physically separating the city's centre from its suburbs.
Ring road
–
The inner ring road of
Sheffield, England.
Ring road
–
The
Capital Beltway (I-495) northbound on the west side of Washington, D.C.
Ring road
–
I-275 passing through Sharonville (Northern Cincinnati)
4.
Paris
–
Paris is the capital and most populous city of France. It has an area of 105 square kilometres and a population of 2,229,621 in 2013 within its administrative limits, the agglomeration has grown well beyond the citys administrative limits. By the 17th century, Paris was one of Europes major centres of finance, commerce, fashion, science, and the arts, and it retains that position still today. The aire urbaine de Paris, a measure of area, spans most of the Île-de-France region and has a population of 12,405,426. It is therefore the second largest metropolitan area in the European Union after London, the Metropole of Grand Paris was created in 2016, combining the commune and its nearest suburbs into a single area for economic and environmental co-operation. Grand Paris covers 814 square kilometres and has a population of 7 million persons, the Paris Region had a GDP of €624 billion in 2012, accounting for 30.0 percent of the GDP of France and ranking it as one of the wealthiest regions in Europe. The city is also a rail, highway, and air-transport hub served by two international airports, Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly. Opened in 1900, the subway system, the Paris Métro. It is the second busiest metro system in Europe after Moscow Metro, notably, Paris Gare du Nord is the busiest railway station in the world outside of Japan, with 262 millions passengers in 2015. In 2015, Paris received 22.2 million visitors, making it one of the top tourist destinations. The association football club Paris Saint-Germain and the rugby union club Stade Français are based in Paris, the 80, 000-seat Stade de France, built for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, is located just north of Paris in the neighbouring commune of Saint-Denis. Paris hosts the annual French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament on the red clay of Roland Garros, Paris hosted the 1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics. The name Paris is derived from its inhabitants, the Celtic Parisii tribe. Thus, though written the same, the name is not related to the Paris of Greek mythology. In the 1860s, the boulevards and streets of Paris were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, since the late 19th century, Paris has also been known as Panam in French slang. Inhabitants are known in English as Parisians and in French as Parisiens and they are also pejoratively called Parigots. The Parisii, a sub-tribe of the Celtic Senones, inhabited the Paris area from around the middle of the 3rd century BC. One of the areas major north-south trade routes crossed the Seine on the île de la Cité, this place of land and water trade routes gradually became a town
Paris
–
In the 1860s Paris streets and monuments were illuminated by 56,000 gas lamps, making it literally "The City of Light."
Paris
Paris
–
Gold coins minted by the Parisii (1st century BC)
Paris
–
The
Palais de la Cité and
Sainte-Chapelle, viewed from the Left Bank, from the
Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (month of June) (1410)
5.
Shoulder (road)
–
Many wider U. S. as well as Swedish freeways have shoulders on both sides of each directional carriageway, in the median as well as at the outer edges of the road, for additional safety. Shoulders are not intended for use by traffic, although there are exceptions. Shoulders have multiple uses, including, In the event of an emergency or breakdown, Emergency vehicles such as ambulances and police cars may use the shoulder to bypass traffic congestion. Active traffic management, used on busy roads, may allow hard shoulder running by general traffic at reduced speeds during periods of high traffic volumes. In some places a Bus bypass shoulder may be provided which allows bus services to pass stationary traffic, paved shoulders provide additional space should a motorist need to take evasive action or need to recover control of their vehicle before a run-off-road collision occurs. In some urban areas, shoulders are used as travel lanes during peak commuting hours, in some rural areas without sidewalks, pedestrians and cyclists may be allowed to walk or ride on the shoulders. Paved shoulders move water away from the roadway before it can infiltrate into the roads subbase, Shoulders help provide extra structural support of the roadway. The shoulder is slightly narrower than a full traffic lane. In some cases, particularly on older rural roadways, shoulders that initially existed were hardened with gravel rather than being paved with asphalt or concrete, in Britain, motorway shoulders are now paved, but are still known as hard shoulders. Older, gravel shoulders have sometimes been termed soft shoulders by comparison, because the paved surface ends at that point, they are less safe if they need to be used for emergency maneuvers. Modern practice is to build a paved shoulder whenever possible. The Safety Edge is effective on roads where the shoulder is narrow or nonexistent. To save money, the shoulder was not paved to the same thickness as the through lanes, so if vehicles were to attempt to use it as a through lane regularly. In Britain, shoulder running can occur during roadworks, and full depth construction is now standard, in some metro areas, road authorities also allow shoulders to be used as lanes at peak periods. However, rural shoulders often collects various bits of debris that can make driving there less safe. Drivers will sometimes drift into the shoulder when being overtaken by passing vehicles, however, it is extremely unsafe, as well as illegal, to abuse the shoulder by undertaking passing vehicles that are nearer the center of the road. Some roads have a shoulder for significant distances. This makes it difficult for vehicles to pull into the hard shoulder altogether
Shoulder (road)
–
In
Ireland, dashed yellow lines demarcate hard shoulders on non-
motorways, as can be seen along this
dual carriageway on the
N11.
Shoulder (road)
–
A junction on the
M4 motorway in Ireland, with an unbroken yellow line (that peels away and follows the sliproad) demarcating the hard shoulder.
Shoulder (road)
–
The break in the shoulder line used by California to warn of upcoming freeway exits in foggy areas
6.
Autoroutes of France
–
The Autoroute system in France consists largely of toll roads, except around large cities and in parts of the north. It is a network of 11,882 km worth of motorways in 2014, Autoroute destinations are shown in blue, while destinations reached through a combination of autoroutes are shown with an added autoroute logo. Toll autoroutes are signalled with the word péage, unlike other motorway systems, there is no systematic numbering system, but there is a clustering of Autoroute numbers based on region. A1, A3, A4, A5, A6, A10, A13, A14, A15, A16 radiate from Paris with A2, A11, and A12 branching from A1, A10, A7 begins in Lyon, where A6 ends. A8 and A9 begin respectively near Aix-en-Provence and Avignon, the 20s are found in northern France. The 30s are found in eastern France, the 40s are found near the Alps. The 50s are near the French Riviera, the 60s are found in southern France. The 70s are found in the centre of the country, the 80s are found west of Paris. Some of the autoroutes have their own name in addition to a number, A4 is the autoroute de lEst. A6 and A7 are autoroutes du Soleil, for lead from northern to southern France. A8 is named La provençale as it cross Provence, A9 is named La Languedocienne as it crosses the Languedoc A10 is named LAquitaine because it leads to Bordeaux, which is situated in the part of France named Aquitaine. The A13 is named the autoroute de Normandie as it traverses Normandy, a20 is named Loccitane as it leads to the south-west of France, this part of France was historically called Occitanie. The A26 is the autoroute des Anglais as it leads from Calais and it continues to Troyes, and just happens to pass straight through the Champagne region, whose wines are so loved by the British. It also passes sites of earlier UK interest such as Crecy, the A29 is part of the route des Estuaires, a chain of motorways crossing the estuaries of the English Channel. The A40 is named the autoroute blanche because it is the road goes to Chamonix. The A62 and A61 are named autoroute des deux mers because these roads connect the Atlantic Ocean, a68 is called autoroute du Pastel because it leads to Albi and to the Lauragais where woad was cultivated to produce pastel. The N104, one of Pariss beltways, is known as La Francilienne because it circles the region of Ile-de-France. The status of motorways in France has been the subject of debate through years, originally, the autoroutes were built by private companies mandated by the French government, and followed strict construction rules as described below
Autoroutes of France
–
Toll barrier in Toulouse-Sud (south of Toulouse), on
autoroute A61
Autoroutes of France
Autoroutes of France
–
The French
Autoroute A1
Autoroutes of France
–
A French motorway.
