Cities that abbreviate "Lane" as "La" on street signs instead of "Ln"

[KCRoadFan]

In my hometown of Kansas City, MO, I have noticed that "Lane" is abbreviated as "La" on most street signs for roads with that suffix, as opposed to the more usual "Ln". (Incidentally, Kansas City, KS, also does the same.)

Throughout the country, what other cities or towns do you know of that have that particular convention? I know that O'Fallon, MO - a western suburb of St. Louis - also does that.

[Scott5114]

I got dinged five points for abbreviating Lane as La. in 4th grade English–the teacher refused to believe that that's how it's abbreviated in Kansas City.

[epzik8]

This happens to be the norm in my county in Maryland, at both the county and municipal levels, to the point where a "Ln" sign raises my eyebrows.

[1995hoo]

I'm pretty sure I've seen both over the years on signs in Fairfax County, although lately it seems like the street blade signs tend to use "La" and the overhead signs on the traffic light mast arms tend to use "Ln."

Here's an "La" sign seen in May 2023: https://goo.gl/maps/R9f1zDr58RL381Vi7

Here's an "Ln" sign not too far away from the other one, also seen in May 2023: https://goo.gl/maps/bBpbUZT9ovehpk679 (but then one intersection away to the right, you find "La": https://goo.gl/maps/fGkRMskyJc2EKVuQA )

I got dinged five points for abbreviating Lane as La. in 4th grade English–the teacher refused to believe that that's how it's abbreviated in Kansas City.

I'm astonished that any grade-school teacher would deduct points for this sort of thing. None of mine would have. Whatever was the context of using the abbreviation?

[Hunty2022]

Diane La near Richmond, VA on US 301:

[hotdogPi]

Diane The?

[Big John]

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000178/

[Pink Jazz]

I remember Virgina Beach, VA did so; I am not sure if that is still the case. The few that used "Ln" as far as I know were contractor errors.

I wonder why the MUTCD doesn't have any rules enforcing USPS standard suffixes.

[roadman65]

New Jersey did on US 1 in Woodbridge at Gill Lane. Instead of Gill Ln. used Gill La like referring to a town in Louisiana instead of a street.

[1995hoo]

....

I wonder why the MUTCD doesn't have any rules enforcing USPS standard suffixes.

Perhaps part of the reason is that the Postal Service abbreviations are only "recommended." Some of them are rather silly, too, like using "BYU" to mean "Bayou" (an abbreviation that saves essentially no space) and "ISS" for "Islands" (why include the second "S" at all instead of just using "IS" for both singular and plural)?

Some people here might be distressed to learn that the Postal Service defines "BGS" as the recommended abbreviation for "Burgs." (Can't say I've ever heard of a street using "Burg" or "Burgs" as a suffix.)

[Scott5114]

I got dinged five points for abbreviating Lane as La. in 4th grade English–the teacher refused to believe that that's how it's abbreviated in Kansas City.

I'm astonished that any grade-school teacher would deduct points for this sort of thing. None of mine would have. Whatever was the context of using the abbreviation?
[/quote]

It was an assignment where we had to write a letter using the "proper format" (which nobody actually uses), with the return address on it and everything.

[1995hoo]

I got dinged five points for abbreviating Lane as La. in 4th grade English–the teacher refused to believe that that's how it's abbreviated in Kansas City.

I'm astonished that any grade-school teacher would deduct points for this sort of thing. None of mine would have. Whatever was the context of using the abbreviation?

It was an assignment where we had to write a letter using the "proper format" (which nobody actually uses), with the return address on it and everything.

How bizarre that a teacher would make a fuss about that. I don't agree with your parenthetical, though; I wrote a letter on Friday using the "proper format" except that the letterhead serves for the return address. I haven't sent it yet, but it has four inside addresses due to the number of recipients.

I remember my father felt strongly that you shouldn't abbreviate anything, including street type designators like "Lane," in either the return address or the inside address except for rare things like certain geographic things like DC's quadrant designations and the abbreviation "D.C." (with periods)–he insisted, for example, that a letter to someone at Duke University would have the inside address as "Durham, North Carolina 27705" and not as "Durham, NC 27705."

[elsmere241]

Metro Nashville used the "La" abbreviation when I lived there several decades ago.  I don't know if they still do.  (The "satellite city" of Berry Hill used "Ln.")

[Dough4872]

We have a street in the Philadelphia area called Washington Lane. Signs in both Philadelphia and Cheltenham Township abbreviate it as "Washington La"  and "Washington Ln" . So there seems to be no consistency to what abbreviation is used.

[NoGoodNamesAvailable]

New York City does. You will also find "Av"  instead of "Ave"

[Scott5114]

I got dinged five points for abbreviating Lane as La. in 4th grade English–the teacher refused to believe that that's how it's abbreviated in Kansas City.

