Autoroute

Autoroute is a French word meaning, literally, a 'motor road', and corresponding to the words "motorway" or "freeway" in English. It is the name used in the francophone world for highways constructed exclusively for high-speed motor traffic, usually connecting one or more cities. The autoroute logo, used to signal the entrance on the autoroute, represents a wide, grade-separated highway with a smaller road crossing on a bridge. The Autoroute system in France consists largely of toll roads, except around large cities. It is a network of 7,000 km worth of highways. Autoroute destinations are shown in blue, while destinations reached through a combination of highways and autoroutes are shown with an added autoroute logo. Toll autoroutes are signalled with the word péage (toll). The toll roads were granted as concessions to mixed-economy corporations; the non-toll roads are directly administered by the national government. Tolls are either based on a flat-rate for access to the road or on the distance driven. The latter case is the most common for long distances; users take a ticket from an automatic machine when they enter the autoroute, and pay according to the distance when exiting; toll booths accept cash, debit cards and credit cards. France has the highest set speed for limited access highways (130 km/h) in Western Europe or North America. Unlike other highway systems, there is no logical numbering system, but there is a clustering of Autoroute numbers based on region. A-1, A-3, A-4, A-5, A-6, A-10, A-13, A-14, A-15, A-16 radiate from Paris with A-2 and A-11 branching from A-1 and A-10, respectively. 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: for instance, A6 and A7 are autoroute du Soleil (Freeway of the Sun), for they lead from Northern France to Southern France and its sunny beach resorts. \nSee also\n* Autoroute (Quebec)\n* Freeway, Motorway, Autobahn\n* Highway\n* Toll Category:Road transport\n