7.
Thiers Wall
–
The Thiers wall was the last of the defensive walls of Paris. It was an enclosure constructed between 1841 and 1844 under a law enacted by the government of the French prime minister and it covered 7,802 hectares, along the boulevards des Maréchaux of today. A sloping area outside the wall, called a glacis, extended outward from the Thiers wall to the location of todays Boulevard Périphérique, the wall was demolished in stages between 1919 and 1929. So he conceived the project of building around the city an enclosure of walls that would make the city impregnable, a first draft was presented to the Chamber of Deputies in early 1833 by Marshal Soult, Council President and Minister of War. The works were serviced and supplied by the Rue Militaire, supported by a railway line, having become useless due to progress in military technology, the fortifications were demolished, beginning in 1919. Their locations first became vacant lots, often referred to as the zone and they were progressively rehabilitated from the mid-1920s onward. Later still, the Boulevard Périphérique was built on the route of the Thiers wall and continues to separate Paris, the shape of the former strongholds is marked in several places in the topology of roads into this area. The land was used to new sports facilities and low-income housing. Many of these buildings were constructed in Art Deco style. The zone was not itself the site occupied by the wall, but a strip of land where no building was permitted in front of the wall, a ditch. It was designated as an area where building was not permitted and it was occupied by slums at the end of the 19th century, the French slang zonard derives from the zone. Sur les traces des enceintes de Paris, dictionnaire historique des rues de Paris. Histoire des fortifications de Paris et leur extension en Île-de-France, Guy le Hallé, in Paris aux cent villages, La Ballade des Fortifs, numbers 34 to 45 Paris walls Guy Le Hallé, The history of fortifications à Saint-Ouen Malakoff Infos, The wall in Malakoff
Thiers Wall
–
Fortifications near Porte de Versailles, before they were torn down.
Thiers Wall
–
Map of Paris from 1911 showing Thiers fortifications surrounding the city.
Thiers Wall
–
The Poterne des Peupliers ("postern of the poplars") is one of the remains of the Thiers wall
Thiers Wall
–
The porte de Pantin, about 1908
8.
City walls of Paris
–
Walls of Paris, refers to the city walls that surrounded Paris as it grew from ancient times until the 20th century, built primarily to defend the city. The city walls of Paris include, a Gaulish enclosure, two medieval walls, one of which was the Wall of Philippe Auguste. The Wall of Charles V, extending on the right bank, the Louis XIII Wall, extending on the western part of the right bank. The Wall of the Farmers-General, for tax purposes, as Paris expanded over time, new walls were built to consolidate the existing city with new houses, gardens, and vegetable fields. Existing walls would eventually be destroyed and its built up into a street or boulevard. Only a few sections of the Wall of the Farmers-General and the Wall of Philippe Auguste survived. The walls influence on modern Paris can still be seen on some of its streets and boulevards such as, The Grands boulevards, built by replacing the Charles V. The parallel streets Rue de Cléry and Rue dAboukir tracing the route of the Charles V Wall, the outer boulevards, built in place of the Wall of the Farmers-General. The boulevards des Maréchaux, built to replace the Thiers Wall, the Boulevard périphérique, built outside the boulevards des Maréchaux. Before its occupation by the Romans, Lutetia lacked proper defenses and was partially demolished at the beginning of the Roman occupation. The first wall of Paris was probably built by the Gauls on the river Seine, in his Commentaries on the Gallic War, Julius Caesar wrote, Id est oppidum Parisiorum, quod positum est in insula fluminis Sequanae, indicating that Lutetia was a fortified camp on an island. The relationship between this island and the Île de la Cité has not been demonstrated, and excavations have not uncovered anything earlier than Augustus and this is also unclear due to the discovery in 2003 of the remains of a city on a site now occupied by Nanterre. Lutetia developed on the bank of the Seine during Roman times. The right bank was mostly due to marshes. During the first barbarian invasions in 285, the people of Lutetia abandoned the left bank and took refuge on the Île de la Cité, the eastern half of the island was protected by a wall, constructed of rocks collected from the Arènes de Lutèce. This confirmed the existence of an enclosure around the centre of Paris on the right bank around the tenth century. This is most likely the result of a Viking siege in 885 and was constructed by either Odo of France, the fortification had a 12 by 3 meter wide ditch and was likely to have been supported by a wooden fence. The Wall of Philippe Auguste was built between 1190 and 1213, enclosing 253 hectares on both sides of the river Seine, a new wall was thus begun in 1190, on the order of Philip Augustus, but paid for by the city
City walls of Paris
–
The Wall of Phillipe Augustus
City walls of Paris
–
Gallo-Roman wall
City walls of Paris
–
The poterne des Peupliers, the only remaining trace of the Thiers wall
City walls of Paris
–
The porte de Pantin about 1908
9.
Georges Pompidou
–
Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou was Prime Minister of France from 1962 to 1968—the longest tenure in the positions history—and later President of the French Republic from 1969 until his death in 1974. He had long been a top aide to president Charles de Gaulle, as president, he was a moderate conservative who repaired Frances relationship with the United States, and maintained positive relations with the newly-independent former colonies in Africa. He strengthened his party, the Union of Democrats for the Republic. Pompidous presidency is held in high esteem by French political commentators. Pompidou was born in the commune of Montboudif, in the department of Cantal in central France and he first taught literature at the lycée Henri IV in Paris until hired in 1953 by Guy de Rothschild to work at Rothschild. In 1956, he was appointed the general manager, a position he held until 1962. Later, he was hired by Charles de Gaulle to manage the Anne de Gaulle Foundation for Down syndrome. Jacques Chirac served as an aide to Prime Minister Pompidou and recalled, The man gave the appearance of being secretive, wily, however, it was primarily his intelligence, culture, and competence that conferred indisputable authority on him and commanded respect. Naturally reserved, little given to outbursts, Pompidou did not forge very close ties with his colleagues. His nomination was controversial because he was not a member of the National Assembly, in October 1962, he was defeated in a vote of no-confidence, but de Gaulle dissolved the National Assembly. The Gaullists won the election and Pompidou was reappointed as Prime Minister. In 1964, he was faced with a miners strike and he led the 1967 legislative campaign of the Union of Democrats for the Fifth Republic to a narrow victory. Pompidou was widely regarded as being responsible for the resolution of the student uprising of May 1968. His strategy was to break the coalition of students and workers by negotiating with the trade-unions, until this crisis, he was the Prime Minister of a quiet and prosperous France. However, during the events of May 1968, disagreements arose between Pompidou and de Gaulle, Pompidou did not understand why the President did not inform him of his departure to Baden-Baden on May 29. Their relationship, until then very good, would be strained from then on, Pompidou led and won the 1968 legislative campaign, overseeing a tremendous victory of the Gaullist Party. Nevertheless, in due to his actions during the May 1968 crisis. Pompidou announced his candidature for the Presidency in January 1969, some weeks later, his wifes name was mentioned in the Markovic scandal, thus appearing to confirm her husbands status as a cuckold
Georges Pompidou
–
Georges Pompidou
Georges Pompidou
–
Pompidou with U.S. president
Richard Nixon in
Reykjavík, 31 May 1973.
Georges Pompidou
–
Pompidou with
West German chancellor
Willy Brandt in
Cologne, 3 July 1972.
Georges Pompidou
–
First Republic (1792–1804)
10.
