Motorway is a term for both a type of road and a classification or designation. Motorways are high capacity roads designed to carry fast motor traffic safely. In the United Kingdom they are predominantly dual-carriageway roads, with a minimum of two lanes in each direction (typically three, and up to six on the Western section of the M25), and all have grade-separated access, comparable with North American freeways as a road type, and interstates as a classification.
In English-speaking countries the term is used in the United Kingdom (a motorway is also called a traffordd (plural: traffyrdd) in Welsh), parts of Australia, New Zealand, Pakistan, some other Commonwealth nations, and Ireland (a motorway is also called a mótarbhealach (plural: mótarbhealaí) in Irish). In Ireland, a road built to motorway standard, but without the designation (and the regulations and traffic restrictions resulting from that designation), is known as a High-quality dual carriageway.