roadway

From Middle English *rodeway, *radewey (attested in radewey-stile (literally “roadway-stile”)), equivalent to road +‎ way; road had the early sense of "riding" when the compound was formed, thus originally "a way for riding on".

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɹoʊdˌweɪ/

• Audio (Southern England):

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roadway (plural roadways)

1. A way used as a road.
   • 1958 May, W. J. South and L. Hyland, “Limerick as a Railway Centre”, in Railway Magazine, pages 297-298:

     On the south side of the two running lines is a second goods store, reached by a roadway along the south side of the station. This roadway also acts as a terminus for all provincial bus services from Limerick.

   • 2023 April 20, Gregory Wallace, “Roadway deaths level off after pandemic spike, but remain high”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     It’s a dip of fewer than 150 deaths from highs reached in 2021, when the agency recorded the largest quarterly spike in its history of tracking roadway fatalities.

   • 2024 January 21, Elizabeth Wolfe, Robert Shackelford and Mary Gilbert, “Icy conditions make for hazardous travel across central US, but warmer air is on the horizon”, in CNN‎^[2]:

     Morning commuters in parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas discovered slick sidewalks and icy roadways Monday.

2. The main or central portion of a road, used by the vehicles.
3. The portion of a bridge or railway used by traffic.