Highway number vs. local name

[golden eagle]

In Jackson and neighboring Flowood, MS 25 is known as Lakeland Drive. MS 468 through Pearl goes by Pearson Road. Of course, we all know about the Chicago interstate system with names like the Dan Ryan and the Skyway. Personally, I prefer to used the number assigned to the highway, especially if I'm travelling. Despite this, I rarely use MS 25 (except for a lost traveler asking for directions) to refer to Lakeland. I bet if you were to ask people where highway X was rather than using the local name, they might have a puzzled look on their faces.

[Duke87]

It's the same way in New York (city). Everyone uses names, not numbers. Also true in southwestern Connecticut of state highways (usually), but we refer to Interstate highways and some US highways by number (US 7 is exclusively "route 7", US 1 is either "route 1" or "the post road", but US 6 and US 202 never have their numbers spoken in Fairfield County).

[huskeroadgeek]

Within cities, highways are usually better known by local street names. This isn't always the case though-here in Lincoln, NE 2 along the southern part of the city is officially known in the city limits as "Nebraska Hwy". But nobody here calls it that-it's "Hwy. 2". Most people here wouldn't even know what "Nebraska Hwy" is despite the fact that it is marked on street signs. It also seems to me like in most places the closer you get to the outskirts of a city, the more likely it is you will hear a highway referred to by number instead of name. Also, in rural areas, highways are usually referred to by number despite the fact that many have local names that fit into a county's street naming system.

[Bryant5493]

U.S. 19/41 in Clayton County (GA), south of I-75 and Old Dixie Road, is known as Tara Boulevard, or 19/41 (Nineteen-Forty-One).

Georgia State Route 314 is is know by both 314 or W. Fayetteville Road (West Fayetteville).

Georgia State Route 279 is exclusively known as Old National Highway (Old National), even the portion in Fayette County, which is signed by Fayette County DOT as "Georgia Highway 279" on street blades and is named "Evander Holyfield Highway" on green GDOT mounted signed on the side of the road.


Be well,

Bryant

[golden eagle]

^^

US 23 is known as Buford Highway. Also, there's a highway that runs by Greenbriar Mall. I think it's called Langford Parkway. It's a state highway.

[Brandon]

As mentioned above, names are quite common here over numbers.
We call it Plainfield Rd, Lincoln Hwy, Cass St, but not US-30.
We call it Ogden Ave, not US-34.  Even the "Ogden Ave" designation has migrated westward recently over what was "Oswego Rd".
Ditto for many of our routes with a few exceptions such as IL-59, IL-53, and a few others.
We even tend to call things they're not supposed to be, such as "Route 53" for the section of I-290 from I-355 northward (commonly heard on the radio).

I'm sure it's much the same for locals in other areas.

[mjb2002]

Whether I call it by names or numbers depends on which county I am in.

In Barnwell County (my current residence), we only call it by the highways -- such as US-278 and SC-3 as all but one highway in the county have no local name in the unincorporated parts of it.

In Aiken County, I call it by the street name. Williston Rd (US-278), Charleston Hy (US-78), Columbia Hy (US-1), Jefferson Davis Hy (US-1/US-78), Old Ninety Six Indian Tr (SC-39), Martintown Rd (SC-230), etc.

[Eth]

In the Atlanta area, the most major arterials in the inner metro counties tend to be known by name (the further out you go, the more likely it's known by number instead).  However, freeways are referred to by number instead of name, with a few exceptions.  In addition to those noted by Bryant and golden eagle above...

Freeways:
"Langford Pkwy" is more common than "GA 166"
"Peachtree Industrial (Blvd)", never "GA 141"
"Stone Mountain Freeway" is usually more common than "US 78"
All others are referred to by number (though "the Perimeter" for I-285 is also common, as is "the (Downtown) Connector" for the I-75/I-85 concurrency).

As for surface roads:
"Lawrenceville Hwy" instead of "US 29"
"Covington Hwy" instead of "US 278"
"Cobb Pkwy" is more common than "US 41"
etc.

When numbers are used, the US highway always takes precedence over its state route multiplex, with two exceptions:
"GA 400", never "US 19"
US 23 in Henry County is always referred to by its state route multiplex, GA 42.

