Road/Street Terminology Exclusive To A Single City/Metropolitan Area.

[djlynch]

El Paso's use of "Gateway" for freeway service roads is probably unique. I assume that even though the rest of Texas can't decide on what to call them, the terms are all used elsewhere with the same meaning.

[mrpablue]

There are some streets in the East Bay Area called "hills," most notably in the Hiller Highlands of Oakland, but also in other places.

[bzakharin]

I'm not sure if this counts, but the greater Philadelphia has "gaper delay" for what would otherwise be called "rubbernecking".

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I'm not sure if this counts, but the greater Philadelphia has "gaper delay" for what would otherwise be called "rubbernecking".

Similarly, the term "gawker slowdown" for this activity seems to be unique to the Twin Cities sphere of influence.

[Big John]

Close, but Chicago uses Gaper's Block.

[TEG24601]

Neutral Ground - New Orleans for median.

I remember that from "K-Ville" and hear it on "NCIS: NOLA" as well.


I love how WSDOT must call the I-90 and SR 520 bridges as "Floating Bridges", instead of just bridges.  And they waffle between "Hood Canal Bridge" and "Hood Canal Floating Bridge".

[kphoger]

The Kansas City area (or perhaps most of Western Missouri) says the names of highways backwards.  In most places, you would say Hwy 50 or Hwy 71, etc.  However, over in Kansas City, they say 50 Hwy and 71 Hwy. 

Yes, this is true elsewhere in western Missouri.  It's especially true of the lettered routes.  Branson's strip is called "76 Highway" by the locals.  Everyone in southwestern Missouri I've heard refer to lettered routes has said their names as "BB Highway" or whatever.



I'm curious to know if there are regions other than southern Illinois that called paved roads "_____ Blacktop".  For example, if you refer to the paved road going to Anywheretown, you would refer to it as "Anywheretown Blacktop"–even if that's not actually its signed name.

[JMoses24]

Oklahoma City has to my knowledge the only two roads called "Diagonal". The Tinker Diagonal is I-40 with its service roads, and then there's a smaller street called "Linwood Diagonal" just northwest of midtown.

[roadman]

Not a city, but a state ... New York's insistence on calling it "guiderail" when the rest of the world calls it "guardrail."

Connecticut also calls it "guide rail".

[Roadsguy]

Not a city, but a state ... New York's insistence on calling it "guiderail" when the rest of the world calls it "guardrail."

Connecticut also calls it "guide rail".

As does PennDOT.

[Big John]

Not a city, but a state ... New York's insistence on calling it "guiderail" when the rest of the world calls it "guardrail."

And WisDOT calls it Beam Guard.

[TheStranger]

Oklahoma City has to my knowledge the only two roads called "Diagonal". The Tinker Diagonal is I-40 with its service roads, and then there's a smaller street called "Linwood Diagonal" just northwest of midtown.

There's an example of that usage in the Kansas City metro area, the Turner Diagonal portion of K-32.

---

Not exclusive to a single city, but the usage of "Trail" for arterial highway seems to be strongly local to both Calgary and Edmonton.

[pianocello]

I'm curious to know if there are regions other than southern Illinois that called paved roads "_____ Blacktop".  For example, if you refer to the paved road going to Anywheretown, you would refer to it as "Anywheretown Blacktop"–even if that's not actually its signed name.

I've heard it in central Illinois, too (rural areas surrounding Springfield and Peoria). Makes giving/receiving directions with locals super difficult.

[DandyDan]

I'm curious to know if there are regions other than southern Illinois that called paved roads "_____ Blacktop".  For example, if you refer to the paved road going to Anywheretown, you would refer to it as "Anywheretown Blacktop"–even if that's not actually its signed name.

I've heard it in central Illinois, too (rural areas surrounding Springfield and Peoria). Makes giving/receiving directions with locals super difficult.

My dad grew up in Seneca, IL and he would refer to certain roads in that area as the ___ blacktop. Seneca is getting quite far north in Illinois.

When I lived in Omaha, they had a lot of Plazas which were nothing more than streets. And Nebraska City has its corsos.

[cbeach40]

Not a city, but a state ... New York's insistence on calling it "guiderail" when the rest of the world calls it "guardrail."

That term may date back to the days of cable guardrail, like before the 1960s. 

