Parkway

A parkway is a broad, landscaped highway thoroughfare. The term is particularly used for a roadway in a park or connecting to a park from which trucks and other heavy vehicles are excluded. Many parkways originally intended for scenic, recreational driving have evolved into major urban and commuter routes.

The term parkway is sometimes applied more generally to a variety of limited-access roads.

United States

Scenic roads

Over the years, many different types of roads have been labeled parkways.

The first parkways in the United States were developed during the late 19th century by landscape architects Frederick Law Olmsted and Beatrix Farrand as roads segregated for pedestrians, bicyclists, equestrians, and horse carriages, such as the Eastern Parkway, which is credited as the world's first parkway, and Ocean Parkway in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The terminology "parkway" to define this type of road was coined by Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted in their proposal to link city and suburban parks with "pleasure roads."

Parkways in New York

The majority of parkways in the US state of New York are part of a statewide parkway system owned by several public and private agencies but mostly maintained by the New York State Department of Transportation (NYSDOT). A handful of other roads in the Hudson Valley and on Long Island are also known as parkways but are not part of the state system. The state parkway system introduced the concept of limited-access roads. These highways were not divided and allowed no driveway cuts, but did have intersections for some of the streets they crossed. A small section of the privately financed Long Island Motor Parkway was the first limited-access road to begin operation as a toll road and the first highway to use bridges and overpasses to eliminate intersections.

The individual parkways vary widely in composition. Some, such as the Sprain Brook Parkway, are functionally equivalent to a freeway; others, like Seven Lakes Drive, are a two-lane undivided surface road. The majority of parkways are located in downstate New York, where the state parkway system originated in the early 20th century.

Parkway (St. John's)

The Parkway is a major arterial road in the city of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. It consists of three distinct roads that form a single through route: Columbus Drive, Prince Philip Drive, and Macdonald Drive. A four-lane limited-access road with a speed limit of 70 km/h along most of its length, the parkway begins at an intersection with Pitts Memorial Drive in the city's west end and terminates at Logy Bay Road in the east end.

Segments

Columbus Drive runs in a general south-to-north direction from Pitts Memorial Drive to Thorburn Road. It passes Bowring Park, the Village Mall, the edge of the west end residential area, and the Avalon Mall. Also known as the Crosstown Arterial, Columbus Drive was constructed in order to improve traffic circulation in the city by linking Kenmount Road and Prince Philip Drive with Topsail Road and Pitts Memorial Drive. Built on land purchased by the city in 1970, the road was opened in December 1981.

Prince Philip Drive, constructed in the late 1960s, runs in an east-west direction from Thorburn Road to Portugal Cove Road. Passing through Pippy Park, Prince Philip Drive provides access to several significant institutions: the Health Sciences Centre and Janeway Children's Hospital, the CBC's St. John's studios, the main Memorial University of Newfoundland campus, the St. John's Arts and Culture Centre, the Confederation Building, and the College of the North Atlantic.