[Bryant5493]

Freeways:
"Langford Pkwy" is more common than "GA 166"

Some folks still refer to 166 by its old name -- "Lakewood (Freeway)."


Be well,

Bryant

[Dr Frankenstein]

Most people often don't even know the highway numbers in Montreal. It all changes once you leave the island though.

[ftballfan]

In Michigan:
(the first five are all in the Detroit area)
M-1 is more commonly known as Woodward
M-3 is more commonly known as Gratiot
M-5 is more commonly known as Grand River
M-8 is more commonly known as Davison
M-10 is more commonly known as the Lodge
M-11 is more commonly known as 28th St in Grandville, Wyoming, Grand Rapids, and Kentwood
M-37 is more commonly known as the Beltline in Grand Rapids, Broadmoor in Kentwood, and Alpine in Comstock Park

[1995hoo]

In my experience from living in the DC area for almost 40 years it varies by road and there are no hard-and-fast "rules" other than it seems to me that roads that change names may be a bit more likely to be referred to by number. But those Interstates that do have names are not often referred to by them except for the Beltway. The name Shirley Highway for I-395/I-95 is largely forgotten and Custis Memorial Parkway never caught on for I-66 inside the Beltway. Yet VA-267 is always the Dulles Toll Road and the Dulles Greenway (often "Dulles" is omitted), never "267," and the only people I've ever heard call the Fairfax County Parkway "7100" are radio traffic reporters. Gallows Road is never "650," but most people I know say "236" instead of "Little River Turnpike," "Duke Street," or "Main Street" (unless they're referring to the part in Old Town Alexandria, in which case Duke Street it is).

I rather hate it when I'm in an unfamiliar place and someone doesn't use Interstate numbers when giving directions. All maps include the numbers; only some include the local names.

[oscar]

In Alaska and Hawaii, locals almost never refer to highways by number rather than name.  Indeed, Hawaii's highways were unnumbered until just before statehood (guess they thought route numbers were a mainland thing), except for a temporary wartime system set up for mainland soldiers who were constantly getting lost on roads marked only with Hawaiian names. 

The exception for Hawaii is its Interstates, which were unnamed before 2002 except the segments that had names before they became Interstates (Lunalilo Freeway for the eastern third of Interstate H-1, Moanalua Freeway for Interstate H-201 -- only the latter is still regularly referred to by name).  The new names added in 2002 never really caught on, especially the tongue-twisty Queen Liliuokalani Freeway for the western two-thirds of Interstate H-1. 

[formulanone]

South Floridians rarely use numbers in daily speech when referring to roads/highways/ streets, but again, that seems to be the case with most places in the country. Names just sound friendlier to most people, if they exist. I also think numbers are hard to remember for most people, but I think that's just a case of personal preference and ease. Also, a smaller town might only have a few road numbers, while a large metropolis might have fifty or more...just think what is easier to remember?

Common ones are "State Road 7" for US 441 from Miami to West Palm Beach (it's sometimes called NW 7th Street in Miami-Dade County. Sometimes it's called "Four Fourty One", but most people call it State Road 7, even though it's only signed that way in a few places.

State Road A1A, naturally. Usually, everyone calls it "A-One-A". Sometimes in Miami Beach, they use the actual street name (i.e. Collins Avenue), because it split N/S in that area on two different avenues, as well as hopping onto different streets as you head north.

State Road 84 has no real name, except for a short stretch called Marina Mile. It's no longer as long as it once was, when it was part of Alligator Alley. Speaking of which, usually locals refer to the east-west part of I-75 from Weston to Naples as "Alligator Alley" rather than I-75, due to it's original nick-name.

US 27 has no real name in most places in the tri-county area. It used to get a nickname of "Bloody 27" before it was four-laned in 1994. Having driven on the narrow two-laned part back in 1992, I can understand how it earned its reputation.

US 1 / Federal Highway is a toss-up...it's used quite interchangeably in Broward/Palm Beach County. Reporters will refer to Dolphin Expressway/836, Palmetto/826, but I can't say I ever heard the Don Shula or the Snapper Creek expressways used by their numbers by anyone (874, 878). Same goes for the Sawgrass Expressway (869); nearly every reference to "Sawgrass" was removed around 1995-96, but then included again. Nobody called it anything but the Sawgrass.

Interstates are rarely named anywhere in the state, probably because of greater widespread use in advertising, traffic reports, copious signage, et cetera. The lone exception in the Miami area is the Julia Turtle Causeway (I-195). Perhaps because she was legendary in getting Henry Flagler to build the railroad in the area, which started the first wave of tourism, settlement, and large-scale farming of the area? Or because it's close to the I-395, which might be confusing...Also, the Sunshine Skyway Bridge gets a mention for its stature upon the I-275.

It seems that if you ask for directions in most places around the state, you get numbers from people if they're US Routes and Interstates, and typically common street names for everything else (unless none exist).

[texaskdog]

We call our west highway Mopac.  My roommate called it Loop 1 and I laughed at him.

[1995hoo]

This thread reminds me of a sort of related question. In your area, do people use a compass point (or cardinal direction as the MUTCD calls it) to refer only to the part of a road going in a particular direction, or can it refer to a road in general?

For example, when I lived in Charlottesville (attending UVA), people called the US-29 Business route by its name (Emmet Street or JPA, the latter short for Jefferson Park Avenue), but the part north of town after the business and bypass routes merged back together was always "29 North," regardless of the direction in question. The Wal-Mart was always "off 29 North" regardless of where you were coming from and regardless of whether you actually needed to use the southbound lanes to get there–for example, from the airport, directions might be, "It's on 29 North. Go out of the airport and make a right when you get to 29." You'd actually be going south on 29 once you made that turn.

Similarly, when I-66 inside the Beltway was nearing completion in 1982, everyone I knew called it "66 East." It opened to buses a couple of months before it opened to cars and I recall people in my neighborhood near Fairfax Hospital who rode the bus to the Ballston Metro would say "It leaves the Metro and takes 66 East to the Beltway." Of course that means the bus was actually going west on I-66. This usage disappeared within a few years once people were used to the road being open.

Part of what prompted me to think of it in the context of this thread was that when I lived in Durham (attending Duke) I referred to "I-85 South" when I said "the new exit for the Durham Freeway off 85 South opened today" and a friend from Ohio said, "That's 85 North; you can't get to it when you're going south." What I meant was "the part of 85 south of Durham."

I tend to be very specific when I give directions and I wouldn't use phrases like that if I e-mailed someone directions to my house, but if I were speaking I might still say it. I-95 south of the DC area is "95 South" regardless of which way I'm going at the time because it's "south" of where I live and spend most of my time.



I suppose another similar discussion could arise as to naming conventions for loop highways, like in texaskdog's post. Here in the DC area, the Inner Loop refers to the clockwise carriageway of the Beltway (which is the "inner" of the two carriageways relative to where the District is) and the Outer Loop refers to the anti-clockwise carriageway. I think the names originated with the traffic reporters. Down in Raleigh, they call their clockwise carriageway the "Inner Beltline" and the anti-clockwise carriageway the "Outer Beltline," while the term "Outer Loop" refers to I-540 (officially the Northern Wake Expressway) even though it's not a "loop" because it's a half-beltway. In the DC area, "Outer Beltway" refers to a never-constructed second beltway that would have been located some distance outside of the existing one. I've never heard anyone refer to a road like the Beltway as "Loop 495" or anything of that sort.

[Coelacanth]

In the Twin Cities our freeways do not have names, so they are always referred to by number (except maybe the Crosstown...).

For the highways which run along local streets, it's more of a mixed bag. I've never heard anyone call Snelling Ave "Highway 51". I would say it's about 50/50 between "Arcade St" and "Hwy 61". You're much more likely to hear "Hwy 55" than "Olson Memorial Highway", but you're also more likely to hear "Hiawatha Ave" than "Hwy 55".

So I would say there's no fixed rule.

[TheStranger]

California seems to be all over the map about this...

i.e.

