Colloquial Terms for road types

[ColoradoIsAwesomez]

Hello Fellow Road Lovers!

I'm doing some research for a School Project (in Britain).

I'm doing a breif comparison between our road types (Motorways, A, and B) and your main road types.
Where I've come to a slight hitch is identifying the common spoken terms for your roads.

As I understand it you have:
Interstates - Reffered to as "Interstates" or "I-NUMBER"
US Routes - Reffered to as "US NUMBER" or "Route NUMBER"
County Routes - This is the one I am struggling with. I haven't been able to find any info on this!

So for example - County Route 641. How would someone verbally refer to that? Would they just say "641"?

Any help on this would be appreciated!

[Quillz]

There are variances in states, too.

For example, people from NorCal tend to just use numbers. (Such as "101.") Whereas people from SoCal often put "the" in front. (Like the 405.)

[ColoradoIsAwesomez]

There are variances in states, too.

For example, people from NorCal tend to just use numbers. (Such as "101.") Whereas people from SoCal often put "the" in front. (Like the 405.)

Oh that's a great point. I'm specifically looking at Colorado so if there's a local custom their which people know of - that could be useful!

[Quillz]

I've only been to Colorado once, but I remember people there just saying "25 North" or "70 East," etc.

[roadfro]

As I understand it you have:
Interstates - Reffered to as "Interstates" or "I-NUMBER"
US Routes - Reffered to as "US NUMBER" or "Route NUMBER"

The U.S. Routes vary regionally by local parlance. In some places, it could be spoken as "Route XX"; in other areas, these are referred to as "Highway XX".

[SP Cook]

Yes, there is a great varriance in what people call particular roads from place to place. 

Interstates are "I #" or "Interstate #", Californians often omit all such designations as noted.  US can be "US #" or "Route # or "Highway #" or just the number.

States can be "(state name) #" "(letter(s) from state name) # "State Route #" or "Route #".

As to "County Roads" in most places there are not for through travel anyway, and most people driving them are thus locals (or delivery people, cops, etc) and in everyday converstation would call it by a street-like name.

[twinsfan87]

In Minnesota and Wisconsin, Interstates are referred to as I-XX (like I-94), US and State Highways are generally referred to as Highway XX (Highway 10), and County Highways are referred to as County XX or County Road XX (County 81 or County Road C), although often in urban areas county roads are called their "name" instead of their number (like Penn Ave instead of County 2 in Minneapolis).

[ColoradoIsAwesomez]

Thanks guys! I think I've got all the info I was missing. 

[1995hoo]

I'd add one other thought to the points people have made: There is often a difference between spoken and written terminology for route numbers, just like in many other areas of life. I know a lot of people who will omit the "road type" designator when speaking the directions–for example, "Take 66 to the 234 Bypass and go south to the first light, then turn right" instead of "Take I-66 to the VA-234 Bypass ...." But in written directions I usually see some form of designator given, especially if the person receiving the directions is not from the immediate area. Giving the designator theoretically helps the person know what they're looking for.

(Of course I know of at least one exception to all this, and that's in Maryland where MD-68 and I-68 both have exits from I-70, so saying "Take 70 to 68" may be ambiguous.)

I think the "description" people use is something of a regionalism. I've never heard anyone from Virginia or New York refer to a road as "Highway XX" ("Highway 87," "Highway 15," etc.). That seems to be a Midwestern term in my observation. But I've heard people from New York use "Route" in this sense ("Route 50," "Route 236," always pronounced with the "ow" sound, like a lopsided football game is a "rout," never pronounced as "root").

The abbreviation for state routes seems to vary too. People from Florida invariably seem to use "SR" ("SR-9A") unless they have a compelling reason to distinguish from another state's routes, whereas any time I've been given directions using a New York route they use "NY" ("NY-17"). Elsewhere I've seen both. I don't see "SR" as often in Virginia and I suppose part of the reason is that we have "primary" and "secondary" routes and the "secondary" numbers can be duplicated throughout the system.

The standard on this forum seems to be to leave out the hyphen except as to Interstates ("I-95" but "US 50"). I'm not really sure why, although I suppose in the case of an Interstate the hyphen helps underscore that the "I" is not a "1." For most of my life I've usually seen the hyphen used regardless of road class and it seems logical to me to use it simply for reasons of consistency. To my eye it also provides a more helpful visual separator than a space does.

[TheStranger]

The standard on this forum seems to be to leave out the hyphen except as to Interstates ("I-95" but "US 50"). I'm not really sure why, although I suppose in the case of an Interstate the hyphen helps underscore that the "I" is not a "1." For most of my life I've usually seen the hyphen used regardless of road class and it seems logical to me to use it simply for reasons of consistency. To my eye it also provides a more helpful visual separator than a space does.

I've always grown up with US routes never being identified with a hyphen, conversely (i.e. "US 101" vs. "I-880").  Not sure when that became the common way of writing it out...

