1. Public road paved with stones or other hard substance. 2. Turnpike roads are usually made by corporations to which a power to make them has been granted. The grant of such power passes not only an easement for the road itself, but also so much land as is connected with it; as, for instance, for a toll house and a cellar under it, and a well for the use of the family. A turnpike is a public highway, and a building erected before the turnpike was made, though upon a part out of the travelled path, if continued there is a nuisance.
Law Dictionary – Alternative Legal Definition
A gate set across a road, to stop travelers and carriages until toll is paid for the privilege of passage thereon. Turnpike roads. These are roads on which parties have by law a right te erect gates and ban, for the purpose of taking toll, and of refusing the permission to pass along them to all persons who refuse to pay. A turnpike road is a public highway, established by public authority for public use, and is to be regarded as a public easement, and not as private property. The only difference between this and a common highway is that, instead of being made at the public expense in the first instance, It is authorized and laid out by public authority, and made at the expense of individuals in the first instance; and the cost of construction and maintenance is reimbursed by a toll, levied by public authority for the purpose.