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What’s in a name?

Started by roadman65, November 22, 2021, 12:51:47 PM

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roadman65

Well depending on what state or region you are from terms can vary. Not in dictionary talk though, but in common verbiage.

Example in New York a freeway is coined an expressway, but in Jefferson City, MO the Expressway is an arterial with limited access. Hence the Long Island Expressway in the former and Whitton Expressway in the latter. Both are expressways in name but in nature they are different types a roadways. 

Then Route verses Highway. Some states like NJ and NY called numbered routes as routes while Florida will call the same as highways. Route 46 in NJ or Route 17 in NY while it's Highway 46 and Highway 17 in the Sunshine State. Yet US 1 in both NJ/ NY is called Route 1 in those states, but unlike other US Highways in Florida which are called "Highway X"  it is called US 1 here. No Floridian ever says Highway One for this particular route.

Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe


hotdogPi

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.

JayhawkCO


SkyPesos

For US highways, it seems like that "Route 66" is the only one frequently called with the "route" prefix, and the others either use "US" or "highway" in front of it, or even no prefix.

tigerwings

No route or Highway in Michigan, State routes are M-wherever.

Max Rockatansky

SoCal slang generally is "The insert route number"  regardless the classification of highway.

Big John

Another Wisconsin-Illinois rivalry as WI uses "highway" and IL uses "route".

US20IL64

Yeah, in No. IL, some use 'Route' for State highways, "Rt. 53/83". But mostly folks just say #'s:
90, 55, 94, 294, 41, 20, 30, 34, 120 ...  :cool:

Closer to city/inner burbs, street names used. Nobody calls Lake Shore Dr. "the 41", ;-)

Also, said a few times, 'freeway' here means So. CA vacation routes,   :)


roadman65

Many states the word freeway is used internally but not in common talk.

Funny how from Missouri to IL, which border each other, the same descriptor is used for two different types of roadways. The Whitton Expressway in Jefferson City and the Stevenson Expressway in Chicagoland for example. One a limited access arterial and the other fully controlled access yet both are expressways.
Every day is a winding road, you just got to get used to it.

Sheryl Crowe

Roadgeekteen

US Highways and state highways are "route". Freeways are "highways" and sometimes "expressways".
God-emperor of Alanland, king of all the goats and goat-like creatures

Current Interstate map I am making:

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit?hl=en&mid=1PEDVyNb1skhnkPkgXi8JMaaudM2zI-Y&ll=29.05778059819179%2C-82.48856825&z=5

1995hoo

Out west, the word "highway" is sometimes combined with a route number as a proper noun–for example, "take Highway 29 south for two hours." I have a brother-in-law in Phoenix whose wife uses that style and it threw me off briefly when she was riding with us here and she said something about "Highway 7" when we were on I-395–it took me a second to realize what she meant because Virginia Route 7 in that area is an arterial (with that portion of said route ordinarily referred to as King Street), and in this part of the country "highway" is a generic term used more to refer to Interstates or similar (example from when I was in law school: "751 was blocked by an accident, so I had to take the highway," with "the highway" meaning US-15/501).
"You know, you never have a guaranteed spot until you have a spot guaranteed."
—Olaf Kolzig, as quoted in the Washington Times on March 28, 2003,
commenting on the Capitals clinching a playoff spot.

"That sounded stupid, didn't it?"
—Kolzig, to the same reporter a few seconds later.

bwana39

In Texas ROUTE is never used. We laugh about it pronounced ROOT.

Interstates are almost always called "Interstate X", just "X", or by the local freeway name inside the cities. (Such as LBJ Freeway for IH-635 and the part of I-20 that used to be 635.).

US Highways and State Highways generally are called "Highway X" or Just "X". Of course there are local freeway names (EX US-175 is Hawn Freeway in Dallas. SH-183 is the Airport Freeway in Irving). Except when they are freeways, they are more often referred to by their street names within towns and cities.

Farm to Market Roads are generally called "Farm to Market X", "Farm Road X", or "FM-X" In a couple of cases there are local freeway names attached. (emmett f lowry expressway on FM-1764 in Texas City). In my corner of NE Texas it is generally said FarmMarket -X, leaving out the "to". Sometimes the JUST "X" is used for FM roads.  Generally the street name prevails within a city of town.