Bay Area: older freeways tend to be referred to by name (Bayshore, MacArthur, Eastshore, Nimitz) even years after signage for those names has been deprecated, numbers used too

Not sure how often the Junipero Serra name is used for 280 between the Southern Freeway/Junipero Serra split and SJ, but that's another one I've known about for some time

I think myosh_tino mentioned that the Stevens Creek name is used sometimes for 85, the most recent completed new freeway in the region

880 between 80 and 980 was referred as the Cypress Freeway for some time after the earthquake, but not so much since the 1997 reconstruction

Some surface-road state highways are referred to by number (i.e. 37, 1), others never are (82/El Camino Real, 123/San Pablo Avenue).

Some names never caught on with public (i.e. Grove-Shafter for 24/980, Sinclair for 680)

Sacramento: "Capital City" name used for only half of Business 80 (the hidden Route 51 portion), US 50 usually used for the east-west portion (along with the "WX Freeway" for the segment concurrent with Route 99)

Los Angeles/Orange County: Though the usage of "the xx" is most known in that area...some of the names - particuarly older ones that are still signed or have been - continue to be used, i.e. San Diego, Hollywood freeways

Not sure if any of the surface-street state routes get noted, except for 1 being the PCH for much of the region

[vdeane]

In Rochester it's a mix; surface streets are by number but freeways are all by name.  Most probably don't even know our freeways even have names.  In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Sea Breeze Dr is still called "Route 590" several years from now despite having been decommissioned north of Titus Ave last year.

Exception: the Thruway is always the Thruway, never I-90 or I-87.  I-86 is "Route 17".

And yes, we are a "route" area.  No distinction between interstates, US routes, state routes, and country routes (where signed).  For this reason I think it would be very amusing if the Thruway Authority built an interchange where I-90 and NY 90 cross each other.

[sandwalk]

There's some disconnect for roads in the Rockford, IL area. 

For example, Illinois Route 251 is partially an expressway with controlled access and frontage roads from the north side of Rockford up to Beloit, Wisconsin.  Most people will refer to it only as North 2nd Street (from downtown and the suburbs to as far north as South Beloit, IL).  Similarly, IL Route 251 is referred to by its local road names of Kishwaukee Street and 11th Street south of downtown.  It's not until south of Bypass 20 (as it's called locally) that the IL 251 name kicks in.

Another one is Main Street (Illinois Route 2).  From Rockford north to Rockton it is more commonly referred to by its name rather than number.  Conversely, on the south side of town it picks up the Route 2 moniker. 

Also, in the suburb of Machesney Park, Illinois Route 173 runs along what is apparently 'West Lane Road.'  NO ONE calls it that; it's referred to as 'Highway 173' or just '173.'  The Illinois Tollway decided that it would put the West Lane Road name on the I-90 exit anyway LOL

[golden eagle]

This thread reminds me of a sort of related question. In your area, do people use a compass point (or cardinal direction as the MUTCD calls it) to refer only to the part of a road going in a particular direction, or can it refer to a road in general?

For example, when I lived in Charlottesville (attending UVA), people called the US-29 Business route by its name (Emmet Street or JPA, the latter short for Jefferson Park Avenue), but the part north of town after the business and bypass routes merged back together was always "29 North," regardless of the direction in question. The Wal-Mart was always "off 29 North" regardless of where you were coming from and regardless of whether you actually needed to use the southbound lanes to get there–for example, from the airport, directions might be, "It's on 29 North. Go out of the airport and make a right when you get to 29." You'd actually be going south on 29 once you made that turn.

Similarly, when I-66 inside the Beltway was nearing completion in 1982, everyone I knew called it "66 East." It opened to buses a couple of months before it opened to cars and I recall people in my neighborhood near Fairfax Hospital who rode the bus to the Ballston Metro would say "It leaves the Metro and takes 66 East to the Beltway." Of course that means the bus was actually going west on I-66. This usage disappeared within a few years once people were used to the road being open.

This happens here too.
Post Merge: August 01, 2011, 01:12:24 PM

This thread reminds me of a sort of related question. In your area, do people use a compass point (or cardinal direction as the MUTCD calls it) to refer only to the part of a road going in a particular direction, or can it refer to a road in general?