Motorway
–
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway which has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow and ingress/egress regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway, other similar terms include Interstate and parkway. Some of which may be limited-access highways, although this term can refer to a class of highway with somewhat less isolation from other traffic. In countries following Vienna convention, the motorway qualification implies they are forbidden for walking or parking, a controlled-access highway provides an unhindered flow of traffic, with no traffic signals, intersections or property access. They are free of any at-grade crossings with roads, railways, or pedestrian paths. Entrances and exits to the highway are provided at interchanges by slip roads, on the controlled-access highway, opposing directions of travel are generally separated by a median strip or central reservation containing a traffic barrier or grass. Elimination of conflicts with other directions of traffic dramatically improves safety and capacity, controlled-access highways evolved during the first half of the 20th century. Italy opened its first autostrada in 1924 connecting Milan to Varese, Germany began to build its first 30-kilometre autobahn controlled-access highway without speed limits in 1932 between Cologne and Bonn. It then rapidly constructed a system of such roads in anticipation of their use in the Second World War. The first North American freeways opened in the New York City area in the 1920s, Britain, heavily influenced by the railways, did not build its first motorway, the Preston By-pass, until 1958. Most technologically advanced nations feature a network of freeways or motorways to provide high-capacity urban travel, or high-speed rural travel. Many have a national-level or even international-level system of route numbering, exit is marked with another symbol. The definitions of motorway from the OECD and PIARC are almost identical, british Standards Motorway, Limited-access dual carriageway road, not crossed on the same level by other traffic lanes, for the exclusive use of certain classes of motor vehicle. ITE Freeway, A divided major roadway with full control of access and this definition applies to toll as well as toll-free roads. Freeway A, This designates roadways with greater complexity and high traffic volumes. Usually this type of freeway will be found in areas in or near the central core. Freeway B, This designates all other divided roadways with full control of access where lighting is needed, principal arterials may cross through urban areas, serving suburban movements. The traffic is characterized by high speeds and full or partial access control, other roads leading to a principal arterial are connected to it through side collector roads
Motorway
–
The interchange between US-131, M-6 and 68th Street in
Wyoming, Michigan, shows many of the features of controlled-access highways—opposing traffic on separate carriageways, no
at-grade intersections and no direct access to properties.
Motorway
–
French A10 near Orléans showing hard shoulder and emergency telephone. The broken demarcation line for the hard shoulder is specific to France, and serves as a safety reference mark for drivers: the advisory distance from the vehicle ahead is two dashes minimum.
Motorway
–
De Lucht Rest Area on the Dutch A2 - A typical rest area with services (fuel, refreshments and toilets). The only access is via the highway that it serves.
Motorway
–
Traffic congestion, such as this on the
Downtown Connector in
Atlanta, is tied to
photochemical smog.
11.
Freeway
–
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway which has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow and ingress/egress regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway, other similar terms include Interstate and parkway. Some of which may be limited-access highways, although this term can refer to a class of highway with somewhat less isolation from other traffic. In countries following Vienna convention, the motorway qualification implies they are forbidden for walking or parking, a controlled-access highway provides an unhindered flow of traffic, with no traffic signals, intersections or property access. They are free of any at-grade crossings with roads, railways, or pedestrian paths. Entrances and exits to the highway are provided at interchanges by slip roads, on the controlled-access highway, opposing directions of travel are generally separated by a median strip or central reservation containing a traffic barrier or grass. Elimination of conflicts with other directions of traffic dramatically improves safety and capacity, controlled-access highways evolved during the first half of the 20th century. Italy opened its first autostrada in 1924 connecting Milan to Varese, Germany began to build its first 30-kilometre autobahn controlled-access highway without speed limits in 1932 between Cologne and Bonn. It then rapidly constructed a system of such roads in anticipation of their use in the Second World War. The first North American freeways opened in the New York City area in the 1920s, Britain, heavily influenced by the railways, did not build its first motorway, the Preston By-pass, until 1958. Most technologically advanced nations feature a network of freeways or motorways to provide high-capacity urban travel, or high-speed rural travel. Many have a national-level or even international-level system of route numbering, exit is marked with another symbol. The definitions of motorway from the OECD and PIARC are almost identical, british Standards Motorway, Limited-access dual carriageway road, not crossed on the same level by other traffic lanes, for the exclusive use of certain classes of motor vehicle. ITE Freeway, A divided major roadway with full control of access and this definition applies to toll as well as toll-free roads. Freeway A, This designates roadways with greater complexity and high traffic volumes. Usually this type of freeway will be found in areas in or near the central core. Freeway B, This designates all other divided roadways with full control of access where lighting is needed, principal arterials may cross through urban areas, serving suburban movements. The traffic is characterized by high speeds and full or partial access control, other roads leading to a principal arterial are connected to it through side collector roads
Freeway
–
The interchange between US-131, M-6 and 68th Street in
Wyoming, Michigan, shows many of the features of controlled-access highways—opposing traffic on separate carriageways, no
at-grade intersections and no direct access to properties.
Freeway
–
French A10 near Orléans showing hard shoulder and emergency telephone. The broken demarcation line for the hard shoulder is specific to France, and serves as a safety reference mark for drivers: the advisory distance from the vehicle ahead is two dashes minimum.
Freeway
–
De Lucht Rest Area on the Dutch A2 - A typical rest area with services (fuel, refreshments and toilets). The only access is via the highway that it serves.
Freeway
–
Traffic congestion, such as this on the
Downtown Connector in
Atlanta, is tied to
photochemical smog.
12.
Controlled access road
–
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway which has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow and ingress/egress regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway, other similar terms include Interstate and parkway. Some of which may be limited-access highways, although this term can refer to a class of highway with somewhat less isolation from other traffic. In countries following Vienna convention, the motorway qualification implies they are forbidden for walking or parking, a controlled-access highway provides an unhindered flow of traffic, with no traffic signals, intersections or property access. They are free of any at-grade crossings with roads, railways, or pedestrian paths. Entrances and exits to the highway are provided at interchanges by slip roads, on the controlled-access highway, opposing directions of travel are generally separated by a median strip or central reservation containing a traffic barrier or grass. Elimination of conflicts with other directions of traffic dramatically improves safety and capacity, controlled-access highways evolved during the first half of the 20th century. Italy opened its first autostrada in 1924 connecting Milan to Varese, Germany began to build its first 30-kilometre autobahn controlled-access highway without speed limits in 1932 between Cologne and Bonn. It then rapidly constructed a system of such roads in anticipation of their use in the Second World War. The first North American freeways opened in the New York City area in the 1920s, Britain, heavily influenced by the railways, did not build its first motorway, the Preston By-pass, until 1958. Most technologically advanced nations feature a network of freeways or motorways to provide high-capacity urban travel, or high-speed rural travel. Many have a national-level or even international-level system of route numbering, exit is marked with another symbol. The definitions of motorway from the OECD and PIARC are almost identical, british Standards Motorway, Limited-access dual carriageway road, not crossed on the same level by other traffic lanes, for the exclusive use of certain classes of motor vehicle. ITE Freeway, A divided major roadway with full control of access and this definition applies to toll as well as toll-free roads. Freeway A, This designates roadways with greater complexity and high traffic volumes. Usually this type of freeway will be found in areas in or near the central core. Freeway B, This designates all other divided roadways with full control of access where lighting is needed, principal arterials may cross through urban areas, serving suburban movements. The traffic is characterized by high speeds and full or partial access control, other roads leading to a principal arterial are connected to it through side collector roads
Controlled access road
–
The interchange between US-131, M-6 and 68th Street in
Wyoming, Michigan, shows many of the features of controlled-access highways—opposing traffic on separate carriageways, no
at-grade intersections and no direct access to properties.
