AARoads Forum

I lived in NJ for half of my life as I am 50 now and moved to Florida when I was 25.  I noticed big changes down here from up there.  Some I had to adjust to in my reference of some roads here.  For example I had to learn to say "I-4" rather than "Route 4" and use the term "highway" to identify US, State, and County designations as well.

In New Jersey all designations whether Interstate, US, State, and county are all called "Route x" regardless.  I believe PA and NY followed the same calling I-80 as "Route 80" or I-81 as "Route 81" rather than I-80 or I-81 as well.

In Florida we say I-4, I-10, I-75, and I-95 for the four major interstates.  Then US 1 exclusively as no one ever says Highway One or just plain ole One as even US 17 will be called either "US 17" or "Highway 17" and the same for State Road 50 having both "State Road 50" or "Highway 50" and so on.

What does your area you live in call its route numbers?  I am curious to know who says Route, who says Highway, or who uses letter prefixes.

My area uses just numbers, with nothing preceding the numbers. Sometimes names are used instead.

"Take 495 to 114"

(This is in Massachusetts. 495 is an Interstate and 114 is a state route that is always referred to by number.)

In Wisconsin most people call route numbers (or letters) highways, except interstates.  Interstates will be called I-43, for example.  State and US routes will just be called Highway 10, for example.  County roads vary a little bit.  Wisconsin has lettered county roads, and they may be called Highway D, or County D for example.  On freeway over or underpasses, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will put Hwy X for any type of numbered or lettered road.

Threads we've had in the past:

Highway number vs. local name (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=5047.0)

Highway or route...what do you say? (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=4054.0)

Route vs. Highway vs. Other (https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=11466.0) (this thread was last year)

About the only one I never hear anyone use is "Highway xx." Otherwise, I hear a mishmash–either just a number, "Route xx," or "I-xx." I don't hear many people distinguishing between types of routes except for Interstates. (Even with Interstates, hearing "I-66" is about equally common as just "66.")

I live in the area with the very well known practice of putting "The" in front of highway numbers.

The 405, The 5, The 10.

Sometimes I do hear people add freeway to the end.  For example "take the 10 freeway east". 

For interstates, usually "I-" and the number.  For other routes, either just the number or "route" and the number.

Washington uses "I" for interstate, "state route" for some urban state routes and "highway" for US highways or some state routes.  Sometimes people just say the number.  I.e., I-405, highway 2, state route 520, 20.


iPhone

Quote from: peterj920 on June 01, 2015, 05:24:10 AM
In Wisconsin most people call route numbers (or letters) highways, except interstates.  Interstates will be called I-43, for example.  State and US routes will just be called Highway 10, for example.  County roads vary a little bit.  Wisconsin has lettered county roads, and they may be called Highway D, or County D for example.  On freeway over or underpasses, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will put Hwy X for any type of numbered or lettered road.

I live in Kenosha, WI and I agree with this for my corner of Wisconsin, too. But I work in Lake County, IL which borders Wisconsin and I've noticed a difference down there.  Some highways are almost always referred to as routes (typically 60 and 22) while others are just referred to by number (176, 137, 173, 120, 21). No one ever calls 132 anything but Grand[Avenue].  US41 is never called anything but 41.  I-94 is usually called the tollway, or rarely called the Tri-state, and sometimes incorrectly called 294 (this is a common error by southern Lake County/Cook County residents). The word "highway" is almost never used when referring to a specific road which is the opposite of what people do just across the Wisconsin border.

Quote from: roadman65 on June 01, 2015, 03:50:13 AM
I lived in NJ for half of my life as I am 50 now and moved to Florida when I was 25.  I noticed big changes down here from up there.  Some I had to adjust to in my reference of some roads here.  For example I had to learn to say "I-4" rather than "Route 4" and use the term "highway" to identify US, State, and County designations as well.

In New Jersey all designations whether Interstate, US, State, and county are all called "Route x" regardless.  I believe PA and NY followed the same calling I-80 as "Route 80" or I-81 as "Route 81" rather than I-80 or I-81 as well.