Highway is generally anything maintained by the state less than a freeway ; even some rural FM roads. Highways are usually rural.
Freeway is anything controlled access. It may or may not include the tollways.
Street is generally every paved street in a city that is not freeway or tollway.
Turnpike is the universal name for free standing tollways (as opposed to tolled lanes of existing freeways.)

Frontage roads: IN north Texas they are called frontage roads or service roads.  In Houston, they are called feeder roads.


Let's build what we need as economically as possible.

Ketchup99

In Pennsylvania, it's never "Highway XX," and indeed, "highway" is only really ever used to talk about "big roads" - any freeway, or a divided road with a high speed limit. Typically, we refer to "Route XX" or just "XX" (for instance, "Harrisburg's down 322, while Huntingdon is down Route 26". For interstates, when we give it any prefix (which is rare), it's usually "I-XX" and not "Interstate XX." I'm much more likely to call something "99" than "I-99" or "Interstate 99," and in the same vein, likelier to say "22" than "Route 22" or "US 22".

NWI_Irish96

In Indiana, state highways are commonly referred to as State Road XX, or SR XX. Very few roads are known by their name over their number. The Lloyd Expwy in Evansville and the Indiana Toll Road are the most common ones.

In northern Lake County, you tend to hear Calumet Ave, Indianapolis Blvd, Broadway, and Cline Ave referred to by name more than route number, but by the time you get south of Ridge Rd you're more likely to hear route numbers.
Indiana: counties 100%, highways 100%
Illinois: counties 100%, highways 61%
Michigan: counties 100%, highways 56%
Wisconsin: counties 86%, highways 23%

Bruce

In the Seattle area, it varies but "Highway XX" is more common than "Route [rout] XX". They are also abbreviated to SR on signs and in some news reports.

U.S. Routes are commonly called "Highway XX" and "US XX", presumably to reduce confusion with the state routes.

Scott5114

This actually led to a massive fight on Wikipedia in the mid-2000s, where people were renaming hundreds of pages to match what they thought the state highway names should be. It got contentious enough it ended up going all the way to Wiki Supreme Court.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

skluth

I think it far more interesting that some people pronounce route like root while others pronounce it like rout.

Big John

^^ I always heard Route 66 as "root" and all other routes as "rout".

US 89

Quote from: 1995hoo on November 27, 2021, 11:05:23 AM
Out west, the word "highway" is sometimes combined with a route number as a proper noun–for example, "take Highway 29 south for two hours." I have a brother-in-law in Phoenix whose wife uses that style and it threw me off briefly when she was riding with us here and she said something about "Highway 7" when we were on I-395–it took me a second to realize what she meant because Virginia Route 7 in that area is an arterial (with that portion of said route ordinarily referred to as King Street), and in this part of the country "highway" is a generic term used more to refer to Interstates or similar (example from when I was in law school: "751 was blocked by an accident, so I had to take the highway," with "the highway" meaning US-15/501).

See, that kind of thing fascinates me. I'm originally from Utah where that usage is very much standard, even though the state-maintained roads there are in fact legally "state routes". In fact, it's so standard it is usually what shows up on street signs. Where I grew up north of Salt Lake, the main pre-interstate highway is usually signed as Highway 89, and in conversation you'll either hear that or just "US 89". Likewise, the famous scenic highway in southern Utah is "Highway 12", "SR 12", or maybe "State Route 12" or "State Road 12". I have never heard "Route 89" or "Route 12".

It wouldn't even occur to me that this usage might confuse people from "route" parts of the country.

Dirt Roads

Quote from: skluth on November 29, 2021, 07:38:48 PM
I think it far more interesting that some people pronounce route like root while others pronounce it like rout.

Even better, where I'm from in West Virginia, we say it both ways.  Its a "root" when you are describing how to travel, and its a "rout" when tacked on to a number.  "You want to take this back 'root' to go over to Huntington, and once you hit 'rout' 10 you'll head on up to the Interstate".

