Patenting Roads
As I was thinking about a new road design, I found a number that had been patented. The idea of patenting a road may seem a little strange, but it has happened a number of times. In very few cases have the patented designs become widely used. Some references below:
Traffic intersection - Patent 3915580
Simultaneous left turn vehicular intersection - US Patent 5795095
Traffic interchange - US Patent 5921701
Some additional prior art cited in patents above:
February 1916 - Hale
1515251 November 1924 -Graves
1543080 June 1925 - Graves
October 1963- Cedeno
September 1966 -
Gazis et al.
3394638 July 1968 -
Burrell
3915580 October 1975 - Kaufman
June 1986 - Lee
4630961 December 1986 - Hellwig
5049000 September 1991 - Mier