Spanish term (edited): autov�a auton�mica

Highway 56 Information - [ Traduzca esta página ]
It will be an autonomous freeway with three lanes on each side of I-5 that will
service truck traffic as well as traffic from Highway 56 and Carmel Mountain ...
www.gbcnet.com/roads/hwy_56/ - 11k - En caché - Páginas similares

Spanish term (edited): autov�a auton�mica

I have no idea what an "autonomous highway" might mean in English. Perhaps it would constitute sovereign territory? Use its own official language? Have guards posted at each mile marker?

On the other hand, *limited access*,meaning that there are no stoplights or intersections, and that one enters and exits the highway via ramps, strikes me as a plausible translation of *autonomica* in this context.

Yet another possibilities is:
Toll-road (if one pays a toll to use it)

Spanish term (edited): autov�a auton�mica

(or some other less wordy rendering), but this is what it is: a four-lane highway ("autovía") (not a "freeway", which is "autopista" in Spain), maintained by the "Red de Carreteras Autónomas" of an Autonomous Community, rather than being a part of the "Red de Carreteras del Estado", the national roadway system. The latter are marked with an "N" (i.e., "carretera nacional"), while the former carry the symbol of the Autonomous Community in question ("Ex" for Extremadura, "Mu" for Murcia, "CM" for Castilla-La Mancha, etc.)

Source: Mapa Oficial de Carreteras de España. Ministerio de Fomento, 2006.

I know it would be easier just to call this a "regional highway" and there is a tendency to use the word "regional" in English translations when referring to Spain's autonomous communities. As a geographic term this may be acceptable, but politically I would dare say it is not, since there are systems of territorial division into regions (as is the case in Italy) which do not correspond to the Spanish system. Spanish political scientists, politicians and jurists insist on making the distinction between regions and autonomous communities, emphasizing that they should not be called "regions" in Spain. This is reflected in the texts below:

... a setenta y cuatro presidentes de las asambleas legislativas regionales europeas: los parlamentos de las comunidades españolas, las regiones italianas, ...
www.calre.net/_documents/es/CALRE_shorthistory2004_es.doc

... que se reunieron Estados Federados Alemanes, Comunidades Españolas y Regiones Italianas, informando sobre las oportunidades de cooperación existentes. ...
archivo-elciudadano.com.ar/10-10-2005/santafe/sancarlos.php

Al mismo asistieron representantes de Estados Federados Alemanes, Comunidades Españolas y Regiones Italianas quienes informaron sobre las oportunidades de ...
www.fundanoa.org.ar/noticias/06.asp

de envejecimiento femenino, localizados en algunas regiones italianas, griegas, ... expansión del turismo rural en casi todas las comunidades españolas ha ...
www.libroblancoagricultura.com/libroblanco/jtematica/politi...

Las regiones italianas tienen órganos legislativos denominados Consejos ... amplias como las de las comunidades españolas; pero tiene transferidas ...
www.tdx.cesca.es/TESIS_UPC/AVAILABLE/TDX-0725105-155807/03H...



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Note added at 3 hrs 44 mins (2006-01-10 17:01:54 GMT)
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In other respects, (in Spain) an "autovía" is not a limited-access road, but just the contrary. "Autopistas" are limited-access roads, and if they are toll roads they are called "autopistas de peaje."