For example, when I lived in Charlottesville (attending UVA), people called the US-29 Business route by its name (Emmet Street or JPA, the latter short for Jefferson Park Avenue), but the part north of town after the business and bypass routes merged back together was always "29 North," regardless of the direction in question. The Wal-Mart was always "off 29 North" regardless of where you were coming from and regardless of whether you actually needed to use the southbound lanes to get there–for example, from the airport, directions might be, "It's on 29 North. Go out of the airport and make a right when you get to 29." You'd actually be going south on 29 once you made that turn.

Similarly, when I-66 inside the Beltway was nearing completion in 1982, everyone I knew called it "66 East." It opened to buses a couple of months before it opened to cars and I recall people in my neighborhood near Fairfax Hospital who rode the bus to the Ballston Metro would say "It leaves the Metro and takes 66 East to the Beltway." Of course that means the bus was actually going west on I-66. This usage disappeared within a few years once people were used to the road being open.

Part of what prompted me to think of it in the context of this thread was that when I lived in Durham (attending Duke) I referred to "I-85 South" when I said "the new exit for the Durham Freeway off 85 South opened today" and a friend from Ohio said, "That's 85 North; you can't get to it when you're going south." What I meant was "the part of 85 south of Durham."

I tend to be very specific when I give directions and I wouldn't use phrases like that if I e-mailed someone directions to my house, but if I were speaking I might still say it. I-95 south of the DC area is "95 South" regardless of which way I'm going at the time because it's "south" of where I live and spend most of my time.



I suppose another similar discussion could arise as to naming conventions for loop highways, like in texaskdog's post. Here in the DC area, the Inner Loop refers to the clockwise carriageway of the Beltway (which is the "inner" of the two carriageways relative to where the District is) and the Outer Loop refers to the anti-clockwise carriageway. I think the names originated with the traffic reporters. Down in Raleigh, they call their clockwise carriageway the "Inner Beltline" and the anti-clockwise carriageway the "Outer Beltline," while the term "Outer Loop" refers to I-540 (officially the Northern Wake Expressway) even though it's not a "loop" because it's a half-beltway. In the DC area, "Outer Beltway" refers to a never-constructed second beltway that would have been located some distance outside of the existing one. I've never heard anyone refer to a road like the Beltway as "Loop 495" or anything of that sort.

It happens here, especially in commercials. The section of I-55 north of the I-20 split is refered to as I-55 north, and I-55 south for areas south of I-20.

[SSOWorld]

Freeways in Milwaukee are referred to by number, but US/State routes are referred to by street names.

It's the same way in New York (city). Everyone uses names, not numbers. Also true in southwestern Connecticut of state highways (usually), but we refer to Interstate highways and some US highways by number (US 7 is exclusively "route 7", US 1 is either "route 1" or "the post road", but US 6 and US 202 never have their numbers spoken in Fairfield County).

Don't forget the expressways and parkways (their terms for freeways with some exceptions in the parkways  which for here are obvious as no route number is assigned).  Not only do they have names, they ave acronyms - actually abbreviations for freeway names (Brooklyn Queens Expressway = BQE, Cross Bronx Expressway = CBE, Franklyn D Roosevelt Drive = FDR, etc. (I don't believe all expressways are that way, any New Yorker chime in).

Chicago refers to expressways (their term for the freeways) by name where applicable.  notable exceptions are I-57 and I-80.  Also I-55 is mentioned.  I think they take the Stephenson as from the Tri-State into Downtown, but I'm not sure.

Several cities often look at endpoints as names - especially interchanges
Milwaukee: Marquette, Zoo, Stadium, Mitchell, Hale
Chicago, The Junction (on the Kennedy), The Circle
Boston: The split (I-93 and MA route 3) - someone confirm)

[Super Mateo]

The south suburbs of Chicago have some variation here.

I've seen I 80 (west of I 294) labeled as the Moline Expressway on some maps, but if someone were to use that name, no one would know what he's talking about.  It's always referred to as I 80 or simply 80.  If you say "the 80,"  we'll instantly know you're from out of town.

On the other hand, there's Harlem.  It's also IL 43, but no one ever cares.  Many may not even know.  It's well signed, but if you ever refer to Harlem as route 43, most won't know what you're talking about.  Some even reply with, "You mean 45, right?"  Harlem is wedged in between US 45 and IL 50, which are other north-south routes that parallel it just 3 miles away east or west.  Speaking of US 45, either works for that one.  It's most commonly called LaGrange, but Mannheim or its other names aren't unheard of.  The difference is with 45, locals may know what you're referring to if you say 45.

