Truck bypass

This article is about roadways at interchanges that keep trucks to the right of cars. For the general concept of a roadway that allows trucks and other vehicles to bypass a built-up area, see bypass route.

A labeled aerial photograph of the Newhall Pass Interchange showing significant geographic separation between the standard freeway route (blue and green) and the dedicated truck bypass (red).

A truck bypass is a roadway that provides physical separation of trucks from passenger vehicles at a freeway interchange in order to eliminate weaving between passenger cars traveling at higher speeds and trucks traveling at lower speeds. Typically a truck bypass exits the main freeway some distance before the interchange it is intended to bypass; trucks are usually required to use the bypass, while passenger cars may choose between the bypass and the main traffic lanes. A truck bypass may take the form of a dedicated roadway or a collector/distributor road. The bypass allows vehicles traveling on it to exit the interchange in the same possible directions as the main line of traffic, and then merges with the respective freeway at some point past the interchange.

Truck bypass should not be confused with truck lane; a truck lane is a lane dedicated for trucks on steep inclines that is not physically separated from the main highway.

Notable Examples

United States

• El Toro Y, a freeway interchange that features a truck bypass.
• New Jersey Turnpike, a toll road with a continuous car and truck split.
• Newhall Pass Interchange, where trucks traveling on Interstate 5 are separated from passenger cars onto a dedicated roadway – the original U.S. Route 99 over which I-5 was built – located east of the freeway.
• Wheeler Ridge Interchange, a freeway interchange that features a truck bypass.

See also

• Runaway truck ramp