President Barack Obama has a road named after him in Orlando, FL.

[roadman65]

Just so you know our President now has a four lane arterial named in his sake in Orlando, FL from Conroy Road to MetroWest Boulevard just east of FL 435 along a power line right of way. It was opened this week just in time for his visit to our city.

I rode it yesterday, and it does help going from SB Kirkman to EB Conroy as now you can turn left onto LB McLeod to reach the new road and then south into Conroy.   That Conroy Kirkman light can be a nightmare at times. Turning SB to EB has a very short left turn signal.

There are interesting I-4 shields at its southern terminus with Conroy Road saying "TO JCT I-4" and a nice END Pres. Barack Obama Parkway and at the entrance to an apartment complex directly across from its southern end a "Private Property- No Through Access" assembly there.

I plan to submit a photo soon, and maybe I will send one to Hannity on Fox to make his day LOL!  Nonetheless, the signs could be of interest here as well as the TO JCT assemblies.  I have not gotten the chance yet to stop and taken pictures of this, plus my computer is being repaired as well. 

[mgk920]

Couldn't they at least wait until he's been out of office for a few years?



Mike

[Zmapper]

I was wondering when the first road named after him would open up. Though, I think this is a tad too soon. Whatever happened to the idea that you have to be dead before you could get something named after you?

[qguy]

...now you can turn left...

Well of course.

[Grzrd]

now you can turn left…

Well of course.

It's not Left Turn Only?

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

now you can turn left...

Well of course.

It's not Left Turn Only?

I figured it would straight down the middle with lanes being added to the right as you proceed.

[Michael in Philly]

....Whatever happened to the idea that you have to be dead before you could get something named after you?

Nixon- and Reagan-worshippers.

[NE2]

....Whatever happened to the idea that you have to be dead before you could get something named after you?

Nixon- and Reagan-worshippers.

Robert Moses. Perhaps even the Appian Way.

Anyway, this is old news (the only thing that's new is that the extension opened). http://edocs.ci.orlando.fl.us/asv/paperlessagenda.nsf/74ef3f7ef7a1a8fb852573f50052b3a3/9db36bf38b912fbc852575a10046cc0d/$FILE/SNC2009-00001%20mission%20rd%20st%20name%20chg.pdf

[Michael in Philly]

^^Did Robert Moses name anything after himself (or anyone else) during his (or their) lifetime?  My answer was actually serious:  I believe California named something for Nixon before he died, and I'm certain National Airport in Washington (at Congress' insistance - Metro funding being held hostage as a quid pro quo) was renamed for Reagan before he died.

European examples don't count:  countries with monarchies will litter themselves with, say, hospitals named after whatever member of the royal family showed up to cut the ribbon, and one city in France had the colossal gall (so to speak) to name a street after Mumia abu-Jamal, who's not dead yet.  But is the Appian Way named after someone?

I'm all for not naming things after living people, or putting them on stamps or coins.  And, yes, if you can't hold off until they're dead, at least wait until they're out of office and not likely to run for anything else.

[NE2]

^^Did Robert Moses name anything after himself (or anyone else) during his (or their) lifetime?

I don't know if Moses himself did it, but the Robert Moses State Parkway, Robert Moses Causeway, and two Robert Moses State Parks were named in 1963 (he died in 1981).

[roadman65]

How about Brendan T Byrne, the former NJ governor, naming the current IZOD Center after himself when he was Governor of New Jersey.  It was the Brendan Byrne Arena until naming rights came into play for sport venues.  Thank God for that, because many New Jerseyians at the time were outraged at that!

[Stephane Dumas]

Robert Moses. Perhaps even the Appian Way.

Anyway, this is old news (the only thing that's new is that the extension opened). http://edocs.ci.orlando.fl.us/asv/paperlessagenda.nsf/74ef3f7ef7a1a8fb852573f50052b3a3/9db36bf38b912fbc852575a10046cc0d/$FILE/SNC2009-00001%20mission%20rd%20st%20name%20chg.pdf

Let's also add to the list, streets or bridges named to former popular athletes like Pete Rose (who have the Pete Rose drive in Cicinnati), Joe Montana (Joe Montana bridges on PA-43), Wayne Gretzky (Wayne Gretzky drive in Edmonton), Guy Lafleur (there a Guy Lafleur Blvd in Thurso)

[Ga293]

Robert Byrd had just about every building, highway, park, bridge, tunnel, dam, sewer, lake, and cow patty in the state of West Virginia named after him before he died.

[1995hoo]

Robert Moses. Perhaps even the Appian Way.

