Roads and highways that are themselves more significant than their namesakes

[briantroutman]

Today, I was thinking about Union Deposit Road, which is a significant commercial corridor in suburban Harrisburg–at least in part because of its interchange with I-83. The road is named for Union Deposit, a tiny village founded in the 1830s which today is inhabited by about 400 residents. For comparison, a single apartment complex along Union Deposit Road near the I-83 interchange has a greater population. Few people who live, work, and shop along Union Deposit Road have ever been to (or are even are aware of the existence of) the village by the same name, and while the road carries average daily traffic volumes of about 20,000 near I-83, traffic counts drop to about 1,800 approaching the village.

What are some other examples of roads that are themselves much more significant than the towns they're named for?

[JoePCool14]

Shermer Road in Northbrook, IL is named after the village's old name of Shermerville. The village changed the name to Northbrook in 1923 to give itself a new image. I guess you could argue the name Shermer Road has become more significant than the name Shermerville.

Another good example could be roads named after public officials/figures who people may not have known well. For example, the Edens Expressway in Chicagoland.

[DJDBVT]

Much of the commercial business (fast food, motels, supermarkets, etc.) in Brattleboro, VT is located on Putney Road (also known as US 5, but locals never call it that). One of the busier stretches of roadway in this part of the state. Before I-91 was built, it was the fastest and most direct way to get to the much smaller town of Putney, 10 miles or so north. I'm sure you could find many other similar examples in larger small towns throughout New England, as they didn't get too creative when naming roads way back when. You want to go to Putney, use Putney Road. Marlboro? Marlboro Road. Guilford? Guilford Street. And so on...

[Ketchup99]

The Hutchinson and Saw Mill River Parkways, the Deegan/Bruckner/Van Wyck/etc expressways, and I'm sure many more.

[briantroutman]

Another good example could be roads named after public officials/figures who people may not have known well. For example, the Edens Expressway in Chicagoland.

Deegan/Bruckner/Van Wyck/etc expressways, and I'm sure many more.

I was thinking more along the lines of roads named for a place (i.e. a settlement of some kind). Or to put it another way:

Lots of people live, shop, or work along X Road and drive X Road regularly.
But most of those people have never been to X (and they might not even realize that X is a place).
Few people live in X or have any business there, and most traffic on the X Road isn't headed to X

The list of roads named for early settlers or historical figures who would be unknown to most people today–including former governors, mayors, minor military leaders, etc.–is virtually endless. And determining "significance"  of those people relative to roads gets problematic.

I'm sure you could find many other similar examples in larger small towns throughout New England, as they didn't get too creative when naming roads way back when.

Likewise in Pennsylvania–there are countless examples of roads simply being named for their destination city (Lancaster Ave. in Philadelphia, Philadelphia Pike in Lancaster, Carlisle Pike in Mechanicsburg, etc.) But all of the examples I can think of in this state involve settlements of at least a few thousand with some degree of notability in their respective regions–for example Linglestown Road in Harrisburg; I would say that the town has enough notability and is enough of a destination that it would not qualify.

Shermer Road in Northbrook, IL is named after the village's old name of Shermerville. The village changed the name to Northbrook in 1923 to give itself a new image. I guess you could argue the name Shermer Road has become more significant than the name Shermerville.

That's a bit of a stretch since it's just a name change. Along those lines, you could similarly claim Mauch Chunk Road in Allentown (since the town was renamed Jim Thorpe). But considering the name refers to the same place, I'd say Jim Thorpe is significant enough of a destination to disqualify it.

[Rothman]

Not sure how Anne Hutchinson was insignificant, anyway.

[jakeroot]

This may miss the point of the thread, but it's one I've thought was interesting.

WA-18 (south and east of Seattle) is technically called the "Auburn - Echo Lake Cutoff Road" (though the name may not appear on signs anymore), because it runs between the city of Auburn and Echo Lake (Echo Lake is not a city, but an actual lake). Auburn is very well known, but Echo Lake is hidden in the lower reaches of Tiger Mountain near its interchange with I-90, and has about half a dozen homes off it. Otherwise, it's completely hidden and no one knows about it (the road to the lake doesn't even have a sign with the name on it). So while "Auburn" is understood as part of the name, "Echo Lake" is a complete mystery to most everyone.

The worst part is that WA-522, another freeway to the north, has an exit for "Echo Lake Road". No, not this Echo Lake, but rather another Echo Lake about 20 miles away. So the few people who may recognize the name "Echo Lake" might actually be thinking of an entirely different Echo Lake. Yeeeesh.

For the record, WA-18 is busy enough and important enough to have been considered for an interstate designation in the past, and possibly in the future when the entire road is upgraded to freeway. The quietest section is near I-90 with 20k AADT, but this grows to almost 100k AADT at WA-167 near Auburn.