In Florida we say I-4, I-10, I-75, and I-95 for the four major interstates.  Then US 1 exclusively as no one ever says Highway One or just plain ole One as even US 17 will be called either "US 17" or "Highway 17" and the same for State Road 50 having both "State Road 50" or "Highway 50" and so on.

What does your area you live in call its route numbers?  I am curious to know who says Route, who says Highway, or who uses letter prefixes.

I may have mentioned it in one of the other threads, but NJ doesn't duplicate route numbers (except county routes, but no-one uses those numbers anyway) which makes the "everything's a route" thing much less ambiguous.

Although just a few days ago I heard a Philly area reporter say "295 is jammed from 95 to the Delaware Memorial Bridge". No direction. This gave me pause for a second. The entire 65+ miles of the roadway jammed? Then I realized they probably meant in Delaware. Also NJ 511 has been known to report jams on 30 between 130 and 130 (they name the intersections, but for someone like me who takes US-30 only rarely, this is really confusing).

Growing up in northern Ohio, we called our state and US highways "Route X" (with 'route' rhyming with 'out'). Often times, "Route" would be dropped and you'd just hear the number.

As far as interstates go, I grew up near I-80/90.  Everyone just called it "The Turnpike."

Here its "Highway" for both NC and US routes and I for Interstates. We even have a restaurant chain named HWY 55 (usta' be Andy's).

Here, it's either Highway xx for a conventional road, I-xx for an Interstate, or just the number for either. For example, a routing from Newcastle, OK to Norman, OK: "Get on 62 and take it down to Highway 9, then take Highway 9 east to I-35, and take that across the river." (Highway 9 is never not "Highway 9".)

Quote from: Mrt90 on June 01, 2015, 02:30:56 PM

Quote from: peterj920 on June 01, 2015, 05:24:10 AM
In Wisconsin most people call route numbers (or letters) highways, except interstates.  Interstates will be called I-43, for example.  State and US routes will just be called Highway 10, for example.  County roads vary a little bit.  Wisconsin has lettered county roads, and they may be called Highway D, or County D for example.  On freeway over or underpasses, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will put Hwy X for any type of numbered or lettered road.

I live in Kenosha, WI and I agree with this for my corner of Wisconsin, too. But I work in Lake County, IL which borders Wisconsin and I've noticed a difference down there.  Some highways are almost always referred to as routes (typically 60 and 22) while others are just referred to by number (176, 137, 173, 120, 21). No one ever calls 132 anything but Grand[Avenue].  US41 is never called anything but 41.  I-94 is usually called the tollway, or rarely called the Tri-state, and sometimes incorrectly called 294 (this is a common error by southern Lake County/Cook County residents). The word "highway" is almost never used when referring to a specific road which is the opposite of what people do just across the Wisconsin border.

I have heard some Wisconsin county roads also referred to as X, County X or Trunk X along with Highway X. Sometimes it depends on which part of the state you are in. For example, in Green Lake County where my Grandmother lives, people most commonly refer to the road just as X. But in Oshkosh where my other Grandmother lives, people use Highway X most often.

Well, everyone here in Winnipeg calls Highways 100 / 101 "the perimeter" because it goes around the city. It's even said on BGS's. No one says "take highway 100 around to Oak Bluff".

As for regular highways, people here just say "59 highway" or "Route 75".

Interstates here in Alabama (at least Huntsville) are called "I-xxx" with "xxx" being the route number.
Everything else is just called "highway xxx".

It seems like in Western Colorado, everybody refers to I-70 as "Interstate 70". And US/State Routes as simply "Highway xxx". In the Denver Metro area they call interstates as "I-xxx"

However, BL-70 is referred to as either "I-70-B" or "The I-70 Business Loop" on the east side of Grand Junction.  West of town it's "Highway 6 & 50" as both US routes multiplex with BL-70. I just call it "The Loop".

New York depends. Western New York is "the" for everything with no other prefix before the route number. From what I've heard, on Long Island in the very rare occasion a number is used, it is just the number. In most other places, it's "I-" for Interstates and "route" for everything else. I do know a couple people from Central New York who call everything "highway xx", but I don't know how prevalent that is.