I'm astonished that any grade-school teacher would deduct points for this sort of thing. None of mine would have. Whatever was the context of using the abbreviation?

It was an assignment where we had to write a letter using the "proper format" (which nobody actually uses), with the return address on it and everything.

How bizarre that a teacher would make a fuss about that. I don't agree with your parenthetical, though; I wrote a letter on Friday using the "proper format" except that the letterhead serves for the return address. I haven't sent it yet, but it has four inside addresses due to the number of recipients.

Fair enough, I suppose; I seem to recall you're in a profession that relies a bit more on hard-copy communication than most tend to these days. That being said, whenever I've gotten personal letters addressed to me (which this assignment purported to be teaching how to compose) I don't know that I've ever got one in the "proper format". Business letters are another story, although the only one I have handy (a letter from the bank that services my mortgage) includes all of the same information but it doesn't lay it out in the "proper" way that they taught us.

This was the same school that taught that Fort Knox was in Nebraska, that thunder occurs before lightning, and had a teacher that would send kids to the principal for wearing purple clothing, so being overly picky about the abbreviation of "lane" is probably the least pressing thing wrong with it.

New York City does. You will also find "Av"  instead of "Ave"

"Av" for "Ave" is also common in Kansas City KS. As is "Bl" for "Boulevard".

[Henry]

I've been used to abbreviating Lane as "Ln" to the point that "La" is a foreign object to me. None of the three cities I've lived in (Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle) have ever used it, and I don't think Denver does either.

[jp the roadgeek]

I remember when New Britain, CT abbreviated South as "So" .  My favorite sign was "So High St." . They now use the prevalent "S."

My town actually has all 3: La, Ln, and Lane spelled out.  There is a West Lane in the next town over that once was abbreviated West LA. 

[US 89]

I don't think I've ever seen La for Lane. If I have, it wasn't common enough to register in my brain, and that's the kind of thing I would probably notice.

I've seen Bl for Boulevard a number of places. Southern California comes to mind, as does Albuquerque to some extent (you might also find the much rarer Bd there).

Utah used to abbreviate North and South as No and So, while East and West were always spelled out no matter what. Now, they're all spelled out unless space constraints are an issue, in which case single letter abbreviations are now used for all four. Salt Lake City and other cities have been using the single-letter abbreviations for far longer than UDOT.

[freebrickproductions]

Ain't seen "La" or "Lane" either, but, continuing on the Boulevard abbreviations, I know Huntsville abbreviates that as "Blv" rather than "Blvd".

[Big John]

Minnesota uses So and No abbreviations,  so North Saint Paul is abbreviated No St Paul, making me wonder if an atheist did that.

[1995hoo]

Minnesota uses So and No abbreviations,  so North Saint Paul is abbreviated No St Paul, making me wonder if an atheist did that.

No, it was someone from Hartford.



(For those who don't get it, the Hartford and the St. Paul are two major insurance carriers.)




(edited to respond to Scott5114–it was too much trouble to edit the quotes on my iPad)

Fair enough, I suppose; I seem to recall you're in a profession that relies a bit more on hard-copy communication than most tend to these days. That being said, whenever I've gotten personal letters addressed to me (which this assignment purported to be teaching how to compose) I don't know that I've ever got one in the "proper format". Business letters are another story, although the only one I have handy (a letter from the bank that services my mortgage) includes all of the same information but it doesn't lay it out in the "proper" way that they taught us.

....

The letter I wrote won't actually be mailed in hard copy. It'll be sent electronically as a .PDF. But our rule of thumb is that it still gets set up in the formal manner because we don't control what happens to it after it's sent. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of law firms out there still maintain paper files, printing everything to prong into a folder somewhere.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Diane La near Richmond, VA on US 301:

Of course, in Chesterfield County (same VDOT district), you'll see Ln on those signs (for example, Lucks Lane appears on those signal arm-mounted signs as "Lucks Ln").

The City of Richmond occasionally uses "LE", which is very strange and caught me off guard when I first saw it.

[SkyPesos]

New York City does. You will also find "Av"  instead of "Ave"

"Av" for "Ave" is also common in Kansas City KS. As is "Bl" for "Boulevard".

Chicago and Indianapolis both also use "Av" for Avenue.

[bzakharin]

I happen to live on a "La." and my neighborhood is full of them. I don't know whether NJ always does that (since "lanes" are relatively rare), but all places I can find on GSV do. Here's one pretty far away from where I live: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.8703481,-74.3782618,3a,15y,235.84h,86.65t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sDL-1NSTR2agZtPxpoz1tRg!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DDL-1NSTR2agZtPxpoz1tRg%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D35.925003%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
Update: found at least one Ln: https://www.google.com/maps/@40.9537202,-74.1893757,3a,16.5y,289.46h,90.53t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sIXQIjv2xj4qNIKa-epooZw!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DIXQIjv2xj4qNIKa-epooZw%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D82.54796%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu