Chicago: Why Bishop Ford Freeway?

Started by Henry, December 27, 2017, 09:32:38 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

kphoger

Quote from: captkirk_4 on January 16, 2018, 08:58:17 AM
40s era four lane divided highways with at grade crossings
full fledged modern highways with ramps and interchanges
primitive two lane 20s era blacktop

???

Most modern roads are either two-lane blacktops or divided highways with at-grade crossings–not blue or green roads.  There are still plenty of projects that upgrade roads to divided highways with at-grade crossings (US-60 across southern Missouri jumps to mind).
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.


billtm

Quote from: tdindy88 on January 12, 2018, 08:52:17 PM
Quote from: billtm on January 12, 2018, 12:52:28 PM
Quote from: wh15395 on January 07, 2018, 07:18:16 PM
Quote from: triplemultiplex on December 27, 2017, 09:46:33 AM
I've always found it odd that Chicago calls its freeways "expressways" when no metro around them does.  Detroit, St. Louis, Indy, Milwaukee... they all use the correct term "freeway".

From what I remember, people in Indianapolis call them highways. I remember people using the term freeway or expressway occasionally, but much less frequently than highway. Now I'm living in California, so of course it's the freeway.

I live in Indiana, admittedly not Indianapolis, but I can confirm that the term used here is highway. Like highway 465, or highway (insert number here).

I find that kind of interesting, today during the traffic reports over the "snow" storm I generally heard highways refereed to as I-XX, US-XX and SR-XX and personally I thought that in Indiana highways were named that way, not just Highway-XX like in Wisconsin. I do believe though that expressway and freeway are rarely used except by transplants.

Honestly, I almost never hear of anyone say Highway 465, it's I-465, and never I-465/I-74 when the highways are multiplexed.

I feel like I hear the term highway used at least as often as I-(blank).
Maybe I just talk to a lot of transplants cause I live in West Lafayette? :hmmm:

captkirk_4

#27
Quote from: kphoger on January 16, 2018, 11:14:36 AM
Quote from: captkirk_4 on January 16, 2018, 08:58:17 AM
40s era four lane divided highways with at grade crossings
full fledged modern highways with ramps and interchanges
primitive two lane 20s era blacktop

???

Most modern roads are either two-lane blacktops or divided highways with at-grade crossings—not blue or green roads.  There are still plenty of projects that upgrade roads to divided highways with at-grade crossings (US-60 across southern Missouri jumps to mind).

I'm referring to how Rand MacNalley color codes the highways for their Road Atlases using thick blue lines to show a full fledged modern Interstate type highway with interchanges, green for tollways like the Tri-State, and Yellow for older four line divided highways with at grade intersections like US 41 in Lake County.

hotdogPi

Quote from: captkirk_4 on January 17, 2018, 08:52:56 AM
Quote from: kphoger on January 16, 2018, 11:14:36 AM
Quote from: captkirk_4 on January 16, 2018, 08:58:17 AM
40s era four lane divided highways with at grade crossings
full fledged modern highways with ramps and interchanges
primitive two lane 20s era blacktop

???

Most modern roads are either two-lane blacktops or divided highways with at-grade crossings–not blue or green roads.  There are still plenty of projects that upgrade roads to divided highways with at-grade crossings (US-60 across southern Missouri jumps to mind).

I'm referring to how Rand MacNalley color codes the highways for their Road Atlases using thick blue lines to show a fledged modern Interstate type highway with interchanges, green for tollways like the Tri-State, and Yellow for older four line divided highways with at grade intersections like US 41 in Lake County.

He's saying that your labels of "40s era" and "20s era" are inaccurate; roads of those types are not obsolete and are still being built.
Clinched, minus I-93 (I'm missing a few miles and my file is incorrect)

Traveled, plus US 13, 44, and 50, and several state routes

I will be in Burlington VT for the eclipse.

kphoger

Quote from: 1 on January 17, 2018, 10:09:25 AM
He's saying that your labels of "40s era" and "20s era" are inaccurate; roads of those types are not obsolete and are still being built.

Precisely!  Thank you for wording it so concisely.
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

captkirk_4

Quote from: 1 on January 17, 2018, 10:09:25 AM
Quote from: captkirk_4 on January 17, 2018, 08:52:56 AM
Quote from: kphoger on January 16, 2018, 11:14:36 AM
Quote from: captkirk_4 on January 16, 2018, 08:58:17 AM
40s era four lane divided highways with at grade crossings
full fledged modern highways with ramps and interchanges
primitive two lane 20s era blacktop

???

Most modern roads are either two-lane blacktops or divided highways with at-grade crossings–not blue or green roads.  There are still plenty of projects that upgrade roads to divided highways with at-grade crossings (US-60 across southern Missouri jumps to mind).

I'm referring to how Rand MacNalley color codes the highways for their Road Atlases using thick blue lines to show a fledged modern Interstate type highway with interchanges, green for tollways like the Tri-State, and Yellow for older four line divided highways with at grade intersections like US 41 in Lake County.

He's saying that your labels of "40s era" and "20s era" are inaccurate; roads of those types are not obsolete and are still being built.

I know they are still being built, what I meant is more "State of the Art" in 1940. Same as propeller driven aircraft are still being manufactured and sold to the general aviation market, but your not going to step into a Ford Tri-Motor for your transcontinental flight. What I am saying is the country ran out of money and in boom times stuff like US 60 across Southern Missouri or the US 51 from Bloomington to Decatur would have been built to Interstate standards. Along with the "Bishop Ford" not having stoplights for the last few miles around Balmoral Race Track.

compdude787

#31
Quote from: captkirk_4 on January 18, 2018, 08:12:51 AM

I know they are still being built, what I meant is more "State of the Art" in 1940.

Fully controlled-access freeways were "state of the art" in 1940. Take for example the Pennsylvania Turnpike (opened that year), as well as the German autobahns that had been built extensively thru the 30s. Granted they did not have shoulders, jersey barriers, guardrails and other modern crash safety features like freeways do today, but they are and were still pretty modern.

ixnay

#32
This chap grew up in the Delaware Valley, home of two "turnpikes" (three if you count the Delaware Turnpike John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway), at least two "expressways" (Schuylkill and Mid-County [I-476, the "Blue Route"]), and a "freeway" (North-South, referred to in traffic reports usually as the "42 Freeway" as it is NJ 42).  Heck, call them goat paths as long as they get us there quickly, smoothly, and safely. 

ixnay

The Washington/Baltimore/Arlington CSA has two Key Bridges, a Minnesota Avenue, and a Mannasota Avenue.

ixnay

#33
Quote from: Henry on December 27, 2017, 09:32:38 AM
In Chicagoland, there's the Dan Ryan Expressway, the Kennedy Expressway, the Eisenhower Expressway, the Edens Expressway, the Kingery Expressway, the Stevenson Expressway and the former Calumet Expressway. However, on the extreme southern end of town you have the Bishop Ford Freeway, and I've always wondered why they broke with tradition instead of simply calling it the Bishop Ford Expressway. As a native Chicagoan who had to adapt to using the Freeway term upon moving to the West Coast, I often think that it's confusing to not have a hometown expressway labeled as such. What gives?

Henry, when I saw the thread title, I thought the thread was from an outsider (I don't visit the Midwest-Great Lakes board often) who was asking whom the Ford was named for. 

For those who *are* wondering, here you go...

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-01-11/news/0801100733_1_exhibit-displays-photographs-african-american-pentecostal-dusable-museum

ixnay
The Washington/Baltimore/Arlington CSA has two Key Bridges, a Minnesota Avenue, and a Mannasota Avenue.

mrsman

Quote from: ixnay on March 20, 2018, 07:59:21 AM
Quote from: Henry on December 27, 2017, 09:32:38 AM
In Chicagoland, there's the Dan Ryan Expressway, the Kennedy Expressway, the Eisenhower Expressway, the Edens Expressway, the Kingery Expressway, the Stevenson Expressway and the former Calumet Expressway. However, on the extreme southern end of town you have the Bishop Ford Freeway, and I've always wondered why they broke with tradition instead of simply calling it the Bishop Ford Expressway. As a native Chicagoan who had to adapt to using the Freeway term upon moving to the West Coast, I often think that it's confusing to not have a hometown expressway labeled as such. What gives?

Henry, when I saw the thread title, I thought the thread was from an outsider (I don't visit the Midwest-Great Lakes board often) who was asking whom the Ford was named for. 

For those who *are* wondering, here you go...

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2008-01-11/news/0801100733_1_exhibit-displays-photographs-african-american-pentecostal-dusable-museum

ixnay

I agree.  My subject heading makes the OP's point more clear.

edwaleni

The term "expressway"  in Chicago started when the city started acquiring land west of Congress Street for a new highway that had no traffic stops.  The city streets department called it an expressway and the politicos picked up on it there after.

Don't forget that Chicago also has other names for their streets.  One of them is "parkway", known for their street parking restrictions.

All the highways that came after carried the name.

abefroman329

Quote from: edwaleni on May 17, 2018, 12:50:38 PM
Don't forget that Chicago also has other names for their streets.  One of them is "parkway", known for their street parking restrictions.

And trucks aren't allowed to drive on "boulevards."

kphoger

Quote from: abefroman329 on May 17, 2018, 02:09:01 PM
And trucks aren't allowed to drive on "boulevards."

Wait, what?  Trucks aren't allowed on Austin Blvd, Sacramento Blvd, Jackson Blvd, Washington Blvd, Augusta Blvd, or Garfield Blvd?
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

abefroman329


ET21

Quote from: abefroman329 on May 17, 2018, 03:03:07 PM
Quote from: kphoger on May 17, 2018, 02:42:46 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on May 17, 2018, 02:09:01 PM
And trucks aren't allowed to drive on "boulevards."

Wait, what?  Trucks aren't allowed on Austin Blvd, Sacramento Blvd, Jackson Blvd, Washington Blvd, Augusta Blvd, or Garfield Blvd?