Controlled access road
–
French A10 near Orléans showing hard shoulder and emergency telephone. The broken demarcation line for the hard shoulder is specific to France, and serves as a safety reference mark for drivers: the advisory distance from the vehicle ahead is two dashes minimum.
Controlled access road
–
De Lucht Rest Area on the Dutch A2 - A typical rest area with services (fuel, refreshments and toilets). The only access is via the highway that it serves.
Controlled access road
–
Traffic congestion, such as this on the
Downtown Connector in
Atlanta, is tied to
photochemical smog.
13.
At-grade
–
An intersection is an at-grade junction where two or more roads meet or cross. Intersections may be classified by number of segments, traffic controls. This article primarily reflects practice in jurisdictions where vehicles are driven on the right, if not otherwise specified, right and left can be reversed to reflect jurisdictions where vehicles are driven on the left. One way to classify intersections is by the number of segments that are involved. A three-way intersection is a junction between three segments, a T junction when two arms form one road, or a Y junction – the latter also known as a fork if approached from the stem of the Y. A four-way intersection, or crossroads, usually involves a crossing over of two streets or roads, in areas where there are blocks and in some other cases, the crossing streets or roads are perpendicular to each other. However, two roads may cross at a different angle, in a few cases, the junction of two road segments may be offset from each when reaching an intersection, even though both ends may be considered the same street. Five-way intersections are common but still exist, especially in urban areas with non-rectangular blocks. An example of this is the intersection for which the Five Points district in Atlanta is named, Seven or more approaches to a single intersection, such as at Seven Dials, London, are rare. Another way of classifying intersections is by traffic control technology, Uncontrolled intersections, for traffic coming from the same or opposite direction, that which goes straight has priority over that which turns off. Yield-controlled intersections may or may not have specific YIELD signs, stop-controlled intersections have one or more STOP signs. Two-way stops are common, while some countries also employ four-way stops, signal-controlled intersections depend on traffic signals, usually electric, which indicate which traffic is allowed to proceed at any particular time. A traffic circle is a type of intersection at which traffic streams are directed around a circle, types of traffic circles include roundabouts, mini-roundabouts, rotaries, STOP-controlled circles, and signal-controlled circles. Some people consider roundabouts to be a type of intersection from traffic circles. A box junction can be added to an intersection, generally prohibiting entry to the intersection unless the exit is clear, some intersections employ indirect left turns to increase capacity and reduce delays. The Michigan left combines a right turn and a U-turn, jughandle lefts diverge to the right, then curve to the left, converting a left turn to a crossing maneuver, similar to throughabouts. These techniques are used in conjunction with signal-controlled intersections, although they may also be used at stop-controlled intersections. A roundabout and its variants like turbo roundabouts, bowties and distributing circles like traffic circles, at intersections, turns are usually allowed, but often regulated to avoid interference with other traffic
At-grade
–
A crossroads in
Kharkiv
At-grade
–
An intersection in
Makati City
At-grade
–
Intersection along the
Veterans Memorial Parkway, an at-grade
limited-access road in
London, Ontario.
At-grade
–
Types of road
14.
Traffic lights
–
The worlds first, manually operated gas-lit traffic signal was short lived. Installed in London in December 1868, it exploded less than a month later, Traffic control started to seem necessary in the late 1890s and Earnest Sirrine from Chicago patented the first automated traffic control system in 1910. It used the words STOP and PROCEED, although neither word lit up, Traffic lights alternate the right of way accorded to users by displaying lights of a standard colour following a universal colour code. In the typical sequence of phases, The green light allows traffic to proceed in the direction denoted, if it is safe to do so. The amber light warns that the signal is about to change to red, in a number of countries – among them the United Kingdom – a phase during which red and yellow are displayed together indicates that the signal is about to change to green. A flashing amber indication is a warning signal, in the United Kingdom, a flashing amber light is used only at pelican crossings, in place of the combined red–amber signal, and indicates that drivers may pass if no pedestrians are on the crossing. The red signal prohibits any traffic from proceeding, a flashing red indication is treated as a stop sign. In some countries traffic signals will go into a flashing mode if the Conflict Monitor detects a problem, the signal may display flashing yellow to the main road and flashing red to the side road, or flashing red in all directions. Flashing operation can also be used during times of day when traffic is light, before traffic lights traffic police controlled the flow of traffic, a well-documented example being that on London Bridge in 1722. Three men were given the task of directing traffic coming in, each officer would help direct traffic coming out of Southwark into London and he made sure all traffic stayed on the west end of the bridge. A second officer would direct traffic on the east end of the bridge to control the flow of people leaving London and going into Southwark. The main reason for the light was that there was an overflow of horse-drawn traffic over Westminster Bridge which forced thousands of pedestrians to walk next to the Houses of Parliament. The design combined three semaphore arms with red and green gas lamps for use, on a pillar. The gas lantern was manually turned by a police officer. The signal was 22 feet high, at night a red light would command Stop and a green light would mean use Caution. Although it was said to be successful at controlling traffic, its life was brief. It exploded on 2 January 1869, as a result of a leak in one of the gas lines underneath the pavement, injuring or killing the policeman who was operating it. In the first two decades of the 20th century semaphore traffic signals, like the one in London, were in use all over the United States with each state having its own design of the device, One good example was from Toledo, Ohio in 1908
Traffic lights
–
An LED traffic light in
Portsmouth, England
Traffic lights
–
A traffic light for
pedestrians in
Switzerland
Traffic lights
–
A traffic light in
Stockholm in 1953.
Traffic lights
–
The installation of a traffic signal in
San Diego in December 1940
15.
Central reservation
–
The median strip or central reservation is the reserved area that separates opposing lanes of traffic on divided roadways, such as divided highways, dual carriageways, freeways, and motorways. The term also applies to divided roadways other than highways, such as major streets in urban or suburban areas. There is no international English standard for the term, median, median strip, and median divider island are common in North American and Antipodean English. Variants in North American English include regional terms such as neutral ground in New Orleans usage, among other coinages, central nature strip occurs in Australian English. Additionally, different terminology is used to traffic lanes in a multi-lane roadway. North American usage calls the lanes located closest to the roadway centerline the inner lanes, thus, it is less confusing to call these central lanes the passing, fast, or overtaking lanes in international contexts, instead of using the ambiguous inner/outer distinction. Regional differences between right-hand traffic and left-hand traffic can cause further confusion, some medians function secondarily as green areas and green belts to beautify roadways. Where space is at a premium, dense hedges of shrubs filter the headlights of oncoming traffic, in contrast to the median of a major road, those in urban areas often take the form of central traffic islands that rise above the roadway. These are frequently found on urban arterial roads, in their simplest form, these are just raised concrete curbs, but can also be landscaped with grass or trees or decorated with bricks or stones. In some areas, such as California, highway medians are sometimes no more than a section of the paved roadway. The medians of United States Interstate Highways break only for emergency service lanes, on British motorways, the median is never broken, but there are no such restrictions on other dual carriageways. The median strip in the United Kingdom and other densely populated European countries is no wider than a single lane of traffic. In some cases, however, it is extended, for instance, if the road is running through hilly terrain, the carriageways may have to be built on different levels of the slope. An example of this is on the M5 motorway as it climbs up the side of the Gordano Valley south of Bristol. The other major exception is the A38 Aston Expressway, which is a carriageway of seven lanes. All existing motorways will introduce concrete barriers as part of ongoing upgrades and through replacement as and this change of policy applies only to barriers in the median of high speed roads and not to verge side barriers. Other routes will continue to use steel barriers, in urban areas, concrete barriers and guard rails are used. In Dedham, Massachusetts, the Norfolk County Correctional Center is located entirely within a median of Massachusetts Route 128
Central reservation
–
A grass median strip on a highway in Pennsylvania, United States
Central reservation
–
A California arterial road median with decorative
cobblestones inset
Central reservation
–
The wide median strip in Main St,
Bairnsdale, Victoria, Australia has been made into a garden feature of the town.