I was talking to a PennDOT engineer in 1972 and he referred to guard rail as "guard fence".  That is probably a more technically accurate term for cable guardrail, and PA still had lots of it back then.

Per FHWA
https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadway_dept/countermeasures/faqs/qa_bttabr.cfm#brrs9

WHAT IS "GUARDRAIL?" OUR AGENCY ONLY USES "GUIDERAIL."

A. These terms are synonymous. A few states are required by judicial interpretation to refer to steel beam barriers as "guiderail" because the barriers are not seen as devices that can guard motorists from all injuries. Rather, the steel beam system can only "guide" the car and its occupants. (In Europe, "guard fence" and "road restraint systems" are the common names for roadside barriers.)

Given the amount of deflection that most guiderail systems have that does seem more appropriate.

[Beltway]

Per FHWA
https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/roadway_dept/countermeasures/faqs/qa_bttabr.cfm#brrs9

WHAT IS "GUARDRAIL?" OUR AGENCY ONLY USES "GUIDERAIL."
A. These terms are synonymous. A few states are required by judicial interpretation to refer to steel beam barriers as "guiderail" because the barriers are not seen as devices that can guard motorists from all injuries. Rather, the steel beam system can only "guide" the car and its occupants. (In Europe, "guard fence" and "road restraint systems" are the common names for roadside barriers.)

Given the amount of deflection that most guiderail systems have that does seem more appropriate.

The word "guard" doesn't mean that it can guard motorists from all injuries.   Any "guard" process tries to protect something as much as possible, it doesn't mean that it is foolproof.

The general purpose of guardrail is to protect vehicles from a much worse outcome than hitting the guardrail, such as hitting a bridge pier, going down a 50+ foot embankment, hitting a roadside sign standard, crossing a narrow median on a 4-lane highway, etc.

[mgk920]

I'm not aware of anywhere else, other than here in Wisconsin, where they are often colloquially referred to as 'stop and go lights'.

Mike

[The High Plains Traveler]

What about Upper Wacker Drive and Lower Wacker Drive in Chicago? It's about the only street to have these two designations that I know of.

There are "Upper" and "Lower" numbered streets in Dakota County MN, south and east of St. Paul. The "Upper" numbered streets are south of the unprefixed and "Lower" streets, since south is the direction of increasing street numbers. Because Washington County, east and north of Dakota, has a street naming system that is coordinated with Dakota County, it's possible there may be numbered streets there that follow this pattern. I also found Upper and Lower Afton Road in Washington County; notably, Upper was north of Lower although this is south of I-94 where numbered streets increase going south.

[tdindy88]

Hamilton, Ontario uses the term "Upper" in front of street names that are on top of the Niagara Escarpment to correspond with their "lower" companion. It was certainly something unusual I noticed in streets in that city. The normal Wellington Street on the lower level and an Upper Wellington Street on the upper. I don't believe any of the pairs actually meet each other however due to the steepness of the escarpment and roadways that went down it at angles, last as I recall.

[kkt]

^^ There is also a "Boulevard" in Atlanta.

There's also a minor street named "Boulevard" in Bellingham, Washington.

[kkt]

Neutral Ground - New Orleans for median.

I remember that from "K-Ville" and hear it on "NCIS: NOLA" as well.


I love how WSDOT must call the I-90 and SR 520 bridges as "Floating Bridges", instead of just bridges.  And they waffle between "Hood Canal Bridge" and "Hood Canal Floating Bridge".

That's to distinguish them from the old versions of the same bridge that are no longer floating

[Rothman]

I am thinking of Upper and Lower Burton in Floyd County, KY, too.

[bzakharin]

How about the Cleveland area practice to almost never sign (or mention in conversations) road suffixes on blades or other road signs? Is this done anywhere else?

[US 89]

How about the Cleveland area practice to almost never sign (or mention in conversations) road suffixes on blades or other road signs? Is this done anywhere else?

I think Phoenix and San Francisco do this as well. Albuquerque used to leave the suffixes off as well, but they seem to be moving away from that (though many old signs are still up).

[Brandon]

How about the Cleveland area practice to almost never sign (or mention in conversations) road suffixes on blades or other road signs? Is this done anywhere else?

Metro Detroit is the same way.  You'll see the suffix on the bgs, but not on the blade.