[DandyDan]

Point Douglas Road is an important street in my old hometown of Cottage Grove, MN. Parts of Point Douglas Road are on US 61 and US 10, but Point Douglas is little more than a point on a map across the St. Croix River from Prescott, WI.

[briantroutman]

Point Douglas Road is an important street in my old hometown of Cottage Grove, MN. Parts of Point Douglas Road are on US 61 and US 10, but Point Douglas is little more than a point on a map across the St. Croix River from Prescott, WI.

That looks like a decent example.

This may miss the point of the thread, but it's one I've thought was interesting.

WA-18 (south and east of Seattle) is technically called the "Auburn - Echo Lake Cutoff Road" (though the name may not appear on signs anymore), because it runs between the city of Auburn and Echo Lake (Echo Lake is not a city, but an actual lake). Auburn is very well known, but Echo Lake is hidden in the lower reaches of Tiger Mountain near its interchange with I-90, and has about half a dozen homes off it. Otherwise, it's completely hidden and no one knows about it (the road to the lake doesn't even have a sign with the name on it). So while "Auburn" is understood as part of the name, "Echo Lake" is a complete mystery to most everyone.

I think that example generally fits the spirit of the idea–for a few reasons. One is that there is something of a tiny settlement on the western side of the lake, so the site is something more than just a body of water.

The other is that by being paired with "Auburn"  in the name of the road, I think it sets up the expectation that those two towns are the endpoints of the road, when in actuality, one of the two isn't a destination anyone (except the dozen or so people who live near the lake) would be headed to. In that way, "Echo Lake"  is kind of like Cove Fort is to Utah–where a diagonal route terminates at another highway in a rural area, and the DOT was grasping at straws to find a relevant name for the location of the junction. If I-70 was named the "Baltimore - Cove Fort Freeway" , the effect would be similar.

I wonder, though, why WSDOT didn't name the road the "Auburn - Snoqualmie Cutoff Road"  instead. Yes, Snoqualmie is slightly beyond the I-90 junction, but it is an actual city an a legitimate destination for someone headed east on WA 18. I notice that "North Bend"  is used as the eastern control city on many signs, especially through the Covington-Maple Valley-Hobart areas. Not being familiar with the area, that strikes be as a counterintuitive choice–considering that Snoqualmie is closer to the end of WA 18, is the name of the valley in which it sits, and has nearly double the population of North Bend.

The worst part is that WA-522, another freeway to the north, has an exit for "Echo Lake Road". No, not this Echo Lake, but rather another Echo Lake about 20 miles away. So the few people who may recognize the name "Echo Lake" might actually be thinking of an entirely different Echo Lake. Yeeeesh.

And I see there's yet another Echo Lake near WA 99 in Shoreline. And still another in the Norse Peak Wilderness.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

In Grand Portage, MN, Mineral Center Road goes to the ghost town of Mineral Center, which quickly faded away when US 61 was routed away from its inland alignment to the current border crossing in the early 1960s. The only evidence left is the Y-junction where US 61 changed from its old alignment to a temporary one heading to the new Pigeon River bridge, which opened first.

[Ketchup99]

Not sure how Anne Hutchinson was insignificant, anyway.

She wasn't. The Hutchinson River is.

[Rothman]

Not sure how Anne Hutchinson was insignificant, anyway.

She wasn't. The Hutchinson River is.

The river is named for Anne Hutchinson.

And, given how large it gets and the dams that provide needed control and electricity, it seems pretty significant in of itself.

[briantroutman]

Not sure how Anne Hutchinson was insignificant, anyway.

She wasn't. The Hutchinson River is.

Regardless, I think bodies of water are somewhat ill-fit to this topic anyway–especially linear bodies of water like rivers and streams, since they lack the kind of center of focus that a town has. Then also, determining the relative significance of a river vs. a road is fraught with challenges. A river may be small and non-navigable but of significant impact to the local ecosystem, home to migratory birds, of historical importance (such as the Hutchinson River having been a source of drinking water) etc.

That said, I'll grant you that a six-lane freeway carrying up to 100K vehicles daily vs. a stream that you could jump over in a few places is something of an extreme example in that category.

In Grand Portage, MN, Mineral Center Road goes to the ghost town of Mineral Center, which quickly faded away when US 61 was routed away from its inland alignment to the current border crossing in the early 1960s. The only evidence left is the Y-junction where US 61 changed from its old alignment to a temporary one heading to the new Pigeon River bridge, which opened first.

That's an interesting example; it would fit the category even better if there were some homes or businesses along Mineral Center Road near Grand Portage to give it some sense of local currency. But still, I suppose people use Mineral Center Road as a through route to get elsewhere, so I'd have to rate it as having a significance greater than the nonexistent town.

