But because transportation needs and regulations differ by state, the U.S. is home to a number of uncommon road types.
These roads were developed to improve the flow of commerce, increase mobility and manage traffic. American roads are typically designed around vehicle traffic while roads overseas are more likely to accommodate a variety of bicycle and pedestrian needs.
Roadway designs vary from city to city and state to state. Some have a presence in nearly every state while others are rare sightings except for a single city.
According to the Federal Highway Administration, the average American drives more than 14,000 miles per year. And as of 2019, there are about 4 million miles of public roads throughout the country.
It would take a lot of years to see all of those miles, but if you’re just looking for these weird road types, check out the list below to find them.
Stravenues
A portmanteau of street and avenue, a stravenue is a unique road to the city of Tucson, Arizona. Streets like Cherrybell Stravenue, Rex Stravenue and Olympia Stravenue mark central parts of the city.
According to the Pima County Code of Ordinances, the official definition is a street “which runs diagonally between and intersects a Street and an Avenue.” Those diagonal roads are largely present in the city’s central business district while avenues run north-to-south and streets run east-to-west.
The term “stravenue” can be traced back to the 1940’s, when architectural firm Blanton and Cole included the term on plans for a subdivision.
Farm-to-Market Roads
Primarily a feature of rural Texas, farm-to-market roads typically have two lanes. Construction on the first farm-to-market road began in 1936 as a way to improve mobility between rural agricultural areas and market towns. The state legislature would commit funds to building similar roadways across the state in 1949.
Today, there’s a network of more than 3,000 farm-to-market roads across the state. FM 78, for example, runs from the city of Seguin, Texas into the eastern side of the San Antonio metropolitan area.
Louisiana, Missouri and Iowa have similar, though smaller, road systems.
Roundabouts
A modern roundabout, according to the Los Angeles County Public Works department, is a traffic circle that features yield control for incoming traffic, separate lanes for entering and exiting and designs for driving around them at slower speeds.
The origins of the roundabout can be traced back to 18th century Europe, where major cities constructed circular junctions just as coachbuilding was taking off.
The goal is to create a free-flowing, slow-speed environment for increased intersection efficiency.
The first modern roundabout in the U.S. was constructed in 1990 in Summerlin, Nevada. They are more prominent in Washington, Indiana, California and Maryland.
Rotaries
Rotaries share a similar goal with roundabouts, though they can operate at speeds of 40 mph or higher. They can also be larger than the average roundabout.
Entering a rotary is similar to entering a highway, where a driver has to merge into a lane instead of getting a dedicated lane in a roundabout. Most rotaries were constructed in the first half of the 20th century.
The rotary is a common sight in New England, especially in Massachusetts.
Stroads
Coined by civil engineer Charles Marohn in 2011, a stroad is defined as a type of pathway that’s part street (the environment where buildings, pedestrians and cars interact) and a road.
Marohn says that the result is a stroad, which is gaining popularity across the U.S and “moves cars at speeds too slow to get around efficiently but too fast to support productive private sector investment.”
Frontage Roads
In several states, a frontage road is a route that runs parallel to a highway and serves as feeders for drivers to enter and exit that highway. They usually consist of one or two lanes.
A large number of frontage roads line the highways of Texas, which constructed many of them in the middle of the 20th century allowing for easy on/off access to highways without disrupting the flow of traffic on surrounding roads.
Examples exist throughout the world, but in the U.S. they are primarily found in Texas, Montana, North Carolina, South Carolina and major metropolitan areas of Illinois and Michigan.
Reversibles
A reversible lane is a lane where traffic can move in different directions at designated times.
Reversible lanes were popularized starting in the 60s, along with the general expansion of suburbs and increased traffic. These types of lanes are popular on bridges in large cities nationwide.
For example, on the 4th Street Bridge in Los Angeles, the center lane is designated for northbound traffic on weekday mornings, switches to southbound traffic on weekday afternoons and operates as a center turning lane at all other times.
Tribal Transportation Roads
Managed by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Tribal Transportation Roads are paved roads that line some Native American reservations. Under the umbrella of the designation are highways, city roads and other roads that are federally maintained.
The Tribal Transportation Roads Program is administered by the Federal Lands Highway Office and the BIA.
These roads are patrolled by tribal police, BIA police, state highway patrols and sheriff’s deputies.
The program has its roots in the 20’s, with more attention paid to the maintenance and expansion needs of those roads coming from a Congressional act in 1982.
Forest Highways
Since the 1920’s, forest highways have connected state highway systems to U.S. national forests for recreational and business purposes.
These routes vary from well-maintained paved roads to dirt trails that are more easily accessible with off-roading vehicles.
The U.S. Forest Service, with funding from the federal government, maintains a network of 29,000 miles.
Due to funding constraints, this network is not always well-maintained. In 2020, the agency reported that it had a $3.2 billion road maintenance backlog.
