How do locals differentiate multiple segments of the same highway route?

[Ned Weasel]

Or do they even bother?  I'm mostly talking about places where a US or state highway has two or more segments on either side of a concurrency with an Interstate or another major route.

Here are a couple of examples from my home metropolitan area, the Kansas City area.  US 56 and US 69.  For background, for whatever reason, most highways in this area that aren't Interstate or Kansas state highways are referred to as "X Highway," except when they're referred to by name instead, which sometimes happens and sometimes doesn't.  Kansas state highways are usually referred to as "K-X," but Missouri state highways are usually referred to as "X Highway" (I guess nobody around here wants to step on Michigan's toes).

Anyway, in this area, it's common to hear traffic reports, and even sometimes see the variable message signs, refer to US 56 and US 69 as "56 Highway" and "69 Highway."  Well, okay, that's fine, there aren't other highways numbered 56 and 69 in the area, so what's the problem?  The problem is: how is anyone supposed to know which segment is being referred to?  US 56 enters the metropolitan area on the southwest side as a standalone route, becomes part of 175th Street in Gardner, overlaps with I-35 for several miles, and then becomes part of Shawnee Mission Parkway and heads toward the Country Plaza District in KCMO.  So, if someone hears a traffic report refer to "56 Highway," it's pretty safe to assume they're not referring to the I-35 portion, but how is that person supposed to know whether it's the 175th Street/western portion, or the Shawnee Mission Parkway/Country Club Plaza district portion?

And then of course, there's US 69.  When people refer to "69 Highway" in Johnson County, KS, they usually mean the US 69 freeway, which also has a name by the way, and is signed from southbound I-35 and some local roads with its road name (Overland Parkway).  But when someone says "69 Highway, how is anyone supposed to know they're not talking about the Metcalf Avenue portion (an expressway), or the 18th Street Expressway portion (a freeway) in Wyandotte County?

Here's a Street View capture that demonstrates this goofiness:  https://goo.gl/maps/Wxm9H7QWqSExF9UP8

This is along southbound I-35, before three separate exits for US 69.  How is someone supposed to know which is seven minutes away?  At least they clarify US 56 by mentioning 175th Street, so as to differentiate it from the Shawnee Mission Parkway portion, but often, traffic reports do not differentiate the two non-I-35 segments of US 56 in Johnson County; they just say "56 Highway."  It's really quite maddening.

[Max Rockatansky]

A lot of people don't think CA 1 multiplexes US 101.  I've always attributed that to the multiplex largely being silent south of Gaviota Pass.  However, north of Gaviota Pass the multiplexes are often well signed.  US 101 almost always is what is referenced instead of say "US 101/CA 1 over the Golden Gate Bridge."  

[Brandon]

Around Chicago it's primarily done by name.

[Max Rockatansky]

Just caught myself referring to US 101 only when CA 1 was also present (hence the weird edit at the end):

https://www.facebook.com/72868503020/posts/10158053913828021/?d=n

[SkyPesos]

I-64 in MO simply doesn't exist for some locals in St Louis; it's referred as "Highway 40"  or US 40" .

[Big John]

Us 19/GA 400 north of I-285 perimeter is just referred as route 400

[thspfc]

In the Minocqua/Woodruff area, US-51 and WI-70 are concurrent along the main road through the two communities. The part of WI-70 in Minocqua west of US-51 is referred to as "Highway 70 West" , while the part east of US-51 is "Highway 70 East" . This is used by businesses on billboards and commercials around Vilas and Oneida counties.

[Ned Weasel]

In the Minocqua/Woodruff area, US-51 and WI-70 are concurrent along the main road through the two communities. The part of WI-70 in Minocqua west of US-51 is referred to as "Highway 70 West" , while the part east of US-51 is "Highway 70 East" . This is used by businesses on billboards and commercials around Vilas and Oneida counties.

Well, that actually makes sense.

[Flint1979]

Detroit's freeways have historically been called by their name rather than their route number.

I-75 north of downtown is the Chrysler Freeway along with the entire stretch of I-375. South of downtown it's the Fisher Freeway.

I-94 is the Detroit Industrial Freeway and the Edsel Ford Freeway. It's commonly just called the Ford for the entire stretch through Wayne and Macomb counties.

I-96 is known as the Jeffries Freeway and as of 2005 the Rosa Parks Memorial Highway, it's almost always called the Jeffries though.

I-696 is the Ruether Freeway and is commonly just called the Ruether. Honestly though I've heard people just call it 696 just as much as the Ruether.

