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9. Read the text and check your answers.

Irish Roads

The island of Ireland (comprising Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) has an extensive network of tens of thousands of kilometres of public roads, usually surfaced. These roads have been developed and modernised over centuries, from trackways suitable only for walkers and horses, to surfaced roads including modern motorways. Northern Ireland has had motorways since 1962, and has a well developed network of primary, secondary and local routes. Historically, the road network in the Republic of Ireland was less well developed and maintained. The major differences between roads in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are in road quality and route classification, signposts and speed limits.

Roads in Northern Ireland are classified as either motorways (shown by the letter M followed by a route number, eg. M1), A-roads (shown by the letter A followed by a route number, eg. A6), B-roads (shown by the letter B followed by a route number, eg. B135) and other roads. There are two types of A-roads: primary and non-primary. Roads in the Republic are classified as either motorways (shown by the letter M followed by a route number, eg. M7), National roads (shown by the letter N followed by a route number, eg. N25), Regional roads (shown by the letter R followed by a route number, eg. R611) and Local roads (shown by the letter L followed by a route number, eg. L4202). There are two types of National roads: National Primary routes and National Secondary routes.

Distance signposts in Northern Ireland show distances in miles, while all signposts placed in the Republic since the 1970s use kilometres. The Republic’s road signs are bilingual, using both of the state’s official languages, Irish and English. The signs in Irish Gaelic are written in lower case italic script, which are smaller than the English language script and are therefore more difficult to read than the English version, which are in non-italic large capital letters. Signs in Northern Ireland are in English only. Warning signs in the Republic have a yellow background and are diamond-shaped, those in Northern Ireland are triangle-shaped and have a white background with a red border.

Currently speed limits in Northern Ireland are specified in miles per hour. Those in the Republic use kilometers per hour (km/h), a change introduced on 20 January 2005. This involved the provision of 58,000 new metric speed limit signs, replacing and supplementing 35,000 imperial signs.

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10. Fill in the chart using the information you have read.

Roads in

Northern Ireland

Roads in

the Republic of

Ireland

11.Tell about Irish roads using the charts above.

12.Work in pairs. Think of 2 or 3 questions using the words from the box. Answer the questions of your partner.

13. Read the text word by word and complete the following words.

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N * t * * * k ;

m * * * * * * * y ;

c * * * g * * * ;

* * * * * l e l ;

c * * * * * * * * * * n ;

* i * * * * * o n ;

* * * * * d a r y ;

* * f * * i * * .

Motorways and Roads in Cyprus

Since the arrival of the first motor cars on the island in 1907, Cyprus has developed one of the most modern road networks in Europe. According to 2002 statistics, the road network in the free areas of Cyprus consists of about 7.206 km of paved and 4.387 km of unpaved roads. Although the first motorway in Cyprus, A1, was completed as recently as October 1985, the country already has the most motorway km per capita (38.6km /100,000 inhabitants) amongst all European Union members.

Roads and Motorways in Cyprus can be classified into 5 main categories:

Motorways, 2 lanes per direction, free of any at-grade intersections. They are the most important road network on the island, and the letter "A" is used on their official numbering system. Motorways usually run parallel to the same-number "B class" intercity roads that they replaced and sometimes these roads are even transformed to Motorways. While there is no formal announcement about the numbering of new motorways under construction and under planning, it's anticipated that they will have the same number as their current main road. So Limassol - Saittas Motorway will be coded A8 because A is the letter of Motorways and 8 because it will "replace" B8 road.

Main Roads, Intercity roads, mostly one lane per direction, except sometimes in residential areas up to two lanes. B is the letter used in their official numbering system, with a number up to two digits long. Most of them have been replaced with their same-number Motorway (e.g. Traffic from Nicosia to Limassol now uses the A1 Motorway while in the past B1 road was the main connection between these cities)."B type" roads can be also main avenues within the city limits.

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Roads, secondary road network, mostly connecting rural areas. One lane per direction, always paved. They use the letter "E" in their formal numbering system and they are 3 digits long. First digit is the serial number of the main road that the secondary road begins from (or the secondary road that begins at another secondary road which begins at a main road etc.) and the last two digits is the serial number of the road. Smaller digits where the main road begins, larger ones near main road's ending.