[bugo]

In parts of Missouri, it is "xx Highway" (71 Highway, DD Highway.) 

[huskeroadgeek]

In my experience, interstates are always referred to as "Interstate xx" or "I-xx", never "Highway xx". US highways and state highways around here are often referred to interchangeably in general conversation as "Highway xx". When giving written directions however, the US or state designation is usually given. As mentioned above, there is also a regional difference in whether "Highway xx" or "Route xx" is preferred. "Highway" is more preferred in the midwest, "route" is more common in the east. Also with state highways, usually the state's postal abbreviation is used to designate the state when written, but there are a couple of exceptions. Kansas uses "K-xx" and Michigan uses "M-xx" to designate its state highways. Those designations are usually used in both written and spoken contexts.

[triplemultiplex]

In Minnesota and Wisconsin, Interstates are referred to as I-XX (like I-94), US and State Highways are generally referred to as Highway XX (Highway 10), and County Highways are referred to as County XX or County Road XX (County 81 or County Road C), although often in urban areas county roads are called their "name" instead of their number (like Penn Ave instead of County 2 in Minneapolis).

"County Highway" is much more common in Wisconsin than "County Road".  It is also very common to just skip the second adjective and just refer to "County A" or "County W" or "County CC".
"County Highway" is usually reserved for news reports and articles.

When in Wisconsin, anything that's not an interstate, but still numbered or lettered is a "highway".

[kphoger]

In Minnesota and Wisconsin, Interstates are referred to as I-XX (like I-94), US and State Highways are generally referred to as Highway XX (Highway 10), and County Highways are referred to as County XX or County Road XX (County 81 or County Road C), although often in urban areas county roads are called their "name" instead of their number (like Penn Ave instead of County 2 in Minneapolis).

"County Highway" is much more common in Wisconsin than "County Road".  It is also very common to just skip the second adjective and just refer to "County A" or "County W" or "County CC".
"County Highway" is usually reserved for news reports and articles.

When in Wisconsin, anything that's not an interstate, but still numbered or lettered is a "highway".

Or, to quote the Bananas at Large.....
County Trunk PU (that's where P and U come together, you know)...

[Alps]

Note that here in New Jersey, we say "Route" for EVERYTHING. Route 80 = I-80. Route 46 = US 46. Route 10 = NJ 10. Route 527 = CR 527.

[cpzilliacus]

So for example - County Route 641. How would someone verbally refer to that? Would they just say "641"?

Depends. 

In Virginia, roads with route numbers greater than or equal to 600 are secondary highways (with very few exceptions, I-664 in the Hampton Roads area and Va. 895 south of Richmond are the only two I am aware of) in the state system, though they are sometimes (incorrectly) called county routes.

Secondary highways in Virginia can be suburban streets, rural gravel roads, arterial roads serving tends of thousands of vehicles per day and in some cases expressways (not freeways (or what would be called motorways in most European nations)).

To add even more fun, secondary route numbers repeat in counties across Virginia, though if a secondary highway crosses a county border, it retains its route number.

They are usually called things like "Route 620" or "620" or by their street name (though signs with street names are installed and maintained by the counties, even though the state is otherwise responsible for maintenance of secondary roads in nearly all Virginia counties).

Even more fun - most of the land area of Virginia is unincorporated - the lowest level of government is a county government.  But Virginia also has cities (by law in Virginia, cities are "independent" and not part of counties, they are in effect counties by a different name) and towns (municipalities which are part of surrounding counties).

Virginia cities and towns usually maintain their own "secondary" roads, which do not have route numbers, only street names.  Primary routes running through municipalities in Virginia do retain their route numbers, but are generally still maintained by the city or town. 

Probably more than you ever wanted to know about roads and highways in Virginia.

[Takumi]

They are usually called things like "Route 620" or "620" or by their street name (though signs with street names are installed and maintained by the counties, even though the state is otherwise responsible for maintenance of secondary roads in nearly all Virginia counties).

I, and most people I know around here, refer to routes as "Route X" when it's a low number (such as "Route 10" for VA 10 and "Route 1" for US 1...usually this occurs when the number is one or two syllables) and just "X" for higher numbers ("156" for VA 156 or "301" for US 301). Sometimes I say the I- in interstates, but usually I just say the route number then too. For secondary routes we almost always use the road's name instead of its number (for example, "Braddock Road" instead of "route 620").

[1995hoo]

Off the top of my head, the only Virginia secondary route I often hear referred to by number by anyone other than radio traffic reporters is 644 here in Fairfax County, and I'm sure the reason it's an exception is that the road's name changes when it crosses I-95. The traffic reporters call the Fairfax County Parkway "7100," but I've never heard anyone else say that.

But I wouldn't be surprised to hear of another 644-like situation elsewhere in Virginia. I just don't know of one off the top of my head. 