M-10 is the Lodge Freeway in Wayne County which is entirely within the city of Detroit. It's called Northwestern Highway in Oakland County. Usually people refer to it as the Lodge all the way out to the Mixing Bowl.

M-39 is the Southfield. This is also the name of the road that it runs on both north and south of M-39's terminus. It's almost always called the Southfield.

M-8 is the Davison Freeway and is always called the Davison and never M-8.

I-275 is the only one without a given name.

[TheStranger]

In the Bay Area:

US 101 is referred to by name for Bayshore Freeway and Central Freeway.  (Bayshore Freeway signs used to exist in SF, the last one being covered up with a "Junction US 101" sign on I-280 north near Alemany Boulevard about 3 years ago)

I-80 in the East Bay is still specifically noted as the Eastshore Freeway; no other section is commonly referred to by name in this area.  (in Sacramento it is referred to as the "North Beltline" for the segment that used to be I-880 through Natomas and Del Paso Heights)

280 east of US 101 in SF is noted as the "280 Extension" which actually has some historic merit as the original 280 route was to have gone up the 19th Avenue/Route 1 corridor pre-1968, then rerouted to subsume Route 82 (former US 101) along the Southern Freeway, and the north segment of the planned San Jose-Embarcadero portion of Route 87 that was not otherwise completed.


---

Los Angeles and the Southland in general have moved away from names (pre-1970s) to the well known "the xx" format, in part because of the issues of multiple names to a route (i.e. US 101 uses Santa Ana Freeway, Hollywood Freeway, Ventura Freeway, I-5 on the Golden State and Santa Ana and San Diego Freeways).  It does beg the question...when a route is split by a concurrency, do they ever get specific about 10 on the Santa Monica Freeway vs. 10 on the San Bernardino Freeway?

[ran4sh]

I agree that in a lot of places it's done by highway/route name. Especially on traffic reports on the radio, where they only have a limited time to list all the highways in a region. Which is one of the reasons I think names should be permitted on BGSes, but not given prominence. Chicago seems to do this right, by having the expressway name in a smaller font next to the route shields.

[SkyPesos]

Kind of wondering, do locals in Pittsburgh call their freeways as "Parkway West", "Parkway East", "Parkway North", or with numbers like I-376 and I-279?

[TheHighwayMan3561]

The Twin Cities have two unofficially named freeways: MN 62/Crosstown and US 52/Lafayette Freeway.

For Crosstown, that designation refers to the Hennepin County section between I-494 in Eden Prairie and Hiawatha Avenue; the extension of MN 62 over former MN 110 will likely just be "Highway 62" when 110 falls out of the vernacular.

As for 52, the Lafayette Freeway runs from I-94 in downtown St. Paul past I-494 into the south metro; it's a little harder to pin down where exactly the Lafayette nickname ends in the south metro and Highway 52 picks up; it could be either MN 55 junction (especially the big north split), or in the middle at Courthouse Blvd. You'll hear Highway 52 and Lafayette Freeway used interchangeably more often than Highway 62 and Crosstown.

I-94: The duplex with I-694 is dual "94/694". The N/S section between 694 and the tunnel is "94 North/South" in traffic reports.

US 10/61 from St. Paul to Hastings is often just "Highway 61", so "Highway 10" usually indicates north metro.

[Roadgeekteen]

"I-95" is only north of Peabody and south of Canton. 128 is the part in the middle.

[Flint1979]

A lot of the state highways are called by their street names rather than their highway number. Like M-54 is pretty well known as Dort Highway, the north end includes some other roads but for the most part it's called Dort Highway.

M-58 in Saginaw is called State Street along with Davenport Avenue on it's one-way stretch.

M-46 in western Saginaw County and the west side of Saginaw is known as Gratiot. It goes through a stretch of one way streets before crossing the Saginaw River on the Rust Street Bridge. In eastern Saginaw County it's known as Holland Road.

M-13 is Washington. M-84 is Bay Road. M-47 is Midland Road.

Outside of the Detroit area I-75 and the other interstates don't have a common name they just go by their numbers.

[Scott5114]

In Norman, SH-9 is called by how it's signed from I-35: the portion of the route in Cleveland County (east of I-35) is Highway 9 East and the portion in McClain County (west of I-35) is Highway 9 West. Of course, you can go east on Highway 9 West and west on Highway 9 East, but that doesn't really seem to bother anybody.

