freeway (toll gates)

[sitifan]

There are five toll gates on that freeway.
A natve speaker thinks that the above sentence is not acceptable because a freeway is an expressway or motorway that is free of both cross traffic and toll. But in Taiwan, we do have toll gates on the freeway. For further information, please click the following link: Freeway Bureau English Version>Works>Toll Collection>Manual Toll Collection-Toll Collection Data
What do you think?

[Raymott]

There are five toll gates on that freeway.
A natve speaker thinks that the above sentence is not acceptable because a freeway is an expressway or motorway that is free of both cross traffic and toll. But in Taiwan, we do have toll gates on the freeway. For further information, please click the following link: Freeway Bureau English Version>Works>Toll Collection>Manual Toll Collection-Toll Collection Data
What do you think?

I think your native speaker is equivocating on "free"way. That might have been the original derivation of the word, but not all freeways are free now.

[Ouisch]

In the US, "freeway" is still strictly used to refer to a controlled-access highway (that is, a roadway with no traffic signals, intersections or private property access) that is toll-free. Any highway that has toll booths along the route is specifically referred to as a "tollway" or "turnpike" or "toll road".

[riquecohen]

We generally refer to "toll gates" in the US only in places where there is no attendant to collect the toll. You just throw the exact change into a receptacle and the gate rises. Tolls are collected by attendants at toll booths. In some states, parkways and thruways are also toll roads.

[JohnParis]

It appears that this is simply what the Taiwanese authorities chose to call their highway system when they built it in 1970.

Taiwan Area National Freeway Bureau,MOTC. Print-History and Responsibilities

Choosing to call it a "freeway" was probably more acceptable than "a superhighway that will cost you a fortune to use, maintain and expand - forever."

John