Central reservation
–
A raised concrete median can be seen dividing
US Route 52 in
Rochester, Minnesota
16.
Right-of-way (traffic)
–
Traffic on roads may consist of pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars, buses and other conveyances, either singly or together, while using the public way for purposes of travel. Organized traffic generally has well-established priorities, lanes, right-of-way, Traffic is formally organized in many jurisdictions, with marked lanes, junctions, intersections, interchanges, traffic signals, or signs. Traffic is often classified by type, heavy vehicle, other vehicle. Different classes may share speed limits and easement, or may be segregated, some jurisdictions may have very detailed and complex rules of the road while others rely more on drivers common sense and willingness to cooperate. Organization typically produces a combination of travel safety and efficiency. Events which disrupt the flow and may cause traffic to degenerate into a disorganized mess include road construction, collisions, on particularly busy freeways, a minor disruption may persist in a phenomenon known as traffic waves. A complete breakdown of organization may result in traffic congestion and gridlock, simulations of organized traffic frequently involve queuing theory, stochastic processes and equations of mathematical physics applied to traffic flow. The word traffic originally meant trade and comes from the Old Italian verb trafficare, the origin of the Italian words is unclear. Rules of the road and driving etiquette are the practices and procedures that road users are required to follow. These rules usually apply to all users, though they are of special importance to motorists and cyclists. These rules govern interactions between vehicles and with pedestrians, the basic traffic rules are defined by an international treaty under the authority of the United Nations, the 1968 Vienna Convention on Road Traffic. Not all countries are signatory to the convention and, even among signatories, there are also unwritten local rules of the road, which are generally understood by local drivers. These rules should be distinguished from the procedures required to operate ones vehicle. Traffic going in opposite directions should be separated in such a way that they do not block each others way, the most basic rule is whether to use the left or right side of the road. In many countries, the rules of the road are codified, in the United Kingdom, the rules are set out in the Highway Code, which includes obligations but also advice on how to drive sensibly and safely. In the United States, traffic laws are regulated by the states and municipalities through their respective traffic codes, most of these are based at least in part on the Uniform Vehicle Code, but there are variations from state to state. However, states such as South Carolina have completely criminalized their traffic law, so, for example, vehicles often come into conflict with other vehicles and pedestrians because their intended courses of travel intersect, and thus interfere with each others routes. The general principle that establishes who has the right to go first is called right of way and it establishes who has the right to use the conflicting part of the road and who has to wait until the other does so
Right-of-way (traffic)
–
Interstate 80, seen here in
Berkeley, California, is a freeway with many lanes and heavy traffic.
Right-of-way (traffic)
–
Traffic controller in Chicago, Michigan Avenue
Right-of-way (traffic)
–
Traffic control in Rome, Italy. This traffic control podium can retract back to road level when not in use.
Right-of-way (traffic)
–
This intersection in
San Jose, California has crosswalks, left-turn lanes, and
traffic lights.
17.
Bois de Boulogne
–
The Bois de Boulogne is a large public park located along the western edge of the 16th arrondissement of Paris, near the suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt and Neuilly-sur-Seine. It was created between 1852 and 1858 during the reign of the Emperor Louis Napoleon and it is the second-largest park in Paris, slightly smaller than the Bois de Vincennes on the eastern side of the city. It covers an area of 845 hectares, which is two and a half times the area of Central Park in New York and slightly less than that of Richmond Park in London. The Bois de Boulogne is a remnant of the ancient oak forest of Rouvray, which included the forests of Montmorency, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Chaville. Dagobert, the King of the Franks, hunted bears, deer and his grandson, Childeric II, gave the forest to the monks of the Abbey of Saint-Denis, who founded several monastic communities there. Philip Augustus bought back the part of the forest from the monks to create a royal hunting reserve. In 1256, Isabelle de France, sister of Saint-Louis, founded the Abbey of Longchamp at the site of the present hippodrome. The Bois received its present name from a chapel, Notre Dame de Boulogne la Petite, in 1308, Philip made a pilgrimage to Boulogne-sur-Mer, on the French coast, to see a statue of the Virgin Mary which was reputed to inspire miracles. He decided to build a church with a copy of the statue in a village in the forest not far from Paris, the chapel was built after Philips death between 1319 and 1330, in what is now Boulogne-Billancourt. During the Hundred Years War, the forest became a sanctuary for robbers, in 1416-17, the soldiers of John the Fearless, the Duke of Burgundy, burned part of the forest in their successful campaign to capture Paris. Under Louis XI, the trees were replanted, and two roads were opened through the forest, in 1526, King Francis I of France began a royal residence, the Château de Madrid, in the forest in what is now Neuilly and used it for hunting and festivities. It took its name from a palace in Madrid, where Francis had been held prisoner for several months. The Chateau was rarely used by monarchs, fell into ruins in the 18th century. Despite its royal status, the forest remained dangerous for travelers, during the reigns of Henry II and Henry III, the forest was enclosed within a wall with eight gates. Henry IV planted 15,000 mulberry trees, with the hope of beginning a local silk industry, when Henry annulled his marriage to Marguerite de Valois, she went to live in the Château de la Muette, on the edge of the forest. In the early 18th century, wealthy and important women often retired to the convent of the Abbey of Longchamp, a famous opera singer of the period, Madmoiselle Le Maure, retired there in 1727 but continued to give recitals inside the Abbey, even during Holy Week. These concerts drew large crowds and irritated the Archibishop of Paris, Louis XVI and his family used the forest as a hunting ground and pleasure garden. In 1777, the Comte dArtois, Louis XVIs brother, built a miniature palace
Bois de Boulogne
–
The lower lake in the Bois de Boulogne
Bois de Boulogne
–
The Grand Cascade connects the two lakes in the Bois.
Bois de Boulogne
–
The Kiosk of the Emperor on the lower lake.
Bois de Boulogne
–
Winter scene in the Pré-Catelan.
18.
Bois de Vincennes
–
The Bois de Vincennes, located on the eastern edge of Paris, is the largest public park in the city. It was created between 1855 and 1866 by the Emperor Napoleon III, the park is next to the Château de Vincennes, a former residence of the Kings of France. The Bois de Vincennes has an area of 995 hectares, making it slightly larger than the Bois de Boulogne. It occupies ten percent of the area of Paris, and is almost as large as the first six arrondissements in the center of the city combined. The Bois de Vincennes is about three times larger than Central Park in New York City, and is larger than Richmond Park in London. Only about half of the Bois de Vincennes is covered with trees, the bois de Vincennes was part of the ancient forest that surrounded the ancient Roman town of Lutetia, at that time it was called Vilcena, the origin of the present name. In about 1150 King Louis VII built a lodge at the site of the present chateau. King Philippe-Auguste enclosed the forest with a wall, stocked it with game, King Louis IX, or Saint Louis built a chapel next to the castle to house an important religious relic, which he believed to be the crown of thorns from the Crucifixion of Jesus. He was also famous for holding a court of justice under an oak near the chateau. In 1336 King Philip VI of France began construction of the donjon of the Chateau de Vincennes. The work was continued by his successor, Jean II of France, and finished by Charles V of France and he also began to rebuild the chapel founded by Saint Louis. The new chapel was called La-Sainte Chapelle, modeled after the Saint-Chapelle in the Palais de la Cité in Paris and it was not finished until the 16th century. A hunting party in the forest is shown as the December scene in the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, with the towers of the chateau visible in the background. The forest was also the home of a community of monks of the order of the Minimes, in 1654 Cardinal Mazarin commissioned the royal architect Louis Le Vau to build a new palace for King Louis XIV next to the chateau. The new palace featured a pavilion for the King and another for the Queen, separated by a portico, the donjon had been transformed into prison in the 15th century. The palace was popular with the King for a time, but once Louis XIV established his residence at Versailles, in the 18th century Louis XV opened the park to the public, excepting servants in livery. He had hundreds of trees planted and laid out long straight alleys through the forest in the form of intersecting stars, in 1731 he constructed a pyramid-shaped monument to mark the meeting point of the two main alleys, which can still be seen. Beginning in 1794, large parts of the Bois de Vincennes were turned into a training ground
Bois de Vincennes
–
The Temple of Love on Lac Daumesnil in the Bois de Vincennes
Bois de Vincennes
–
The 14th century donjon of the
Château de Vincennes, a former royal residence and then a prison, is now open to public.