[GaryV]

Detroit's freeways have historically been called by their name rather than their route number.
...
I-275 is the only one without a given name.

And the portion of I-275 concurrent with I-96 is almost always referred to only as I-275.

The names vs numbers for the Detroit area freeways is tending more toward numbers now.  Exceptions being the Lodge and the Davison - they are almost always referred to by name.  As you noted, the Reuther is usually referred to as I-696.  The other freeways sometimes get called by name, but it seems to be tending more toward numbers.  Perhaps much of that is due to Google Maps and other products, which will commonly call a highway by number, not name.  Unless it's a surface street, and they might call it both.

Back to the OP, when there is a traffic report for any given highway, isn't there usually some other context?  Like "Highway 69 between X and Y".  So if you know where X and Y are, you know what segment of the highway is being discussed.

[jeffandnicole]

In my area, US 130 is probably the most relevant to this situation. It's generally clear what area they're talking about as they mention the county, the cross road, or the landmark at or near the incident.

[roadman65]

In Orlando only Four oh Eight is called out by number as well as I-4 but the other toll roads and freeways are by name including 417 which has three distinct names, but traffic reporters call all of State Road 417 The Greeneway when only part of that road is that. The Seminole County stretch is really the Seminole Expressway and south of I Drive to its terminus at Celebration is the Southern Connector.

[Duke87]

For I-287 (the most significant local example), it's usually just "287" regardless of which section, with "287 in New Jersey" or "287 in Westchester County" specified only if this cannot be readily discerned from context.

The fact that people are very used to using major water crossings as navigational waypoints also often helps with context, since if someone talks about traveling between the two sections, or from the eastern section to anywhere in Rockland County, they are likely to mention crossing the Tappan Zee.

[bing101]

In Sacramento the Western half of Capital City Freeway is named as US-50/I-305 but the western half is also known as WX Freeway.
Eastern Half of Cap City Freeway is called CA-51/Business 80. Note this is sometimes called Elvas Freeway CA-51.

[Avalanchez71]

In the Nashville area the interstates are all called out by number.  The state highways are all called out by name unless they lack one.  There is an interchange of naming conventions for US highways. 

So TN 155 is Briley Pkwy.
SR 396 is Saturn Pkwy
SR 397 is Mac Hatcher Pkwy
SR 386 is Vietnam Veterans Blvd

US 31A and US 41A are called 31/41 until you get closer to Nashville.  Once in Nashville they are just called by street name, Nolensville Pike(usually called Road).

[kenarmy]

The US route is never mentioned while it is concurrent with interstates in MS. My dad insists that there is a "49 North" and a "49 South" that aren't connected  .
- "Highway 6" is used instead of US 278 while concurrent with MS 6.
- "Highway 80" is the most used while it is concurrent with US 11, but both are acceptable.
- There's a few people who still call I-110 "Highway 15". (Side note, google maps still shows MS 15 on the interstate even though it was truncated)
- A lot of people still think US 98 goes to Natchez with US 84. I heard a meteorologist say "... where US 98 and US 84 split" yesterday. A ton of maps also show this, and sometimes 98 is the primary route west of Bude.

[Mr_Northside]

Kind of wondering, do locals in Pittsburgh call their freeways as "Parkway West", "Parkway East", "Parkway North", or with numbers like I-376 and I-279?

In my opinion:
The Parkways are more often referred to by name, as opposed to their numbers (though hearing the numbers isn't uncommon at all)
PA-28 is just "28" as opposed to Allegheny Valley Expressway
I'd say I feel like PA-65/Ohio River Blvd is pretty evenly split - Sometimes you'll hear "Ohio River Blvd", and sometimes just "65"/"Route 65".
And the Turnpike (talking mainline) is overwhelmingly just called "The Turnpike" as opposed to I-76.

[CoreySamson]

All Houston interstates are referred to by name:

I-10 west of downtown: Katy Freeway
I-10 east of downtown: East Freeway or Baytown East Freeway
I-45 south of downtown: Gulf Freeway
I-45 north of downtown: North Freeway
I-69 south of downtown: Southwest Freeway
I-69 north of downtown: Eastex Freeway

The "xx direction Loop" always refers to 610 and not to Beltway 8 or the Grand Parkway. Those are usually called out by name and not "loop".

The toll roads are referred to by name (Fort Bend Tollway, Westpark Tollway, Hardy Toll Road).

However, state and US highways (other than US 59 and the Grand Parkway) are referred to by number.