[Bickendan]

Portland tends to use route numbers with two, three exceptions, though all the freeways have names:
I-84/US 30 is still referred to as the Banfield, US 26 (west of I-405) is known as the Sunset (and Canyon Rd is very rarely tossed in for the OR 8 - I-405 segment as SW Canyon Rd duplexes onto the freeway), and I-405 is occasionally called by its name, the Stadium. Of course, US 26 east of the Willamette is universally referred to as Powell. Southeast of Gresham, it's the Mt Hood Hwy.

I-5: Pacific Hwy, Baldock Freeway, Eastbank Freeway, Minnesota Ave/Freeway. The last particularly left some distaste with some commentators as they didn't like 'honoring' another state with a freeway name, though in truth I-5 got the name because it was built on N Minnesota Ave. Subsequently, the use of Baldock and Eastbank slowly faded (and along the Pacific Hwy portion -- south of the Metro Area -- it's really only known as I-5 anyway).

I-205: East Portland Freeway/Veterans' Memorial Hwy. Signs posted on the route show the latter; it's still just called the 205.

OR 217: Beaverton-Tigard Freeway. It's just referred to as the 217.

US 30: The only Portland freeway without a name, it'd be an extension of NW Yeon Ave. The portions along Yeon and St Helens Rd are known by their names. Similarly for Bypass 30, it's known by its names (NW Bridge Ave, St Johns Bridge, N/NE Lombard St, NE Killingsworth St, NE Sandy Blvd). Bus 30's decommed, so it doesn't matter.

WA 14: Lewis and Clark Freeway, Evergreen Hwy. Generally called SR 14.

WA 500: It has no name, though 'Orchards Expressway' fits well. Called SR 500, though east of WA 503 it probably uses local names.

OR 6: Wilson River Hwy -- far enough out of the area to be called Hwy/Route 6.

OR 8: Gales Creek Rd, Tualatin Valley Hwy, Canyon Rd. Known as all three.

OR 10: Farmington Rd, Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy, Capitol Hwy. Generally referred to as Farmington or Beaverton-Hillsdale Hwy (even on the Capitol Hwy portion!).

OR 210: Scholls Ferry Rd. Known as that.

OR 213: Cascade Hwy, Trail's End Hwy, 82nd Ave. South of I-205, Hwy/Route 213. North, 82nd Ave.

OR 43: Pacific Hwy (State St, Macadam Ave). I forget what its name is in West Linn if it's not an extension of State in Lake Oswego. In Portland, it's known as Macadam.

OR 99W: Pacific Hwy West, Barbur Blvd, [Front Ave/Naito Pkwy, Interstate Ave]. About even on the name/number split.

OR 99E: McGloughlin Blvd, MLK/Grand Ave, Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. Almost exclusively by name. MLK preferred over the full name; older folks prefer its original name, Union Ave.

OR 224: Milwaukie Expressway. Known as the 224.

I haven't paid attention to how the 212/224 are called.

[tdindy88]

Indianapolis is very funny about this when it comes to our U.S. and State Roads. It has helped that the state rerouted all of our non-interstate highways around the city along I-465, so the local name was forced to take over along the old numbered routes, such as Michigan Road for US 421, Rockville Road for US 36, Meridian Street for US 31 north of the city and Madison Avenue and East Street for 31 south, Kentucky Avenue for SR 67, and Harding Street for SR 37. Though in just about all of these cases, the local name was already being used, perhaps more so than the number. Meridian and Washington Streets are both historically important to the city (being the main north-south and east-west axises) so people would use those names more, even on the parts of US 31 and US 40 outside the loop, the local name will still be refered, such as the Meridian Street Corridor along US 31 in Carmel (it would be interesting to see what happens when this highway becomes a freeway.) To the south of the city, Kentucky Avenue and SR 67 seem to be used equally, until the county line where it just becomes 67. SR 37 is always refered to by number, and US 31 is sometimes called East Street for the first mile or so south of 465 until the highway turns more southeasterly and it gets called simply US 31.