Bois de Vincennes
–
A hunting party in the Bois de Vincennes in the 15th century, from the Tres Riches Heures du duc de Berry. The towers of the chateau are visible in the background.
Bois de Vincennes
–
The
Chateau de Vincennes and its park in 1724.
19.
Interchange (road)
–
It differs from a standard intersection, at which roads cross at grade. Note, The descriptions of road junctions are for countries where vehicles drive on the side of the road. For countries where driving is on the left the layout of the junctions is the same, a freeway junction or highway interchange or motorway junction is a type of road junction, linking one controlled-access highway to another, to other roads, or to a rest area/motorway service area. On the UK motorway network, most junctions with roads are numbered sequentially. In the U. S. interchanges are numbered according to cardinal interchange number. A highway ramp or slip road is a section of road which allows vehicles to enter or exit a controlled-access highway. A directional ramp always tends toward the direction of travel. This means that a ramp that makes a left turn exits from the side of the roadway. Left directional ramps are relatively uncommon as the lane is usually reserved for high-speed through traffic. Ramps for a turn are almost always right directional ramps. Where traffic drives on the left, these cases are reversed, a non-directional ramp goes in a direction opposite to the desired direction of travel. A semi-directional ramp exits a road in a direction opposite from the direction of travel. A U-turn ramp leaves the road in one driving direction, turns over or under it, weaving is an undesirable situation in which traffic veering right and traffic veering left must cross paths within a limited distance, to merge with traffic on the through lane. Some on-ramps have a meter, which is a dedicated ramp-only traffic light that throttles the flow of entering vehicles. A complete interchange has ramps to provide access from any direction of any road in the junction to any direction of any other road in the junction. A complete interchange between a freeway and another road requires at least four ramps, complete interchanges between two freeways generally have at least eight ramps, as having fewer would considerably reduce capacity and increase weaving. Depending on the type and the connectivity offered other numbers of ramps may be used. For highways with high-occupancy vehicle lanes, ramps can be used to service these carriageways directly, an incomplete interchange has at least one or more missing ramps that prevent access to at least one direction of another road in the junction from any other road in the junction
Interchange (road)
–
The
High Five in
Dallas, Texas, United States: an example of interchange design. This is a complicated five-level stack interchange due to the proximity of
frontage roads and
high-occupancy vehicle lanes. This hybrid design is based on parts of a four-level-stack for highways and a three-level-diamond interchange to handle the frontage roads. 32°55′27″N 96°45′49″W / 32.924167°N 96.763611°W / 32.924167; -96.763611
Interchange (road)
–
Off-ramp accessed from
collector lanes along
Highway 401 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. 43°42′46″N 79°32′16″W / 43.712886°N 79.537726°W / 43.712886; -79.537726
Interchange (road)
–
Typical cloverleaf interchange
Interchange (road)
–
A multi-level stack interchange in
Shanghai,
China. 31°13′35″N 121°27′53″E / 31.226335°N 121.464606°E / 31.226335; 121.464606
20.
River Seine
–
The Seine is a 777-kilometre-long river and an important commercial waterway within the Paris Basin in the north of France. It rises at Source-Seine,30 kilometres northwest of Dijon in northeastern France in the Langres plateau, flowing through Paris and it is navigable by ocean-going vessels as far as Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea. There are 37 bridges within Paris and dozens more spanning the river outside the city, examples in Paris include the Pont Alexandre III and Pont Neuf, the latter of which dates back to 1607. Outside the city, examples include the Pont de Normandie, one of the longest cable-stayed bridges in the world, the Seine rises in the commune of Source-Seine, about 30 kilometres northwest of Dijon. The source has been owned by the city of Paris since 1864, a number of closely associated small ditches or depressions provide the source waters, with an artificial grotto laid out to highlight and contain a deemed main source. The grotto includes a statue of a nymph, on the same site are the buried remains of a Gallo-Roman temple. Small statues of the dea Sequana Seine goddess and other ex voti found at the place are now exhibited in the Dijon archeological museum. The Seine is dredged and oceangoing vessels can dock at Rouen,120 kilometres from the sea, commercial riverboats can use the river from Bar-sur-Seine,560 kilometres to its mouth. At Paris, there are 37 bridges, the river is only 24 metres above sea level 446 kilometres from its mouth, making it slow flowing and thus easily navigable. The Seine Maritime,105.7 kilometres from the English Channel at Le Havre to Rouen, is the portion of the Seine used by ocean-going craft. The tidal section of the Seine Maritime is followed by a section with four large multiple locks until the mouth of the Oise at Conflans-Sainte-Honorine. Multiple locks at Bougival / Chatou and at Suresnes lift the vessels to the level of the river in Paris, upstream from Paris seven locks ensure navigation to Saint Mammès, where the Loing mouth is situated. Through an eighth lock the river Yonne is reached at Montereau-Fault-Yonne, from the mouth of the Yonne, larger ships can continue upstream to Nogent-sur-Seine. From there on, the river is only by small craft. All navigation ends abruptly at Marcilly-sur-Seine, where the ancient Canal de la Haute-Seine used to allow vessels to continue all the way to Troyes and this canal has been abandoned for many years. The average depth of the Seine today at Paris is about 9.5 metres. Until locks were installed to raise the level in the 1800s, the river was much shallower within the city most of the time, today the depth is tightly controlled and the entire width of the river between the built-up banks on either side is normally filled with water. The average flow of the river is low, only a few cubic metres per second
River Seine
–
The Seine in Paris
River Seine
–
Seine source
River Seine
–
The
Pont de Normandie over the Seine, between
Le Havre and
Honfleur, on the
Normandy coast
River Seine
–
The Seine and Eiffel Tower
21.
Grade (slope)
–
The grade of a physical feature, landform or constructed line refers to the tangent of the angle of that surface to the horizontal. It is a case of the slope, where zero indicates horizontality. A larger number indicates higher or steeper degree of tilt, often slope is calculated as a ratio of rise to run, or as a fraction in which run is the horizontal distance and rise is the vertical distance. The grades or slopes of existing physical features such as canyons and hillsides, stream and river banks, grades are typically specified for new linear constructions. The grade may refer to the slope or the perpendicular cross slope. There are several ways to express slope, as an angle of inclination to the horizontal, as a percentage, the formula for which is 100 rise run which could also be expressed as the tangent of the angle of inclination times 100. In the U. S. this percentage grade is the most commonly used unit for communicating slopes in transportation, surveying, construction, and civil engineering. As a per mille figure, the formula for which is 1000 rise run which could also be expressed as the tangent of the angle of inclination times 1000 and this is commonly used in Europe to denote the incline of a railway. As a ratio of one part rise to so many parts run, for example, a slope that has a rise of 5 feet for every 100 feet of run would have a slope ratio of 1 in 20. This is generally the method used to describe railway grades in Australia, any of these may be used. Grade is usually expressed as a percentage, but this is converted to the angle α from horizontal or the other expressions. Slope may still be expressed when the run is not known. This is not the way to specify slope, it follows the sine function rather than the tangent function. But in practice the way to calculate slope is to measure the distance along the slope and the vertical rise. When the angle of inclination is small, using the slope length rather than the horizontal displacement makes only an insignificant difference, Railway gradients are usually expressed in terms of the rise in relation to the distance along the track as a practical measure. In cases where the difference between sin and tan is significant, the tangent is used. In any case, the identity holds for all inclinations up to 90 degrees, tan α = sin α1 − sin 2 α In Europe. Grades are related using the equations with symbols from the figure at top
Grade (slope)
–
Illustration of grades (percentages), angles in degrees and ratio.
