Roads with unfitting road name suffixes

Started by Joseph R P, November 29, 2022, 01:33:26 AM

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Elm

Quote from: zachary_amaryllis on December 05, 2022, 09:07:32 PMI want to say they have streets like Milton E Proby Parkway, Hancock Expressway, and a few others that, unless I'm mistaken, are more or less regular streets.
Hancock Expressway was also the first thing I thought of for this thread; I've even heard non-road geeks comment on the name and its non-express-ness. I suppose it was more fitting earlier in its life when it was less built-up, but it's an interesting artifact now. Since the city's gradually nudging it into becoming a multimodal corridor, I wonder if they'll eventually want to re-suffix it.

Proby Pkwy arguably depends on what you want to call a "parkway," but it's a more recent attempt at an expressway and initially got you from the freeway part of S Academy Blvd to the airport with only two signals (Hancock and Powers). There are two additional signals on it now, though.

A little off the main thread idea, Bridle Oaks Lane in northern Colorado Springs was formerly "Bridle Oaks Drive"; changing the suffix was an element of trying to discourage speeding. From the application:
QuoteWe would hope this subtle name changes would conjure up thoughts of a country lane, one that may be narrow and slow but pleasurable while traveling on it, rather than some wide and straight thoroughfare of never ending asphalt that only encourages faster speeds.
(Under file number 'HO SN 02-00109' here)


Dirt Roads

James J. Freeland Memorial Drive in Hillsborough, North Carolina has been downgraded to a private driveway.  It was originally the main entrance for the Daniel Boone Village amusement park.  After the amusement park closed down in the mid-1960s, much of the eastern part of Daniel Boone Village became antique and curio shoppes, and the main entrance relocated to (aptly-named) Daniel Boone Street.  Thus, James J. Freeland Memorial Drive primarily served various restaurants that utilized the colonial-style home that James Freeland relocated here from Yanceyville, as well events held at the [Daniel Boone] Big Barn event center (there was also the original [Daniel Boone] Blacksmith Shop that would open on weekends in certain seasons).  After the recent sale of the entire Daniel Boone Village property to a housing developer, the remaining antique shoppes closed down and much of the property is now fenced off.

James J. Freeland Memorial Drive still has a stop light on South Churton Street, as it is directly across from Mayo Street (former home of Walmart, which relocated in 2003).  I haven't seen any evidence of vehicular use this calendar year.  On the map below, the fence is roughly located where the terrain turns from green to brown.  There is still some question whether the Collins Property development will try to utilize the existing stop light at James J. Freeland Memorial Drive; choose to install one at Daniel Boone Street (which is closer to I-85); or continue to use the new Gold Hill Way entrance that ties into the stop light at Orange Grove Road.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/James+J+Freeland+Memorial+Dr,+Hillsborough,+NC+27278/@36.0592332,-79.1022338,447m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x89acded1be342e9d:0x2d81d9a14a483de7!8m2!3d36.059232!4d-79.1016371

Interesting tidbit:  The vacant property just north of Gold Hill Way along the North Carolina Rail Road corridor is slated to become the new Amtrak station for Hillsborough (if we ever get one).  This got entangled with another NCDOT bypass concept that was rejected by residents and affected businesses north of the railroad corridor.

1995hoo

It occurs to me that nobody in this thread so far has mentioned the infamous Rockaway Freeway in Queens. Supposedly the name "Freeway" was applied to denote that it was largely "free" of cross streets.
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kphoger

Quote from: 1995hoo on December 06, 2022, 09:33:57 AM
It occurs to me that nobody in this thread so far has mentioned the infamous Rockaway Freeway in Queens. Supposedly the name "Freeway" was applied to denote that it was largely "free" of cross streets.

...which is why freeways are called freeways, after all.
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royo6022

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Henry

Quote from: kphoger on December 06, 2022, 10:42:52 AM
Quote from: 1995hoo on December 06, 2022, 09:33:57 AM
It occurs to me that nobody in this thread so far has mentioned the infamous Rockaway Freeway in Queens. Supposedly the name "Freeway" was applied to denote that it was largely "free" of cross streets.

...which is why freeways are called freeways, after all.
And besides, New York is a strange place to put a "freeway", because they call the actual ones expressways.
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paulthemapguy

I was really confused about the definition of a boulevard as a child, because of the nearest street named "Boulevard" to my childhood home.  The first street I knew with the name "Boulevard" was a dinky little two-lane road called "Park Boulevard" in the Lisle/Glen Ellyn area.  https://goo.gl/maps/ieEHY7tan31aBxMZ8
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kphoger

Quote from: paulthemapguy on December 07, 2022, 09:54:59 PM
I was really confused about the definition of a boulevard as a child, because of the nearest street named "Boulevard" to my childhood home.  The first street I knew with the name "Boulevard" was a dinky little two-lane road called "Park Boulevard" in the Lisle/Glen Ellyn area.  https://goo.gl/maps/ieEHY7tan31aBxMZ8

And, see, I'm very familiar with Park Boulevard, but not as a "dinky little two-lane road"–rather, as a four-lane arterial.

My daughter's home daycare provider was ... ummm ... somewhere around here (can't remember the exact house 17 years later).  And I took evening/weekend classes as COD, just east of this intersection.  I only ever used it north of Butterfield Road, so in my mind it was only a "dinky little two-lane road" north of Roosevelt (i.e. between the Jewel and Glenbard).
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.



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