A super two, super two-lane highway or wide two-lane is a two-lane surface road built to highway standards with wide lanes and other safety features normally present on a freeway with more lanes, typically including partial

control of access A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

, occasional

passing lane A passing lane (North American English) or overtaking lane (English outside of North America) is a lane on a multi-lane highway or motorway closest to the median of the road (the central reservation). In some countries, lanes are described as bei ...

s and hard

shoulder The human shoulder is made up of three bones: the clavicle (collarbone), the scapula (shoulder blade), and the humerus (upper arm bone) as well as associated muscles, ligaments and tendons. The articulations between the bones of the shoulder mak ...

s. It is often built for eventual conversion to

freeway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...

or at least divided-highway status once traffic volumes rise. Super twos have also been employed because of environmental concerns, such as where Interstate 93 becomes a super two in

Franconia Notch Franconia Notch (elev. ) is a major mountain pass through the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Dominated by Cannon Mountain to the west and Mount Lafayette to the east, it lies principally within Franconia Notch State Park and is traversed by ...

, New Hampshire, United States.

Ireland

In the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...

, the term ''wide two-lane'' is used by the

National Roads Authority The National Roads Authority (NRA) ( ga, An tÚdarás um Bóithre Náisiúnta) was a state body in Ireland, responsible for the national road network. The NRA was established as part of the Roads Act 1993 and commenced operations on 23 December ...

. In policy documents, the designation WS2 is used, which is also used in the UK for a wide single carriageway. Wide two-lane roads are common on national roads, both on less important but medium-capacity routes, and on more important routes not yet upgraded to dual carriageway or

motorway A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms i ...

. Wide two-lane roads in the Irish Republic generally have hard shoulders and are undivided

single carriageway A single carriageway (British English) or Undivided highway (American English) is a road with one, two or more lanes arranged within a one carriageway with no central reservation to separate opposing flows of traffic. A single-track road has a s ...

. Grade separation of junctions has been used in some instances—for example, the N20 bypassing Croom. Most wide two-lane roads are wide enough that a vehicle may overtake another without crossing the center line if the vehicle in front pulls into the

hard shoulder A shoulder, hard shoulder (British) or breakdown lane, is an emergency stopping lane by the verge of a road or motorway, on the right side in countries which drive on the right, and on the left side in countries which drive on the left. Many wide ...

(the carriageway including hard shoulders is 15–17 meters wide). Many future Irish road schemes will use

2+1 road 2+1 road is a specific category of three-lane road, consisting of two lanes in one direction and one lane in the other, alternating every few kilometres, and usually separated with a steel cable barrier. The second lane allows faster-moving ...

s or

2+2 road A 2+2 road is a specific type of dual-carriageway that exists primarily in Ireland, Sweden, Estonia and Finland, consisting of two lanes in each direction separated by a steel cable barrier. These roads do not have hard shoulders and therefor ...

s, as opposed to wide two-lane, which may better suit lower capacities than does 2+1. Wide two-lane, if finished to high quality with grade separated interchanges, has been shown to lead drivers into a false sense of security (from the apparently high speed road) and more dangerous driving (because the carriageways are not separated).

Texas

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, a two-lane highway that has an alternating passing lane is called a Super 2, but it is actually a

References

{{Road types Types of roads Highways

Ireland

Texas

See also

References