Grade (slope)
–
25% slope sign,
Wales
Grade (slope)
–
A 1371-metre long stretch of railroad with a 20
‰ (2%) slope,
Czech Republic
Grade (slope)
–
Slope warning sign, 30% over 1500 m. La
Route des Crêtes,
Cassis, France
22.
Traffic enforcement camera
–
It may be linked to an automated ticketing system. Vehicles owners are required by law to identify the driver of the vehicle. Some groups, such as the National Motorists Association in the USA, revenue-driven enforcement rather than the declared objectives. Other systems use a camera mounted on the bus, for example in London where they monitor Red routes on which stopping is not allowed for any purpose. Entry and Exit cameras determine the length of stay and provide alerts for unregistered or vehicles of concern via onscreen and this system was the first of several Sensor Dynamics based ANPR solutions. A red light camera is a camera that takes an image of a vehicle that goes through an intersection where the light is red. Speed enforcement cameras are used to monitor compliance with speed limits, other speed enforcement systems are also used which are not camera based. Fixed or mobile speed camera systems that measure the time taken by a vehicle to travel two or more fairly distant sites are called automatic number plate recognition cameras. These cameras time vehicles over a fixed distance, and then calculate the vehicles average speed for the journey. The name derives from the fact that the technology uses infrared cameras linked to a computer to read a vehicles registration number, in 2007, the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, in California, installed the first stop sign cameras in the United States. The five cameras are located in parks such as Franklin Canyon Park. The operator, Redflex Traffic Systems Inc. is paid $20 per ticket, the fine listed on the citation is $100. In 2010, a class action lawsuit was filed against MRCA, automatic number plate recognition can be used for purposes unrelated to enforcement of traffic rules. In principle any agency or person with access to either from traffic cameras or cameras installed for other purposes can track the movement of vehicles for any purpose. In Australias SAFE-T-CAM system, ANPR technology is used to long distance truck drivers to detect avoidance of legally prescribed driver rest periods. In the UK an 80-year-old pensioner John Catt and his daughter Linda were stopped by City of London Police while driving in London and they had their vehicle searched under section 44 of the Terrorism Act 2000 and were threatened with arrest if they refused to answer questions. Critics point out that the Catts had been suspected of no crime, toll-booth cameras to identify vehicles proceeding through a toll booth without paying the toll Turn cameras at intersections where specific turns are prohibited on red. This type of camera is used in cities or heavy populated areas
Traffic enforcement camera
–
Gatso speed camera
Traffic enforcement camera
–
A Speed camera photographed in
Mong Kok,
Hong Kong, across
Langham Place
Traffic enforcement camera
–
Automatic speed enforcement gantry or " Lombada Eletrônica " with ground sensors at
Brasilia, D.F.
Traffic enforcement camera
–
Gatso Mobile Speed Camera, used in Victoria, Australia. The camera is mounted on the passenger side dash, whilst the black box on the front is the radar unit.
23.
Automatic number plate recognition
–
Automatic number plate recognition is a technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates. It can use existing closed-circuit television, road-rule enforcement cameras, or cameras specifically designed for the task, ANPR is used by police forces around the world for law enforcement purposes, including to check if a vehicle is registered or licensed. It is also used for toll collection on pay-per-use roads. Automatic number plate recognition can be used to store the images captured by the cameras as well as the text from the license plate, Systems commonly use infrared lighting to allow the camera to take the picture at any time of the day. ANPR technology must take into account plate variations from place to place, concerns about these systems have centered on privacy fears of government tracking citizens movements, misidentification, high error rates, and increased government spending. Critics have described it as a form of mass surveillance, prototype systems were working by 1979, and contracts were awarded to produce industrial systems, first at EMI Electronics, and then at Computer Recognition Systems in Wokingham, UK. Early trial systems were deployed on the A1 road and at the Dartford Tunnel, the first arrest through detection of a stolen car was made in 1981. However, ANPR did not become widely used until new developments in cheaper and easier to use software were pioneered during the 1990s, the collection of ANPR data for future use was documented in the early 2000s. The software aspect of the runs on standard home computer hardware. When done at the site, the information captured of the plate alphanumeric, date-time, lane identification. This information can easily be transmitted to a computer for further processing if necessary. In the other arrangement, there are large numbers of PCs used in a server farm to handle high workloads. Often in such systems, there is a requirement to forward images to the server. ANPR uses optical character recognition on images taken by cameras, some license plate arrangements use variations in font sizes and positioning—ANPR systems must be able to cope with such differences in order to be truly effective. More complicated systems can cope with international variants, though many programs are tailored to each country. The cameras used can be existing road-rule enforcement or closed-circuit television cameras, as well as mobile units, some systems use infrared cameras to take a clearer image of the plates. Further scaled-down components at more cost-effective price points led to a number of deployments by law enforcement agencies around the world. Despite their effectiveness, there are noteworthy challenges related with mobile ANPRs, one of the biggest is that the processor and the cameras must work fast enough to accommodate relative speeds of more than 100 mph, a likely scenario in the case of oncoming traffic
Automatic number plate recognition
–
The system must be able to deal with different styles of
license plates
Automatic number plate recognition
–
License-plate recognition process
Automatic number plate recognition
–
The
font on
Dutch plates was changed to improve plate recognition.
Automatic number plate recognition
–
A
Merseyside Police car equipped with mobile ANPR.
24.
Radar gun
–
A radar speed gun is a device used to measure the speed of moving objects. A radar speed gun is a Doppler radar unit that may be hand-held, vehicle-mounted or static. The radar speed gun was invented by John L. Barker Sr. and Ben Midlock, originally, Automatic Signal was approached by Grumman Aircraft Corporation to solve the specific problem of terrestrial landing gear damage on the now-legendary PBY Catalina amphibious aircraft. Barker and Midlock cobbled a Doppler radar unit from coffee cans soldered shut to make microwave resonators, the unit was installed at the end of the runway, and aimed directly upward to measure the sink rate of landing PBYs. After the war, Barker and Midlock tested radar on the Merritt Parkway, in 1947, the system was tested by the Connecticut State Police in Glastonbury, Connecticut, initially for traffic surveys and issuing warnings to drivers for excessive speed. Starting in February 1949, the police began to issue speeding tickets based on the speed recorded by the radar device. In 1948, radar was used in Garden City, New York. Speed guns use Doppler radar to perform speed measurements, Radar speed guns, like other types of radar, consist of a radio transmitter and receiver. They send out a signal in a narrow beam, then receive the same signal back after it bounces off the target object. From that difference, the radar speed gun can calculate the speed of the object from which the waves have been bounced. After the returning waves are received, a signal with a equal to this difference is created by mixing the received radio signal with a little of the transmitted signal. Since this type of speed gun measures the difference in speed between a target and the gun itself, the gun must be stationary in order to give a correct reading. Instead of comparing the frequency of the signal reflected from the target with the transmitted signal, the frequency difference between these two signals gives the true speed of the target vehicle. Modern radar speed guns normally operate at X, K, Ka, Radar guns that operate using the X band frequency range are becoming less common because they produce a strong and easily detectable beam. Also, most automatic doors utilize radio waves in the X band range, as a result, K band and Ka band are most commonly used by police agencies. For these reasons, hand-held radar typically includes an on-off trigger, Radar detectors are illegal in some areas. Traffic radar comes in many models, hand-held units are mostly battery powered, and for the most part are used as stationary speed enforcement tools. Stationary radar can be mounted in vehicles and may have one or two antennae
Radar gun
–
Microdigicam Laser in use in
Brazil
Radar gun
–
Handheld radar speed gun
Radar gun
–
Disassembled radar speed gun. The copper cone is the microwave
horn antenna. At the right end is the
Gunn diode oscillator which generates the microwaves.
