Roads with unfitting road name suffixes

[Joseph R P]

What are some roads you know with some very unfitting suffixes contrary to the way the road is built?

I have a couple roads in Northern Virginia that are only named such because they used to be built a different way:

The freeway section of VA 28 between I 66 and VA 7 is called Sully Road, named for the Sully Plantation. It used to be a normal 2-lane road, but was, over time, upgraded to a large freeway. Of course a freeway is still a type of road, but it's odd seeing a freeway built to near-interstate standards with such a simple name. The section of the freeway through Loudoun County is also designated as Darrell Green Boulevard, named in honor of the retired Redskins player Darrell Green. As far as I know, boulevards are typically arterial roads and not freeways (though there are many freeway-like roads called boulevards outside of the US), however I really like the Easter egg of naming a highway numbered 28 after an athlete numbered 28.

Another example of a freeway with a name typically applied to smaller/lower-speed roads is the freeway section of VA 7, which runs between US 15 and VA 28, particularly the section of highway through the town of Leesburg, named Market Street (however an actual street section of this road exists passing through the downtown). This is another example of a highway which started out as a two-lane road, was widened, then became a freeway over the years due to more development in the area.



Looking at Las Vegas, Nevada, there are many run-of-the-mill arterial roads with the suffix 'parkway', such as Centennial Parkway, Tropical Parkway, and Maryland Parkway. But the funniest of these is a short, narrow dead-end road called Paplinski Parkway in Sloan. Not sure how it got that name.

[Bruce]

The "West Seattle Bridge" actually constitutes a good chunk of the freeway that leads up to the bridge on both sides, so that seems pretty unfitting. WSDOT and SDOT removed the word "Freeway" from its name 25 years ago.

Many of Seattle's classic Olmsted boulevards were named for their scenic qualities, rather than being wide roads with plantings.

Alderwood Mall Parkway serves a grand total of zero parks and is just a road around some suburban mall sprawl. Not to be confused with its cousin Alderwood Mall Boulevard, which has fewer trees than a typical Snohomish County street.

[Scott5114]

"Gary Freeway"

[roadman65]

Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia is scenic, but it's design is that of a Boulevard.

[Max Rockatansky]

Atwater-Merced Expressway is a road between Atwater and Merced.  It doesn't connect the communities and the claims that it is an expressway are questionable given the short length coupled with the short two-lane alignment. 

That said, if the project ever gets close to the scale it was planned to things change:

https://www.mcagov.org/DocumentCenter/View/16/Proposed-Phase-1-Map?bidId=

[hotdogPi]

Weisner Parkway in Methuen MA is a residential street.

I remember an intersection in New York City recently being labeled Sesame Street. An intersection. Not a street.

[GaryV]

N/S roads in Lenawee County, MI, are called "Hwy", even if they're just a dirt track.

[SP Cook]

- All of Kentucky's former toll roads are a "parkway" .  While they go through some scenic parts of the state, they are not really parkways.

- One of Charleston's major suburban roads is the Kanawha Turnpike.  It was never a toll road, AFAIK. 

[SectorZ]

I know of numerous dead-end roads or small residential roads north of Boston that are "parkways" yet really don't deserve the moniker.

I'll add any "Broadway St" to the list.

[MATraveler128]

Watson Parkway in Danvers, MA. Just a glorified connector from MA 114 to Centre St. Doesn't feel like a parkway. Also Dalton Parkway in Salem.

[1995hoo]

"Parkway"  is pretty common for residential streets in my observation. The one that always readily comes to mind for me is "The Parkway"  in Fairfax County, Virginia. I know I've mentioned that one before–my car's sat-nav, which omits the street suffix, shows it as simply "The."

[Hunty2022]

Valley Road Extension and Grove Street Extension in Charlottesville. None of the roads are extensions of their "namesakes" . The first one is just a normal street in that part of the city. The latter one, is just the ending part of the same psychical road.

[7/8]

Some freeways with weird suffixes:
- Highbury Avenue in London, ON is a freeway south of Hamilton Road.
- Nikola Tesla Boulevard in Hamilton, ON is a freeway its entire length.
- Allen Road in Toronto, ON is a freeway for most of its length (except the northernmost portion).

[CtrlAltDel]

There's a number of more or less run-of-the-mill road name suffixes that no longer mean what they originally did.

An avenue, for example, was an approach road to a specific place, usually a country house.

A boulevard, at least in road usage, was a road paralleling a defensive city wall.

A court was originally a closed-off area, like a courtyard, and so on and so on.


I think it's interesting to see how the words have changed in meaning over time.

[Dirt Roads]

- One of Charleston's major suburban roads is the Kanawha Turnpike.  It was never a toll road, AFAIK.

