You have the best of both worlds with the numbers. Let the locals use the names - NOTE: The old names where applicable, not the names applied by politicians (I'm looking at you Calumet Expressway, Northwest Tollway, etc.)
In theory, I agree with you. But in Chicago, it seems that most of those political names have been used for so long that many of today's drivers don't even remember what the old names were.
Whereas in NYC, many of the renamings (RFK Bridge, Hugh Carey Tunnel) were done relatively recently and people still call them by their old names for the most part (Triboro Bridge, Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel).
And don't get me started on what CA (and some other states) do with regard to naming interchanges after police officers killed in the line of duty. THese are people nobody heard of and nobody uses these names at all.