[twinsfan87]

In Minnesota and Wisconsin, Interstates are referred to as I-XX (like I-94), US and State Highways are generally referred to as Highway XX (Highway 10), and County Highways are referred to as County XX or County Road XX (County 81 or County Road C), although often in urban areas county roads are called their "name" instead of their number (like Penn Ave instead of County 2 in Minneapolis).

"County Highway" is much more common in Wisconsin than "County Road".  It is also very common to just skip the second adjective and just refer to "County A" or "County W" or "County CC".
"County Highway" is usually reserved for news reports and articles.

When in Wisconsin, anything that's not an interstate, but still numbered or lettered is a "highway".

True, but in northwestern Wisconsin they do refer to their county highways as "County Roads" as well (which is the area where I've spent the most time). From what I remember from college in Madison, the terminology was pretty interchangeable.

[bulldog1979]

And in Michigan, we can tell the tourists very easily since they drop the "M" from the highway names, or substitute something else. It would be "M-28" that runs across the Upper Peninsula, although it isn't uncommon to see "State Highway M-28" on street signs in rural areas. We Michiganders tend to retain the type designator with I-75, US 23, M-28, although county roads might be just the number almost as much as "County Road 492" in the counties that post designated numbers.

[Darkchylde]

Around here, if it's got a number, it's a Highway (or sometimes nothing at all - it's never "LA 59" but either "Highway 59" or just "59") unless it's an Interstate, then it's either I-(the number) or just "The Interstate."

It's not uncommon at all around here to hear something like "Take 190 over to 59, then take the Interstate (meaning I-12) west til you get to I-55."

[PurdueBill]

Note that here in New Jersey, we say "Route" for EVERYTHING. Route 80 = I-80. Route 46 = US 46. Route 10 = NJ 10. Route 527 = CR 527.

Same in Mass. when I was growing up there.  I-93 was "Route 93", US 1 was "Route 1", MA 9 was "Route 9", US 3 was "Route 3" and MA 3 was also "Route 3".  

Somewhere I have a pic from just into NH heading south on DW Highway for the US 3 interchange and NH even has a sign that says "Route" in front of the US 3 shield.  I ought to find that and post it.  I also have a pic (and I think Steve has it on his site as well) of an Akron sign with "state route" in front of an OH 8 shield.  As you'd expect from that, "SR" is common here in that part of Ohio, but verbally OH 8 is "route 8".

P.S. Forgot to mention that back in Mass and here in Ohio, all I hear when "route" is said is "root" not "rout". 

[KEVIN_224]

I've always pronounced "route" as ROOT and refuse to say "freeway" or "the" for a road. Here in Connecticut, traffic reporters will simply say something like "...84 East is slow from 46-Sisson to the Bulkeley Bridge" (I-84 East is slow from Exit 46 - Sisson Avenue to the Bulkeley Bridge, which spans the Connecticut River between Hartford and East Hartford). You rarely hear the term "expressway" here, unlike Boston. A good example is I-84 from Hartford to Danbury (Connecticut River west to the NY state line). It's signed at both ends at the Yankee Expressway, but nobody ever calls it that. As for the Connecticut Turnpike, you usually hear the New York City traffic reporters refer to it that way, maybe occasionally by WEBE-FM 107.9 of Westport/Bridgeport. Otherwise, you'll hear New Haven traffic updates as "...91 south heavy from 4 to the 95 merge" (I-91 South Exit 4 to it's southern terminus at I-95 in New Haven).

[hobsini2]

In Illinois here is what we locally say.
Interstate - I-XX or XX (where X is the number)
US Routes - US XX or Route XX or XX
State Highway - Illinois Route XX or Route XX
County highway - Most times is given an actual name and is referred as such. For example, in Winnebago County, there is an exit off I-90/39 where the BGS sign says "Winnebago County 9, Rockton Rd" but is always referred to as Rockton Rd.
In the majority of counties in Illinois, the local name for a county highway is something like 1200 West Rd. The number, depending on the county, usually is in reference of a distance in miles from the county boundary at its farther cardinal direction point. For example, in La Salle County IL, which is generally a square except on the southern boundary, N 6th Rd means it is an east-west road that is 6 miles north of the LaSalle-Woodford County Line.

[The High Plains Traveler]

Since you asked about Colorado...

Our county roads are generally known by their posted street name or often by a systematic number, which can be based on miles from the west or south county line. So, the first road might be "Road 1" or "Road A". I've seen state routes with a posted name based on the county road naming system; U.S. 50 in western Prowers County is "Road KK". About as frequently, the county numbering system is random.

State/U.S. highways are "Highway" xx. Even though the southwest part of the 470 loop at Denver is called "C-470", that is a one-off. ("C" comes from the "C" in the Colorado state flag, the top half of the state route marker.)  It is so-called because the east half of this route is the E-470 toll road. No other state routes have that appelation. Interstate routes are simply I-25, or -70, , or -76, or -225, or -270.