Road travel in Montrei

It is not easy to get around Montrei unless you travel by automobile. Train service is excellent, but it is only useful for moving between larger cities.

Most of the roads in Montrei followed what were old cattle or horse trails. The only roads which remain unpaved are those in small villages and towns or those which are out of the way. Unpaved roads are either dirt or cobblestone. In larger cities and towns, dirt roads and cobblestones have been replaced with asphalt, which began to be used extensively only in the 1950's.

The only exception is the historic center of the city of Montrei. Here, cobblestones and brick paviing have been kept, and even former cement sidewalks and asphalt roads have been resurfaced in brick.

Types of Urban Roads

There are several distinctions made with urban roads in Montrei. During the turn of the century as Montrei's prosperity began to grow, city planners looked to Europe for ideas in laying out hoew sections of the city. Fortunately, they did not destroy the old city, but when adding onto the city, they desired streets to be as grand as those of European cities like Paris and Madrid.

• Andaor - "walkway", these are for pedestrian and access only. These are found between buildings and among shops. These are also usually paved in brick. The only vehicle access allowed is for emergency vehicles.
• Via - "way", these permit Bicycles and motor bikes only. They are usually found in older sections of cities, although they are always found in commercial districts. They are often one way, but where they are two ways, they are narrow and usually only wide enough to allow bicycles.
• Cal - "street", these permit automobile, bicycle, and motor bike access. Bigger than vias, cals are essentially normal city streets, two lanes wide. These are more likely to be found in sections where the city is laid out in a grid.
• Camino - "road", as large or larger than cals, these permit automobile access only.
• Avenía - "avenue", these are large main roads, usually two lanes and always lined with trees, and are also usually lined along both sides with shops and restaurants. They permit automobile access only.
• Bulevar - "boulevard", these are found only in the largest cities in Montrei, the capital, San Françisco, and San José. They are large, wide, multilane roads, lined with trees on both sides, with a landscaped median separating the two directions of traffic. The most common median tree of choice is the Canary Island Date Palm, providing a rather regal look. One of the most spectacular bulevars is L'Alamea in San José, lined the entire length with palms on both sides and the center median.

The caveat is that some avenías are really boulevars, some boulevars are more like avenías, and some cals are more like an avenía or bulevar. By and large the convention holds true.

Roundabouts

Travelers in Montreiano cities should be aware that at the intersections of major streets, and even a few minor ones, roundabouts are commonplace instead of massive intersections. The largest circles the Plaça de San Joán, a popular plaza which is elevated above the road encircling it, and acessible by footbridges which cross over the road from surrounding blocks. Six avenías enter into the roundabout (Las avenías de San Joán, Paxaro deu Rio, Tres Lomas, Pauma deu Mar, Alamea de los tres Fraixnos, Gran Roul). It was completed in 1939 to comemorate the opening of the nearby Iglesia de San Joán, which was the first Catholic church opened in Montrei since the construction of the Catedrau de San Carlos.

Motorways

Outside of cities roads are less dependable. Between smaller cities and towns, roads may be paved, but it´s likely they may not be paved and may simply be dirt roads, often impassible in winter during the rainy season. Tourists are usually advised to stick with the major and minor cities as you're more often than not able to find paved roads allowing travel by automobile. In Montrei, the major motorways which link cities and towns are distinguished into two categories:

• Carretaira - these are highways which are funded by the various provinces. They rarely pass by more than a few cities, the notable exception being the Caretaira Costaira, the coast highway, which hugs the coast from the southern entrance of Meidji-dò, all the way to the border entry at Buanaventura. The abbreviation for this is C followed by a number: C68 or C1.
• Autopista - these are the highways which are funded by the government of Montrei. These are more direct and are the major arteries. The primary autopista is the Autopista deu Gran Çirculo, which begins at the terminus at Buanaventura, and travels inland, linking Montrei, San José, and San Françisco. The autopista is actually divided into two branches, the second extends east up the eastern edge of the Gran Baîa to Sacramento, then following the Gran Val south, eventually terminating at Santa Clarita. Autopistas are indicated by an A followed by a number: A1

A second autopista called the Autopista Transcontinentau was federally funded to allow travel along the west coast nations south to Mejico, with the ideal of allowing travel from North America all the way to the tip of South America. This great highway remains incomplete due to a nature reserve in Nôva Granada. It follows the otherside of the valley that the Autopista deu Gran Çirculo does, although at one point they do merge into one road (at the southern end). As it exits Alta California, it avoids travel through Tejas and the unstable border region of the Rio Colorado, hitting San Diego, entering the province of Baja California, and heading east across the Rio Colorado in Mejico into the Mejico province of Sonora. A Major scenic area is the crossing of the Rio Colorado as the road enters into the swampy marshlands near the mouth of the Rio Colorado. This route is marked in both Montrei and Alta California with AT in white on a deep blue sign indicating the color of the route (the blue route).