BYPASS (ROAD)

A 'bypass' is a road or highway that avoids or "bypasses" a built-up area, town, or village, to let through traffic flow without interference from local traffic, to reduce congestion in the built-up area, and to improve road safety.
If there are no strong land use controls, buildings are built along a bypass, converting it into an ordinary town road, and the bypass may eventually become as congested as the local streets it was intended to avoid.

Contents

United Kingdom

United States

Sweden

See also

United Kingdom

The idea of bypasses predates the use of motor vehicles. The first (northern) London bypass, the present Marylebone Road between Paddington and Islington, was started in 1756.
Bypasses can take many years to gain planning approval and funding. Many towns and villages have been campaigning for bypasses for over 30 years e.g. Banwell in North Somerset.

United States

In the United States, 'bypass routes' are a type of bannered highway used on an alternative routing of a highway around a town when the main route of the highway goes through the town. The original designation of these routes were "truck routes" to divert through truck traffic away from the town, but the designation was changed to "bypass" in 1959-1960 by AASHTO. However, many "Truck" bannered routes remain where the mainline of the highway is prohibited for trucks.
In a few cases, both a bypass and a business route exist, sometimes without a non-bannered highway (this is the case in Lexington, Kentucky with U.S. Highway 60). Bypass routes are less common than business routes.
In the Interstate highway system in the United States, bypasses and loops are designated with a three digit number beginning with an even digit.
Another meaning of the term 'bypass route' (usually simply called a ''bypass'') is a highway that was constructed to bypass an area that is often congested with traffic. This includes Interstate highway beltways and U.S. Highways constructed to circumvent downtown areas. Examples of these are U.S. Route 60 bypassing Williamsburg, Virginia, U.S. Routes 31 and 20 bypassing metro South Bend, Indiana, and Interstate 75 bypassing Tampa and St. Petersburg, Florida. These bypasses are usually not bannered.

Sweden

In the more densely populated southern part of Sweden many bypasses have been built, both as motorways and ordinary roads. Many cities and villages however still have main roads right through them. Municipality administrations are often lobbying to have a bypass for safety, noise and air quality reasons. In the northern parts of Sweden fewer bypasses have been built, especially in the sparsely populated interior. Here municipality administrations are often lobbying against bypasses, since they are afraid of losing income from road travellers.

See also

★ Alternate route

★ Business route

★ Israeli bypass roads

★ List of bannered U.S. Highways

★ List of Business Routes of the Interstate Highway System