Local roads, when coded during the 80's one lane and often dirt roads, today almost completely paved, and waiting for letter re-evaluation. They use "F" in the official coding system, and they are counted in the same way as "E"s are. There is no "E" with the same number as an "F".

Unclassified roads. They can be "B" and "E" type. The case here is that these roads were constructed after the road network was numbered, so they will remain without a serial number and road signs will remain with gaps until the next road numbering evaluation.

14.Make up word combinations as they are used in the text from the words given below. Read out the sentences with these word combinations.

15.Write down a plan of the text and let your partner explain each item.

16.Find one meaningless word and change it. What is the main idea of the text?

Diosdado Macapagal ingribrut is a modern eight-lane road parallel to Roxas ingribrut running from CCP Complex, Pasay City to Marina Sub-

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division, Paranaque City, both in Metro Manila. It was named after former President Diosdado Macapagal. It is located in the reclamation areas. This ingribrut has 3 major bridges, crossing the 'channels', of which the largest is the Libertad Channel, where the Libertad Water Pumping Station is situated. Thanks to intersection reconfiguring around EDSA to relieve traffic, Macapagal Boulevard is now often used to access the SM Mall of Asia, Manila to the north and Cavite province to the south.

17. Discuss in pairs the following facts.

Longest international highway: the Pan-American Highway, which connects many countries in the Americas, is nearly 48,000 kilometres (29,826 mi) long as of 2005.

Longest national highway: Australia's Highway 1 at over 20,000 km (12,427 mi). It runs almost the entire way around the country’s coastline. With the exception of Canberra (which is inland) it links all the capital cities, although Brisbane and Darwin are not directly connected. Also the route links all the major towns and cities of the island state of Tasmania, Burnie, Devonport, Launceston and Hobart (the state’s capital).

Longest national highway (Point to point): The Trans-Canada Highway (Known as TCH 1 in western Canada) is 7,821 km (4,857 mi) long as of 2006. It runs across southern Canada and connects with several major urban centres along its longitudinal route.

Largest national highway system: The United States of America has approximately 6,430,366 kilometres (3,995,644 mi) of highway within its borders as of 2008.

Busiest highway: Highway 401 in Ontario, Canada, has volumes surpassing an average of 500,000 vehicles per day in some sections of Toronto as of 2006.

Widest highway (maximum number of lanes): The Katy Freeway (part of Interstate 10) in Houston, Texas, United States of America, has a total of 26 lanes in some sections as of 2007. However, they are divided up into general use/Frontage roads/HOV lanes, restricting traffic flow.

Widest highway (number of maximum through lanes): Highway 401 through Mississauga, Ontario has the most unrestricted free-flow lanes, at 22 (26 including restricted) as of 2008.

http://carstock.com.ua/Dictionary/Highways

What was new for you?

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18.Using the Internet or some other resources find some other world records concerning road building and share them with your colleagues.

19.Read about Japanese roads to answer the questions.

1.How many lanes do Japanese expressways have?

2.What speed is allowed there?

3.What are the tolls based on?

4.What is ETC?

5.Where is a flat-rate toll system implemented?

6.What classification of roads is there in Japan?

National expressways make up the majority of expressways in Japan. This network boasts an uninterrupted link between Aomori Prefecture at the northern part of Honshū and Kagoshima Prefecture at the southern part of Kyūshū, linking Shikoku as well. Additional expressways serve travellers in Hokkaidō and on Okinawa Island, although those are not connected to the Honshū-Kyūshū-Shikoku grid.

Most expressways are 4 lanes with a central reservation (median). Some expressways in close proximity to major urban areas are 6 lanes, while some in rural areas are 2 lanes only with a barrier on the center line. 2-laned sections are built to a standard that allows conversion to 4 lanes in the future.

