Why the Prius Hate?

All your 35 mph roads are one way?

 

it's boston, what can i say?

 

Two lanes per direction?

 

That is the definition of a four lane road, not a two lane one. I grew up in Toronto and lived on a one-way street so I know the definitions.

 

what do you call a highway with four lanes on either side?

 

Around here a road with four lanes on each side is a freeway. A subtype is a tollway.

Two lanes on each side without feeder roads is a highway. Sometimes it will narrow down to one lane on each side.

 

All of which shows that naming conventions are regional.

In my neck of the woods, a two lane highway has one lane in either direction. Two lanes in either direction with highway speeds(55+) is typically called a four lane highway or freeway if it's an Interstate. City speed roads can be named either way depending on context. If you're talking about the entire stretch of road, then it's typically called by the total number of lanes. If talking about a specific stretch of the road(especially if only talking about one direction), the number named might only refer to one direction. But even then, the speaker will usually say something like "two lanes in either direction" to avoid confusion.

If I had to guess, I'd bet that the naming convention typically is linked to the average size of roads. Lower population regions where two total lanes are common, four total lanes are less common, and six total lanes or more are rare, are probably more likely to name roads based on total number of lanes. Regions where it's common to have eight, ten, twelve, or more total lanes, I bet are more likely to name roads based on one direction only.

 

'Freeway' in my mind has always gone with limited-access highways: those with no intersections, only entrance and exit ramps—whether they are parts of the Interstate system or US highways or state ones.

 

Yep, freeway means free of lights and crossings, not really free of toll. You can have a freeway with or without a toll. It is the US equivalent of autobahn in Europe, while the speed limits or lack of them may differ.

 

The driving situation has been getting worse and worse around here. I can no longer trust cars stopping at solid red lights. Just last night, when I was saying to myself that I should proceed very carefully through this intersection, someone ran a solid red light in front of me. Perhaps he was drunk. It had also happened near there a couple of months ago. This is why the insurance premiums are skyrocketing. Something happened to people after the pandemic.

 

started during, got worse after, if that is definable,

 

the term freeway has never been used around here for some reason