Rothman

Quote from: US 89 on November 29, 2021, 08:38:42 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on November 27, 2021, 11:05:23 AM
Out west, the word "highway" is sometimes combined with a route number as a proper noun–for example, "take Highway 29 south for two hours." I have a brother-in-law in Phoenix whose wife uses that style and it threw me off briefly when she was riding with us here and she said something about "Highway 7" when we were on I-395–it took me a second to realize what she meant because Virginia Route 7 in that area is an arterial (with that portion of said route ordinarily referred to as King Street), and in this part of the country "highway" is a generic term used more to refer to Interstates or similar (example from when I was in law school: "751 was blocked by an accident, so I had to take the highway," with "the highway" meaning US-15/501).

See, that kind of thing fascinates me. I'm originally from Utah where that usage is very much standard, even though the state-maintained roads there are in fact legally "state routes". In fact, it's so standard it is usually what shows up on street signs. Where I grew up north of Salt Lake, the main pre-interstate highway is usually signed as Highway 89, and in conversation you'll either hear that or just "US 89". Likewise, the famous scenic highway in southern Utah is "Highway 12", "SR 12", or maybe "State Route 12" or "State Road 12". I have never heard "Route 89" or "Route 12".

It wouldn't even occur to me that this usage might confuse people from "route" parts of the country.
Heh.  Just the other day my father referred to "89/91" as the main road through American Fork.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

7/8

Quote from: US 89 on November 29, 2021, 08:38:42 PM
Quote from: 1995hoo on November 27, 2021, 11:05:23 AM
Out west, the word "highway" is sometimes combined with a route number as a proper noun–for example, "take Highway 29 south for two hours." I have a brother-in-law in Phoenix whose wife uses that style and it threw me off briefly when she was riding with us here and she said something about "Highway 7" when we were on I-395–it took me a second to realize what she meant because Virginia Route 7 in that area is an arterial (with that portion of said route ordinarily referred to as King Street), and in this part of the country "highway" is a generic term used more to refer to Interstates or similar (example from when I was in law school: "751 was blocked by an accident, so I had to take the highway," with "the highway" meaning US-15/501).

See, that kind of thing fascinates me. I'm originally from Utah where that usage is very much standard, even though the state-maintained roads there are in fact legally "state routes". In fact, it's so standard it is usually what shows up on street signs. Where I grew up north of Salt Lake, the main pre-interstate highway is usually signed as Highway 89, and in conversation you'll either hear that or just "US 89". Likewise, the famous scenic highway in southern Utah is "Highway 12", "SR 12", or maybe "State Route 12" or "State Road 12". I have never heard "Route 89" or "Route 12".

It wouldn't even occur to me that this usage might confuse people from "route" parts of the country.

Yeah, this basically applies to Ontario too. People say "highway" not "route" (which would be pronounced "root"). Here's an example of a sign for Highway 27.


The exception are the 400-series highways, which are "The __" (ex: the four-oh-one).

7/8

Quote from: skluth on November 29, 2021, 07:38:48 PM
I think it far more interesting that some people pronounce route like root while others pronounce it like rout.

I found this map showing it's distribution in the US. I had no idea "rout" is so common!

Image source article: https://www.languagesoftheworld.info/geolinguistics/new-maps-american-english-dialects-novel.html

wanderer2575

In Michigan, one does not pay tolls at the Mackinac Bridge and Canada border crossings.  One pays fares.



hotdogPi

Quote from: 7/8 on November 29, 2021, 10:24:59 PM
Quote from: skluth on November 29, 2021, 07:38:48 PM
I think it far more interesting that some people pronounce route like root while others pronounce it like rout.

I found this map showing it's distribution in the US. I had no idea "rout" is so common!

Image source article: https://www.languagesoftheworld.info/geolinguistics/new-maps-american-english-dialects-novel.html

Red/yellow/green/blue is not the way to do it. With four options that must add up to 100%, you have three degrees of freedom. One way to do it is with the computer's RGB system for three options and no color for the fourth option that still gets totaled into percentages; this uses a lot more of the color space and tells you how much of each option, not just the leading option.
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.



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