Speed limits are normally 100 km/h, and a minimum speed of 50 km/h

ways. Speed limits may also be reduced temporarily (due to adverse driving conditions) or permanently (in accident-prone areas) as speed limit signs can be adjusted electronically.

Many rest facilities such as parking areas (usually only with toilets or small shops) and service areas (usually with many more amenities such as restaurants and gas stations) serve travellers along national expressways.

National expressways are expensive to use, with the 325.5-km journey from Tokyo to Nagoya on the Tōmei Expressway costing ¥7100 in tolls for an ordinary car.

With a few exceptions, tolls on national expressways are based on distance travelled. When entering the expressway, one collects a ticket, which can be inserted along with the fare into a machine or handed to an atten-

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dant upon exiting the expressway. There is also an Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) card system installed in many cars which automatically pays at the toll gate. As of 2001 toll fees consist of a 150 yen terminal charge plus a fee which depends on the distance travelled.

Tolls are always rounded to the nearest 50 yen and include consumption tax. If there are two or more possible routes from the entrance to the exit, the toll will be calculated based on the shortest (cheapest) route.

Tolls collected from all routes are pooled into a single fund and are used to repay the entire network. It is expected that all national expressways in Japan will be fully repaid 45 years after privatization (2050).

Some future national expressways are planned to be built according to the New Direct Control System, whereby national and local governments will absorb the burden for expressway construction and operate toll-free upon completion.

Urban expressways are intra-city expressways which are found in many of Japan's largest urban areas. Due to lack of space many of these expressways are constructed as viaducts running above local roads. The two largest networks are the Shuto Expressway in the Tokyo area and the Hanshin Expressway in the Osaka area. There are other smaller networks in Nagoya, Hiroshima, Kitakyūshū, and Fukuoka. Each network is managed separately from each other (the Fukuoka and Kitakyūshū Expressways are managed by the same company but are not physically connected to each other).

Currently all urban expressways operate on a flat-rate toll system (the toll is the same regardless of the distance travelled on the network), however both the Shuto Expressway and Hanshin Expressway are planning to move to a distance-based toll system for vehicles equipped with ETC.

All roads in Japan that are built to expressway standards (including national and urban expressways themselves) are known as Roads for motor vehicles only. If a road for motor vehicles only cannot be classified as a national or urban expressway, it may be classified into one of the following categories.

o National highway for motor vehicles only with national expressway concurrency

Roads in this category are built to facilitate future incorporation into the main route of a national expressway. Examples include the Yonezawa Nan-yō Road, the Higashi-Mito Road and the Futtsu Tateyama Road.

o National highway for motor vehicles only

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Roads in this category are national highways built to expressway standards as designated by the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. Examples include the Ken-Ō Expressway and the Tōkai-Kanjō Expressway.

20.How can the text above be titled? Why?

21.Work in pairs. Discuss the pictures below (Pic. 43 - 48). Use the information you have read to ask questions.

Pic. 43

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Pic. 46

22. Look at the table. What is shown there?

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Use the Internet or other resources to search for “a toll road”. Prepare a short presentation on toll roads of different countries, e.g. France, Italy, Hungary, Germany, etc.

23. You are going to read an article about Indian highway projects. Fill in the following tables while reading.

10 mega highway projects

Cost, rupees

Length

Number of states involved

Kishangarh (Rajasthan)-Ahmedabad

Ichapuram-Rajahmundry (in Andhra Pradesh)

Amritsar (in Punjab) - Jodhpur (in Rajasthan)

Kolhapur-Nagpur (in Maharashtra)

Ahmedabad-Gondal (in Gujarat)

AurangabadDhankuni (in West Bengal)

Goa-Maharashtra Border

Bhavnagar-Dwarka (in Gujarat)

Mega highway projects

The government has lined up 10 mega highway projects, involving a whopping Rs 45,000 crore investments, besides fast-tracking some of them by inviting interested parties to submit their qualification documents.

These 10 mega contracts, of around USD 1 billion each, would involve developing more than 4,800 km of modern highways spread over seven states.

These projects would be awarded to private parties on a revenuesharing basis, under which the developers pay a part of the toll earnings to the government, a National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) official said.

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