25.
Variable-message sign
–
Such signs warn of traffic congestion, accidents, incidents, roadwork zones, or speed limits on a specific highway segment. In urban areas, VMS are used within parking guidance and information systems to guide drivers to car parking spaces. They may also ask vehicles to take alternative routes, limit travel speed, vMSs were deployed at least as early as the 1950s on the New Jersey Turnpike. The New Jersey Turnpike Authority replaced those signs with more flexible electronic signs between 2010 and 2016, the current VMS systems are largely deployed on freeways, trunk highways, or in work zones. Since the late 1990s, the most common used in new installations for variable message signs are LED displays. In recent years, some newer LED variable message signs have the ability to display colored text, dot-matrix variable message signs are divided into three subgroups, character matrix, row matrix, and full matrix. In a character matrix VMS, each character is given its own matrix with equal spacing between them, typically with two or three rows of characters. In a full matrix VMS, the sign is a single large dot matrix display, allowing the display of different fonts. Overhead variable message signs are available in three form factors, front access, rear access, and walk-in. In a front access variable message sign, maintenance is performed by lifting the sign open from the front, most smaller VMS are of the front access form factor, and are typically installed today on major arterials. The walk-in form factor is a recent introduction, where maintenance on the sign is performed from the inside of the sign. A key advantage of the form factor is that lane closures are generally not required to perform maintenance on the sign. Most of the largest VMS units installed today are walk-in units, the NJ Turnpike Authority counts five unique types of variable message signs under its jurisdiction, at least one of which has been replaced by newer signs. They are, REDUCE SPEED neon signs, electronic VMS, signs with remotely controlled messages displayed on them, the messages are sent from the State Traffic Management Center, updating the signs automatically. Variable speed limit signs - used for varying the speed limits within work zones. A portable VMS has much the same characteristics as a fixed electronic VMS, early models required an operator to be physically present when programming a message, whereas newer models may be reprogrammed remotely via a wired or wireless network or cellphone connection. A complete message on a panel generally includes a statement indicating incident, roadwork. A location statement indicating where the incident is located, a statement indicating lane closure, delay, etc
Variable-message sign
–
Sign over
Interstate 94 in
Saint Paul, Minnesota, advising of a road blockage during a winter storm
Variable-message sign
–
Early style of VMS still in use on the
New Jersey Turnpike will be replaced by new LED VMS sign
Variable-message sign
–
Europe's largest Dynamic Route Guidance System
Nuremberg, Germany
Variable-message sign
–
Trailer-mounted VMS in Central London
26.
Boulevards of the Marshals (Paris)
–
The Boulevards of the Marshals are a collection of thoroughfares that encircle the city of Paris, France near its outermost margins. Most bear the name of a marshal of the First Empire who served under Napoleon I. Only Étienne Eustache Bruix, a French admiral, Jean Simon, a general of the French Foreign Legion, and Martial Henri Valin. Nonetheless, they have named for them that are parts of the belt. There are seven legitimate marshals of the First-Empire period who have not been immortalized by having their names attached to boulevards comprising the ring, Bernadotte left Napoleons service to become the elected King of Sweden, where he reigned as Charles XIV John. The missing marshals are, Pierre Augereau, Jean-Baptiste Jules Bernadotte, Emmanuel de Grouchy, Auguste de Marmont, Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey, Nicolas Oudinot, of the seven marshals without a boulevard, only three of them have no street at all named after them in Paris. The other three marshals are considered traitors to France so they are not honored by the city. There is a discontinuity in the loop around the city near the Garigliano Bridge. The boulevards of the marshals occupy the site of the old road that ran along the inside of the fortified walls of Thiers. The expansion of the area of Paris in 1860, by annexing bordering communities, created a situation where everything within the wall was Paris. The large berm immediately outside the wall and its dry moat led to a disruption and complication of the synergistic relationship between Paris and its suburbs. This also served to re-integrate, to an extent, Paris with its hinterland. The boulevards of the concept was almost fully realized by 1932. Below is a list of the boulevards in Paris named after marshals of France. Also noted are the connections to the Paris Métro, the Réseau Express Régional, the Paris Tramway Line 3, the city gates of Paris, legend, The boulevards are, of course, city streets and open to vehicular traffic. They do not constitute an expressway or limited-access motorway in the fashion of the Boulevard Périphérique, there are also bus lanes separated from the normal lanes of traffic, and a bicycle path on the sidewalk has been installed. The Paris Tramway Line 3 follows the boulevards of the marshals along the edge of the city
Boulevards of the Marshals (Paris)
–
Bernadotte, the "man who would be king" (of Sweden)
Boulevards of the Marshals (Paris)
–
Marshal Soult, who, later in life, became prime minister of France
27.
A86 autoroute
–
A86 is the second ring road around Paris, France. It follows a path around Paris with the distance from the city centre varying from 8–16 kilometres. A part of A86 contains the worlds longest urban motorway tunnel, A86 is a part of the four-ring-road system surrounding Paris and Île-de-France, Boulevard Périphérique, completed in 1973, roughly an ellipse 9 km ×11 km and limits of Paris city. A86, completed in 2011, irregular,20 km ×25 km, similar in size with Londons North Circular, the Francilienne, a partial ring, circa 50 km in diameter, comparable with Londons M25 motorway. The Grand contournement de Paris, a wide loop bypassing Paris, official Website of the A86 West Tunnel System
A86 autoroute
–
The A86 road (blue) is located between the
Périphérique (orange) and
Francilienne (green) rings
28.
Francilienne
–
The Francilienne is a partial ring road around Île-de-France, France, lying outside the A86. The planned ring is approximately 50 km in diameter, similar in size to Londons M25 motorway, started in 1970, the existing segments cover about two-thirds of the circle, under different names. Construction of the sections, which would complete the Francilienne, was projected during the late 2000s to take place between 2011 and 2015. All future construction is to be to motorway standard and will be designated as A104 only, the south eastern portion of the Francilienne, the N104 between the A4 and A6, is severely congested and carries a high percentage of heavy goods vehicle traffic. Some parts of the N104 are being upgraded to three each way in the vicinity of the A4 as of 2013. The French government has not yet designated any of the lanes as high-occupancy vehicle lanes, the Francilienne is the third Paris ring road, enclosing the A86 super-périphérique, which in turn encloses the Périphérique. Enclosing the Francilienne itself is the large and incomplete Grand Contournement. Exits are numbered in a clockwise direction, A104 autoroute in Saratlas Francilienne. Net Overview and History
Francilienne
–
The Francilienne (green),
super peripherique A86 (blue) and the
Périphérique (orange)
.jpeg)