[Rothman]

Pfft.  Even the Hudson is that small at some early points.  When it comes time to replace the New England Thruway's bridge across the Hutchinson River, its significance will be reflected in the cost.

[jakeroot]

This may miss the point of the thread, but it's one I've thought was interesting.

WA-18 (south and east of Seattle) is technically called the "Auburn - Echo Lake Cutoff Road" (though the name may not appear on signs anymore), because it runs between the city of Auburn and Echo Lake (Echo Lake is not a city, but an actual lake). Auburn is very well known, but Echo Lake is hidden in the lower reaches of Tiger Mountain near its interchange with I-90, and has about half a dozen homes off it. Otherwise, it's completely hidden and no one knows about it (the road to the lake doesn't even have a sign with the name on it). So while "Auburn" is understood as part of the name, "Echo Lake" is a complete mystery to most everyone.

I think that example generally fits the spirit of the idea–for a few reasons. One is that there is something of a tiny settlement on the western side of the lake, so the site is something more than just a body of water.

The other is that by being paired with "Auburn"  in the name of the road, I think it sets up the expectation that those two towns are the endpoints of the road, when in actuality, one of the two isn't a destination anyone (except the dozen or so people who live near the lake) would be headed to. In that way, "Echo Lake"  is kind of like Cove Fort is to Utah–where a diagonal route terminates at another highway in a rural area, and the DOT was grasping at straws to find a relevant name for the location of the junction. If I-70 was named the "Baltimore - Cove Fort Freeway" , the effect would be similar.

I wonder, though, why WSDOT didn't name the road the "Auburn - Snoqualmie Cutoff Road"  instead. Yes, Snoqualmie is slightly beyond the I-90 junction, but it is an actual city an a legitimate destination for someone headed east on WA 18. I notice that "North Bend"  is used as the eastern control city on many signs, especially through the Covington-Maple Valley-Hobart areas. Not being familiar with the area, that strikes be as a counterintuitive choice–considering that Snoqualmie is closer to the end of WA 18, is the name of the valley in which it sits, and has nearly double the population of North Bend.

I'm glad we agree that it fits! I've always found the name spectacularly confusing. If this particular Echo Lake (I had no idea there were four) was maybe a bit more prominent from the road, I might be willing to give it a pass. But as it is now, and as you indeed mention, no one can see it, few know about it, and the only people going there are probably those who live on the lake or are visiting the shoreline.

As to why they might have chosen the name: my guess is that it didn't run near anything else. The point where it meets I-90 (then US-10) seems to be the least-geographically intense area upon which to construct an interchange. When it was built to US-10, the road simply stopped at that point, and you could either go west towards Bellevue or east towards North Bend; straight-ahead was not an option. Eventually it became an option in the mid-1960s when the interchange was rebuilt to allow traffic to proceed through, but only to access then-new Echo Glen School (which is still there today as an "alternative" school). The road over the hill was only built much later. Snoqualmie was likely not a consideration for part of the name as it was a bit further off from the terminus of the highway, and North Bend was much larger anyways.

The road was initially coined as the "Echo Lake Cutoff", and by all accounts that is still the more popular name, despite the lack of awareness around the true "Echo Lake". Newspaper archive searches through my university do not show any articles in the last five years even mentioning the name (it's almost universally referred to as "Highway 18"), so this road may not qualify anymore for this thread since the name itself appears to have died as well. Still, the road was initially funded and constructed as the "Echo Lake Cutoff", so I suppose the confusion lives on in spirit.

[pianocello]

In the Orlando area:
Apopka-Vineland Rd
Winter Garden-Vineland Rd
Vineland Rd
Taft-Vineland Rd

These roads all lead toward a place called Vineland that seems like it's close to Disney Springs/Disney World. I'm sure it was more prevalent before the Mouse came into town.

[index]

Ashley Phosphate Road in the Charleston SC area was named after phosphate mines around the area of the road that no longer exist, so I guess that counts.
Also, the I-72 Valley City Eagle Bridges in Illinois. They're named after Valley City which has a population of 13, and they don't even go through the municipality nor can you access it via I-72.

[briantroutman]

In the Orlando area:
Apopka-Vineland Rd
Winter Garden-Vineland Rd
Vineland Rd
Taft-Vineland Rd

Vineland is an interesting case, and though it's not precisely like the example I mentioned in the original post, I think it's a great example in its own way.

From a quick analysis of the Wikipedia article on Vineland: It was laid out in 1911 and got a post office in 1912. It appears that at least Apopka-Vineland Road was born out of flurry of road-building activity during the Florida Land Boom years of the 1920s; possibly other "Vineland"  roads were as well. But the following land bust apparently took its toll on the city, as the post office was closed in 1940. The Wikipedia article describes the town as "abandoned"  by 1960. So assumably, Vineland had ceased to exist in any meaningful form by the time that Disney started buying land in the vicinity.

