A parkway is a highway designed as a scenic route — landscaped, often through parkland, and traditionally closed to commercial trucks. Highway is the general term for any major road. The distinction is about purpose and restrictions rather than size, though in some regions "parkway" is now just a road name with no rules attached.
The core difference
- highway — any main public road.
- parkway — a road built with landscaping as part of the design, often following a park or river, and commonly restricted to passenger vehicles.
Where the idea came from
Parkways began as landscape architecture rather than traffic engineering — roads intended to be pleasant to travel rather than merely quick. The earliest were laid out in the nineteenth century as connections between parks, which is where the name comes from: a way through a park.
The truck restriction
The most practical difference for a driver is that many parkways prohibit commercial vehicles, and some have low bridge clearances that enforce it physically. Sat-navs that do not distinguish parkways from other highways have caused a long history of lorries wedged under parkway bridges.
The regional variation
In the American Northeast, parkway usually still carries the restrictions. Elsewhere it has drifted into a general road name, applied to ordinary arterial roads with no landscaping and no vehicle limits. In parts of the South it can simply mean a wide street.
The joke, and why it is wrong
"Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?" The answer is that a parkway was a road through parkland, not a place to park, and a driveway was originally the private drive up to a house — a way you drive along, not a place to leave a car. Both names described what the road connected, not what you do on it.
Frequently asked questions
What makes a road a parkway?
Landscaped design, usually a scenic route often through or between parkland, and commonly a ban on commercial vehicles — though in some regions the name now carries no restrictions.
Can trucks drive on parkways?
Frequently not. Many parkways prohibit commercial vehicles and have low bridge clearances that enforce it, which is a recurring problem for drivers following general-purpose sat-navs.
Why is it called a parkway?
Because the earliest were laid out as ways through or between parks. It never referred to parking.