A limited-access road, known by various terms worldwide, including limited-access highway, partial controlled-access highway, and expressway, is a highway or arterial road for high-speed traffic which has many or most characteristics of a controlled-access highway (also known as a freeway or motorway), including limited or no access to adjacent property; some degree of separation of opposing traffic flow (often being dual carriageways); use of grade separated interchanges to some extent; prohibition of slow modes of transport, such as bicycles, horse-drawn vehicles or ridden horses, or self-propelled agricultural machines; and very few or no intersecting cross-streets or level crossings. The degree of isolation from local traffic allowed varies between countries and regions. The precise definition of these terms varies by jurisdiction.

The first implementations of limited-access roadways in the United States were the Bronx River Parkway and Long Island Motor Parkway in New York, in 1907. The New York State Parkway System was constructed as a network of high-speed roads in and around New York City. The first limited access highway built is thought to be the privately built Long Island Motor Parkway in Long Island, New York. The Southern State Parkway opened in 1927, while the Long Island Motor Parkway was closed in 1937 and replaced by the Northern State Parkway (opened in 1931) and the contiguous Grand Central Parkway (opened in 1936).

In the United States, the national Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) uses "full control of access" only for freeways. Expressways are defined as having "partial control of access" (or semi-controlled access). This means that major roads typically use interchanges and commercial development is accessed via cross roads or frontage roads, while minor roads can cross at grade and farms can have direct access, some may be two lanes. It also states that freeways and expressways have to be divided highways. This definition is also used by some states, some of which also restrict freeways only to motor vehicles capable of maintaining a certain speed. Some other states^{[citation needed]} use "controlled access" to mean a higher standard than "limited access", while others reverse the two terms.

While Australia's larger capital cities feature controlled-access highway networks, the smaller metropolitan areas mostly rely on limited-access highways for high-speed local traffic.

In South Australia the terms "expressway" and "freeway" can be synonymous. The Southern and Northern Expressways are both controlled-access highways. However, perhaps confusingly, the Port River Expressway is a limited-access highway.

Dual carriageways that connect capital cities and regional centres, such as the M31 Hume Highway between Sydney and Melbourne, are almost all limited-access highways. In spite of this, 'freeway' terminology is used on signage for most regional limited access highways in the state of Victoria.

The terms Motorway and Expressway in New Zealand both encompass multi-lane divided freeways as well as narrower 2 to 4-lane undivided expressways with varying degrees of grade separation; the difference being that in New Zealand a Motorway has certain additional legal traffic restrictions.

The China National Highways (CNH/Guodao) (simplified Chinese: 中华人民共和国国道; traditional Chinese: 中華人民共和國國道; pinyin: Zhōnghuá Rénmín Gònghéguó Guódào) is a network of trunk roads across mainland China.