The North Carolina Facility Types and Control of Access Definitions were developed to create a set of easy to understand and consistent definitions for all roadways for NCDOT and its partners to use in the planning, design, and operations processes. The definitions are primarily based on the function of the roadway, level of mobility and access, and whether the facility has traffic signals, driveways, and/or medians. These definitions were developed from a committee comprised of members from the Federal Highway Administration and the following NCDOT branches:   Traffic Engineering, Highway Design, Project Development, and Transportation Planning. The North Carolina Board of Transportation adopted these definitions on September 2, 2004 as a part of the Statewide Transportation Plan.

Descriptions of the different facility types with examples (as of August 2005) and illustrations can be found below. Illustrative examples were prepared by the Roadway Design Unit Visualization Group .

			Freeways				Expressways
			Boulevards				Thoroughfares
			Control of Access Definitions				Facility Types Comparison Chart

Note:  The facility type definitions were revised in July 2005 in order to simplify the facility type definitions. The original Expressway Type I and Type II definitions were consolidated into one Expressway definition. Similarily, the Boulevard Type I and Type II definitions were consolidated into one Boulevard definition.