But alas, Kanawha Turnpike was believed to have been along the original route of the James River and Kanawha Turnpike, which was routed along the edge of the mountainsides to avoid the river bottom as much as possible due to flooding.  Kanawha Terrace in St. Albans follows a similar trail and was known to be part of the original road.  At the junction of Kanawha Terrace and 6th Street, there was a toll ferry to cross the Coal River, which was replaced in 1831 with a covered toll bridge built by Phillip Thompson and James Teays.  (That covered bridge was destroyed by Confederate forces on their retreat from the Battle of Scary).  All of which indicates that Kanawha Turnpike in South Charleston was indeed not a toll road itself, but a connection between the toll ferries and toll bridges.

[Urban Prairie Schooner]

Siegen Lane, Essen Lane, Staring Lane, O'Neal Lane in Baton Rouge. All of these are now 4-6 lane major arterials.

[WillWeaverRVA]

Siegen Lane, Essen Lane, Staring Lane, O'Neal Lane in Baton Rouge. All of these are now 4-6 lane major arterials.

On that note, Lucks Lane in Chesterfield County, Virginia and Glenside Drive in Henrico County, Virginia are major 4-lane arterials.

[kurumi]

Guadalupe Parkway (CA 87) in San Jose... I tried to find a parkway-like section. It really isn't.

Imagine if a town leaned into the "stroad" character and renamed something like CT 10 in Southington to "Queen Stroad". "Yep. There's ShopRite and Home Depot and Chick-fil-A and Dollar Tree. It's a stroad. It sucks if you're not driving, but it's useful."

[Hobart]

New Lenox, Illinois has a couple of highways that are really residential arterial roads, or extensions of those roads; generally, roads that really shouldn't be considered highways.

Illinois Highway runs from Lincoln Way West High School (if we're being generous), east to Spencer Park, and serves as a minor connector through the south part of New Lenox.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Lincoln+Way+West+High+School,+Gougar+Road,+New+Lenox,+IL/Spencer+Park,+South+Spencer+Road,+New+Lenox,+IL/@41.4988372,-87.9814639,14.58z/data=!4m14!4m13!1m5!1m1!1s0x880e6f5069b20f85:0xfe38c960ffe1012!2m2!1d-88.0003763!2d41.4956754!1m5!1m1!1s0x880e6eae649b6159:0x2cf85f3491d6e3f8!2m2!1d-87.9417171!2d41.4970698!3e0

Joliet Highway runs all the way across town, from US 30 to Nelson Road... and it's a minor, residential arterial for all of it.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/41.5079106,-87.9153435/41.5045302,-87.9851407/@41.5069341,-87.9458357,14.63z/data=!4m2!4m1!3e0

[Max Rockatansky]

Guadalupe Parkway (CA 87) in San Jose... I tried to find a parkway-like section. It really isn't.

Imagine if a town leaned into the "stroad" character and renamed something like CT 10 in Southington to "Queen Stroad". "Yep. There's ShopRite and Home Depot and Chick-fil-A and Dollar Tree. It's a stroad. It sucks if you're not driving, but it's useful."

To an east coast person the entire Santa Clara County expressway system probably is misleading. 

[DTComposer]

Alta-Arden Expressway in Sacramento is really just an arterial street, really only a step "beefier" than Arden Way, which it "bypasses" one block to the north.

Parts of the Expressways in Santa Clara County have allowed enough development/cross traffic that they don't deserve the suffix anymore - especially portions of Capitol, Montague, and Almaden.

To an east coast person the entire Santa Clara County expressway system probably is misleading. 

True, although significant portions certainly come close to the east coast versions - and would have even more so if they had built out the expressways as they originally envisioned.

Guadalupe Parkway (CA 87) in San Jose... I tried to find a parkway-like section. It really isn't.

I thought they were deprecating the use of "Parkway" - the approach signs on CA-85 covered up "Guadalupe Parkway" with "Downtown San Jose", and around 2016 the approach sign on US-101 was replaced with only "CA-87 South" (and an airport symbol). But in the last couple of months that sign has again been replaced, reinstating "Guadalupe Parkway" (why this one doesn't also have "Downtown San Jose" is baffling to me).

[jmacswimmer]

The MD iteration of I-195 (leading to BWI) carries the name Metropolitan Boulevard, though it isn't acknowledged on any signage.  As best I can tell, the Metropolitan Boulevard name is leftover from when the roadway was designated MD 46 and simply connected MD 295 & BWI (with the extension northwest to I-95 & re-designation as I-195 coming later), but MD 46 appeared to be a freeway as well in its original configuration.

[Dirt Roads]

Broad Street in Downtown Charleston, West Virginia has been renamed as Leon Sullivan Way (after the renowned Baptist civil rights leader who was born nearby).  Traditionally, the suffix "Way" was used similar to "Alley" in parts of Charleston and its surroundings; or more recently, the suffix "Way" is posted on private driveways with multiple houses.  Not sufficient for a major street in the heart of the Central Business District.

[Henry]

US 41 in Chicago is called Lake Shore Drive, but it resembles more of an urban parkway (and yes, that includes the northern limited-access sections).

[DandyDan]

Omaha has West Dodge Road, which is mostly a freeway.

Waterloo, Iowa has Airline Highway, which is a two lane road through an industrial park near the Waterloo airport. I believe it was IA 57 at one point, though.