As far as I can tell, the only piece of the original Vineland still remaining is the overgrown Vineland Cemetery.

Ashley Phosphate Road in the Charleston SC area was named after phosphate mines around the area of the road that no longer exist, so I guess that counts.
Also, the I-72 Valley City Eagle Bridges in Illinois. They're named after Valley City which has a population of 13, and they don't even go through the municipality nor can you access it via I-72.

I seem to recall the Ashley Phosphate example–perhaps from the "Roads named for businesses that no longer exist (here)"  thread–and I think it works here, too.

Valley City is interesting in that village is the least-populous incorporated place in Illinois. I'd be more enthusiastic about the Valley City Eagles Bridge as an example for this topic if it was widely used in reference to the road. I'm assuming nobody would say something like "I'm taking the Valley City Eagles Bridge to get home."  

Do you know what the "Eagles"  part refers to?

[index]

Ashley Phosphate Road in the Charleston SC area was named after phosphate mines around the area of the road that no longer exist, so I guess that counts.
Also, the I-72 Valley City Eagle Bridges in Illinois. They're named after Valley City which has a population of 13, and they don't even go through the municipality nor can you access it via I-72.

I seem to recall the Ashley Phosphate example—perhaps from the “Roads named for businesses that no longer exist (here)” thread—and I think it works here, too.

Valley City is interesting in that village is the least-populous incorporated place in Illinois. I’d be more enthusiastic about the Valley City Eagles Bridge as an example for this topic if it was widely used in reference to the road. I’m assuming nobody would say something like “I’m taking the Valley City Eagles Bridge to get home.”

Do you know what the “Eagles” part refers to?

According to an old Chicago Tribune article from 1993, it was near a site that eagles were known to be frequently spotted.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1993-02-21-9303183757-story.html

The Wades were protective also of what lies just beneath their bluff. Known as Napoleon Hollow, it is a forested area of several hundred acres along the river. Sheltered by towering bluffs more than 100 feet high, Napoleon Hollow has been studied as a unique natural shelter where the region's abundant wildlife, including eagles, seek refuge in bad weather.

As well as this Chicago Tribune article from 1985:
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1985-05-02-8501270003-story.html

The lawsuit was filed by Sam and Juliet Wade, owners of a 300-acre farm above the hollow. The elderly brother and sister objected to the state`s intention to route the highway through their 150-year-old barn. They also contended the road would imperil many threatened species in the hollow, including the eagles that spend the winter in the area, roosting in the shelter of the limestone bluffs.

Couldn't find much else on it though. Seems to hold up as this Napoleon Hollow place is right between the two spans. Had they gone with a plan that might've damaged it instead, as the bridges may have originally done, that would've been two namesakes the bridge is more significant than instead of just one. Although you could argue since it seems nobody knows about and has hardly ever written about the "Eagle" bit of the name, that's already the case.

[Sctvhound]

Ashley Phosphate Road in the Charleston SC area was named after phosphate mines around the area of the road that no longer exist, so I guess that counts.
Also, the I-72 Valley City Eagle Bridges in Illinois. They're named after Valley City which has a population of 13, and they don't even go through the municipality nor can you access it via I-72.

Yup. Ashley Phosphate definitely counts. One of the major roads in the entire Charleston area. Connecting from SC 642 to US 52. Over 60,000 cars a day.

[ftballfan]

In the Orlando area:
Apopka-Vineland Rd
Winter Garden-Vineland Rd
Vineland Rd
Taft-Vineland Rd

Vineland is an interesting case, and though it's not precisely like the example I mentioned in the original post, I think it's a great example in its own way.

From a quick analysis of the Wikipedia article on Vineland: It was laid out in 1911 and got a post office in 1912. It appears that at least Apopka-Vineland Road was born out of flurry of road-building activity during the Florida Land Boom years of the 1920s; possibly other "Vineland"  roads were as well. But the following land bust apparently took its toll on the city, as the post office was closed in 1940. The Wikipedia article describes the town as "abandoned"  by 1960. So assumably, Vineland had ceased to exist in any meaningful form by the time that Disney started buying land in the vicinity.

As far as I can tell, the only piece of the original Vineland still remaining is the overgrown Vineland Cemetery.

I wonder if the grid that appears south of the Vineland cemetery (1st St, 3rd St, 4th St, 5th St, 7th St, 8th St, 9th St, Commercial St, Orange St, Pine St, Ruby Lake Rd) is associated with the town of Vineland.

Vineland Rd may have been named in honor of the town, as it never gets close to the site. Taft-Vineland Rd doesn't get close to the site. Looking at HistoricAerials, there was a dirt road that appeared to run very close to the path of Central Florida Parkway and I wonder if that was Taft-Vineland Rd since the current road of the same name ends at the aforementioned Central Florida Parkway.