Nope.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/g00/classified/automotive/ct-pickup-trucks-chicago-problem-20160121-story.html?i10c.encReferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8%3D&i10c.ua=1&i10c.dv=14

I've seen pickups on LSD within the last year, so that sounds like a very lightly enforced law
The local weatherman, trust me I can be 99.9% right!
"Show where you're going, without forgetting where you're from"

Clinched:
IL: I-88, I-180, I-190, I-290, I-294, I-355, IL-390
IN: I-80, I-94
SD: I-190
WI: I-90, I-94
MI: I-94, I-196
MN: I-90

kphoger

Quote from: ET21 on May 17, 2018, 03:46:46 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on May 17, 2018, 03:03:07 PM
Quote from: kphoger on May 17, 2018, 02:42:46 PM
Quote from: abefroman329 on May 17, 2018, 02:09:01 PM
And trucks aren't allowed to drive on "boulevards."

Wait, what?  Trucks aren't allowed on Austin Blvd, Sacramento Blvd, Jackson Blvd, Washington Blvd, Augusta Blvd, or Garfield Blvd?

Nope.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/g00/classified/automotive/ct-pickup-trucks-chicago-problem-20160121-story.html?i10c.encReferrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8%3D&i10c.ua=1&i10c.dv=14

I've seen pickups on LSD within the last year, so that sounds like a very lightly enforced law

But were those pick-ups tagged with car plates or truck plates?
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

ilpt4u

#41
In IL, all pickups are tagged with B-Truck Plates. SUVs and Vans, I've seen go either way. The State Registration fee is the same for B-Truck Plates vs Passenger Vehicle Plates

I did not know that restriction, and I have certainly driven on LSD with B-Truck plates

kphoger

Quote from: ilpt4u on May 17, 2018, 03:59:54 PM
In IL, all pickups are tagged with B-Truck Plates.

Wow, I didn't realize that, and I lived in Illinois for a total of 17½ years (8½ of which were as an adult).
Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

abefroman329

Of all the things CPD is concerned with, I don't think "pickup trucks being driven on boulevards or LSD" is high on the list.

That being said, having once been pulled over by the DC Police and written a ticket for changing lanes without signaling, there is no such thing as an infraction of the motor vehicle laws that's so minor, you'll never be written a ticket for it.

KeithE4Phx

Quote from: abefroman329 on May 17, 2018, 04:17:22 PM
Of all the things CPD is concerned with, I don't think "pickup trucks being driven on boulevards or LSD" is high on the list.

Maybe they've lightened up in the last 25 years, but when I lived there (1975-94), I was warned every time I renewed the registration on my Nissan pickup that I would get a ticket for driving on LSD and certain other streets in the city.  That was, at one time one, of the biggest shakedowns in Chicago.
"Oh, so you hate your job? Well, why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called "EVERYBODY!" They meet at the bar." -- Drew Carey

kphoger

Keep right except to pass.  Yes.  You.
Visit scenic Orleans County, NY!
Male pronouns, please.

Quote from: Philip K. DickIf you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.

abefroman329

Quote from: KeithE4Phx on May 17, 2018, 04:21:51 PM
That was, at one time one, of the biggest shakedowns in Chicago.

I think it's been replaced by "write numerous tickets for having an expired city registration sticker, starting the day after the grace period ends."  Also, red light cameras.

KeithE4Phx

Quote from: abefroman329 on May 17, 2018, 04:33:41 PM
Quote from: KeithE4Phx on May 17, 2018, 04:21:51 PM
That was, at one time one, of the biggest shakedowns in Chicago.

I think it's been replaced by "write numerous tickets for having an expired city registration sticker, starting the day after the grace period ends."

That's been around for a very long time.  When I lived in unincorporated Lake County in the mid 1980s, they had to issue county stickers for free, just to keep local residents from getting tickets in Cook and DuPage Counties, where many of us worked.
"Oh, so you hate your job? Well, why didn't you say so? There's a support group for that. It's called "EVERYBODY!" They meet at the bar." -- Drew Carey

ILRoad55

Quote from: edwaleni on May 17, 2018, 12:50:38 PM
The term "expressway"  in Chicago started when the city started acquiring land west of Congress Street for a new highway that had no traffic stops.  The city streets department called it an expressway and the politicos picked up on it there after.

Don't forget that Chicago also has other names for their streets.  One of them is "parkway", known for their street parking restrictions.

All the highways that came after carried the name.
Parkways are also known for ending at Parks such as Diversey, Fullerton, and State. They all use the Parkway term when they get near Lincoln Park.

Most of the streets that use the term Boulevard are all part of the Chicago Park District Boulevard System. So the streets that connect all the major parks like Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Humboldt Park, Garfield Park, Douglas Park, etc. You get the idea

hobsini2

Quote from: Brandon on December 27, 2017, 01:11:32 PM
Quote from: kphoger on December 27, 2017, 12:59:11 PM
Does it have anything to do with the fact that the name wasn't applied until 1996?

More than likely.  It was (and still is to some folks) the Calumet Expressway.
It will ALWAYS be the Calumet Expy for me. If you were going to name something after Bishop Ford, it should have been I-57 between the Ryan and I-80.
I knew it. I'm surrounded by assholes. Keep firing, assholes! - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.