Anyway, this is old news (the only thing that's new is that the extension opened). http://edocs.ci.orlando.fl.us/asv/paperlessagenda.nsf/74ef3f7ef7a1a8fb852573f50052b3a3/9db36bf38b912fbc852575a10046cc0d/$FILE/SNC2009-00001%20mission%20rd%20st%20name%20chg.pdf

Let's also add to the list, streets or bridges named to former popular athletes like Pete Rose (who have the Pete Rose drive in Cicinnati), Joe Montana (Joe Montana bridges on PA-43), Wayne Gretzky (Wayne Gretzky drive in Edmonton), Guy Lafleur (there a Guy Lafleur Blvd in Thurso)

There is also a Wayne Gretzky Parkway in Brantford, Ontario, which is his hometown.

[realjd]

Don Shula has an entire freeway (SR-874) named after him in Miami and he's not dead.

[english si]

What's really interesting here is that he's still in the job he's famous for - how many of these naming things after living people happen after they've retired? I'd say most of them.

Why shouldn't European examples not count? It seems unfair to rule out many legit examples because of the 'name it after the patron/monarch' thing - sure rule those out, but not the whole caboodle.

The final section of Derby's ring road is named after Lara Croft (they let the public give suggestions), who, while never actually living, isn't (IIRC) defunct as a fictional character - stuff still is being made. I bring it up as it's an interesting occurrence.

I'm fairly certain that many of the Beaconsfield Roads, unrelated to the town itself, come from when the first (and only) Earl of Beaconsfield was alive, and not (unlike many other roads named after peers) because he owned the land. It's very similar to naming something now after Obama or Bush, because most people know him better as Benjamin Disraeli.

[agentsteel53]

The final section of Derby's ring road is named after Lara Croft (they let the public give suggestions)

Attention, this is Principal Skinner, your principal, with a message from the Principal's Office.  All students please proceed immediately to an assembly in the Butthead Memorial Auditorium.  (to himself) Dammit, I wish we hadn't let the students name that one.

[Michael in Philly]

What's really interesting here is that he's still in the job he's famous for - how many of these naming things after living people happen after they've retired? I'd say most of them.

Why shouldn't European examples not count? It seems unfair to rule out many legit examples because of the 'name it after the patron/monarch' thing - sure rule those out, but not the whole caboodle.

The final section of Derby's ring road is named after Lara Croft (they let the public give suggestions), who, while never actually living, isn't (IIRC) defunct as a fictional character - stuff still is being made. I bring it up as it's an interesting occurrence.

I'm fairly certain that many of the Beaconsfield Roads, unrelated to the town itself, come from when the first (and only) Earl of Beaconsfield was alive, and not (unlike many other roads named after peers) because he owned the land. It's very similar to naming something now after Obama or Bush, because most people know him better as Benjamin Disraeli.

Re European examples:  I was being facetious, in response to someone mentioning the Appian Way.  But serious too:  there really was a long-standing tradition here of not naming things after living people, which is not true of, for example, the U.K.  We still don't put living people on coins, or I believe stamps.

Although I admit - as the other posts in this thread show - that tradition lapsed earlier and more, um, profusely than I thought it did.

[qguy]

Nixon- and Reagan-worshippers.

To be accurate, I don't think there are many Reagan-worshippers who are also Nixon-worshipers.

As to the tradition of naming things, yes, the old tradition is (or perhaps *was*) to refrain from naming something after someone until after the person had passed away. That's why the things were generally called the So-and-so Memorial Thingy. Things are named "in memory of" someone who has died, "in honor of" someone who is still living.

In the late 70s, a basketball/hockey arena at the Meadowlands in NJ was named after the then-sitting and still-very-much-alive Gov. Brendan Byrne. It was called the Brendan Byrne Arena (naturally enough). No kidding, people were so incensed at the flagrant poor tast and arrogant self-aggrandizement (yes, even in NJ), that for years during games they booed every time the name was mentioned over the house speakers. I heard it many times myself. Byrnes successor, Gov. Kean (pronounced "kane" for all you non-New Jersians), renamed it shortly after he took office.

Nowadays politicians angling to curry favor with any interest group they can find will name something after someone still living if they think it will jazz people up. And I'm not referring specifically to the facility ID'd in the OP. The phenomonon is pandemic.

[Michael in Philly]

^^I remember the Brendan Byrne Arena, and thinking it was weird that it was named after someone living (heck, was he still in office?)

[qguy]

If that happened today, most people probably wouldn't bat an eye. (What is this world coming to? )

[Mr. Matté]

Byrnes successor, Gov. Kean (pronounced "kane" for all you non-New Jersians), renamed it shortly after he took office.

Shortly in this case means 14 years after Kean took office.

(it got renamed in '96)

[qguy]

Ya got me on that. I forgot how long it was. Kean didn't want to be seen as petty and vindictive so he let it go. High road and all that.

[Michael in Philly]

If that happened today, most people probably wouldn't bat an eye. (What is this world coming to? )

Because we've been numbed by things named after banks that therefore change their names every three years or so.

[formulanone]

I think some of this behavior is the "we did it first"-mentality...any PR is still news if it involves a controversial person.