In case anyone actually wants to know the answer: it’s the plot of Cars. The difference is literally the plot of Cars.
Highways are usually two-to-four (at the widest) lane roads that meander the US landscape. Think Route 66, dinosaur statues, mom-and-pop diners, southern gothic. There are state-level and national-level highways. Some run for a 100 miles, some, like US HWY-17, run most of the East Coast:
That red line is US HWY 17. If you follow it, you will go through tiny towns. You may hit stoplights. I kid you not, you will see spinning cows on poles. Businesses exist along highways that you are encouraged to pull over and visit. They were designed to let you see America.
Yeah.
Now, interstates were made in the 50s and were made to get people from Point A to Point B. These suckers range from four lanes to eight lanes around big cities. They cut through everything. If you want to get to a business, you have to take an exit ramp and detour. They are great for getting places fast. You can still have weird experiences on them, but usually at night, when your eyes start playing tricks on you. Or there are deer.
I-95 is a massive corridor that runs from the Florida Keys to the Canadian Border. You can see the difference just looking at the maps.
As far as writing goes:
If you want quirky character development inside the car, you’re looking for an interstate. The majority of Americans take interstates to go on road trips.
If you want mysterious and/or supernatural hijinks, you’re looking for a highway. They are weird, weird places, and they’re surprisingly easy to wind up on if you leave the interstate.
(Even in America, no one’s really sure what a freeway is. Just ignore it.)
A freeway is a highway or interstate with toll points. You gotta stop and throw change in the machine before you can continue.
A highway can be both a highway and a freeway, but a freeway isn’t always a highway.
Because highways meander around, they often turn into normal two-way ‘streets’ (in cities) or ‘roads’ (in smaller towns) and then turn back into highways once you’re clear of civilization.
The only real difference between a ‘street’ and a ‘highway’ is the speed limit in my experience. If the speed limit only gets up to 55-ish, it’s still a road/street. If the speed limit goes to 60 or above, it’s a highway.
The signs made of a blue shield with a red band on the top is an Interstate. The white shield signs are highways.
So why is it called a freeway if it isn’t
you know
free
Because they’re “free” of pedestrians, crossings(at grade technically: in other words all crossings are over- or under-passes), intersections, traffic signals, or property access(you gotta exit onto a feeder to reach gas stations and whatnot), and they usually have higher speed limits. The “freeways have tolls” thing might be regional though; down in Texas they don’t. Down here, a freeway with tolls is called a “tollway”. We also have “tollroads”, but I’m not sure if these are different or not as I’ve never driven on one.
In my experience, freeways tend to be more limited geographically than highways and interstates though this could be different outside of Texas: for instance, there are all manner of Freeway Loops and avenues through, into, and around Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio, but outside of mega cities like those three everything’s highways, interstates, and surface streets.
just moving along like everyone else 