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directions or talking about a specific place. For example someone
might say, "She lives a couple of blocks from here."
Americans are likely to give directions by talking about
blocks rather than streets: "Turn left and go up three blocks."

ON THE ROAD

In many large and mid-sized cities, the grid system has been
broken up by the arrival of freeways and interstate highways.
Freeways are high-speed roads that cross entire cities. In major
cities, they can be enormous, with up to eight lanes and several
levels, especially where several of these roads meet. Although,
traffic can be horrendous on freeways, especially during rush hour,
they are generally a fast and efficient way of getting through a city,
as there is no stopping on them and traffic flows in and out of them
more or less smoothly.
Other names for large highways are thruway, expressway, and
turnpike. You sometimes have to pay to use these: you take a ticket
from a tollbooth, and when you leave it, you pay a small fee. The
freeway got its name from the fact that you don't have to pay to use
it.
Freeways are sometimes part of an interstate highway. The
interstate highway system is a network of highways paid for by the
federal government that connect the whole of the country.
Interstates have the initial I followed by a number indicating the
route, such as 1-90.
Older United States highways that existed before the freeways
were built have U.S. in front of the number, such as U.S. 99, but
most people use just the number. U.S. highways that go through
towns often have stoplights on them, whereas interstates do not.
North-south routes are marked with odd numbers, while even
numbers mean that a road runs east-west.
Some interstate highways span thousands of miles, such as 1-
10, which runs from Los Angeles, California, to Jacksonville,
Florida. While they often run through larger cities, interstates don't
usually go through small towns. These tend to be located off to one
side of the interstate.
Interstate highways were designed with drivers' safety and
comfort in mind, so they tend to be wide and straight, making for
somewhat monotonous driving. It is probably because of this, and