Quote from: roadman65 on June 01, 2015, 03:50:13 AM
I lived in NJ for half of my life as I am 50 now and moved to Florida when I was 25.  I noticed big changes down here from up there.  Some I had to adjust to in my reference of some roads here.  For example I had to learn to say "I-4" rather than "Route 4" and use the term "highway" to identify US, State, and County designations as well.

In New Jersey all designations whether Interstate, US, State, and county are all called "Route x" regardless.  I believe PA and NY followed the same calling I-80 as "Route 80" or I-81 as "Route 81" rather than I-80 or I-81 as well.

In Florida we say I-4, I-10, I-75, and I-95 for the four major interstates.  Then US 1 exclusively as no one ever says Highway One or just plain ole One as even US 17 will be called either "US 17" or "Highway 17" and the same for State Road 50 having both "State Road 50" or "Highway 50" and so on.

What does your area you live in call its route numbers?  I am curious to know who says Route, who says Highway, or who uses letter prefixes.

In Tampa, I rarely ever hear someone say the word highway. It is almost always the number of the road alone, unless it's I-4, where the "I" seems to always be included. U.S. 19 is US 19 or 19, but I never hear it called Highway 19. Also, I hear State Road 60, never Highway 60.

WV:

"Route" (rhymes with root) or "West Virginia" ( or "US") used for non-interstates, about evenly.

Intersates are "I", never "route". 

Appalachian Corridors interchangabably called either their US route number or by their project letter as "Corridor G" for example, despite the project letters only being signed on mileposts.    Locally "the corridor" is generally used when no differention is needed.  "Corridor" also used to mean "a 4 lane rural highway that is not an interstate" whether it is built with ADC money or not, as "US 35 is being upgraded to a corridor". 

The WV Turnpike is always simply "the turnpike", never "I-64/77" or anything else.

Bridges over the Kanawha at Dunbar and Winfield are always the "Dunbar Toll Bridge" and "Winfield Toll Bridge" (and always those towns and not those on the other side), despite not being tolled for over 40 years.  Bridge in Fairmont is the "High Level Bridge" even though the "Low Level Bridge" is long gone.

All three digit numbers are read as thus:  460 = four sixty; 522 = five twenty two, and so on.

County roads (which is just a name, maintained by the state) are always called by their name.  It would be "Sand Creek Road", not "County Route 55/2".  No one outside DOH even knows what the numbers are or cares.

Political names, whether they be of the Byrd Cult or otherwise, are universally ignored. 

In the Tulsa area, Interstates are typically referred to as "I-XX".

US highways are either referred to as "Highway XX" or just "XX".

State highways are typically referred to as "Highway XX", except State Highway 66 is still called "Route 66".

Exceptions are the turnpikes and the Broken Arrow Expressway, which are usually called by their names, rather than their route numbers, and the Sand Springs Expressway, which is typically still called by its original name, the Keystone Expressway, rather than its route numbers.

The downtown loop is called the Inner Dispersal Loop, not by the individual expressway names, nor the route numbers, and certainly not I-444.

Kindle Fire 2

Quote from: Mrt90 on June 01, 2015, 02:30:56 PM

Quote from: peterj920 on June 01, 2015, 05:24:10 AM
In Wisconsin most people call route numbers (or letters) highways, except interstates.  Interstates will be called I-43, for example.  State and US routes will just be called Highway 10, for example.  County roads vary a little bit.  Wisconsin has lettered county roads, and they may be called Highway D, or County D for example.  On freeway over or underpasses, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will put Hwy X for any type of numbered or lettered road.

I live in Kenosha, WI and I agree with this for my corner of Wisconsin, too. But I work in Lake County, IL which borders Wisconsin and I've noticed a difference down there.  Some highways are almost always referred to as routes (typically 60 and 22) while others are just referred to by number (176, 137, 173, 120, 21). No one ever calls 132 anything but Grand[Avenue].  US41 is never called anything but 41.  I-94 is usually called the tollway, or rarely called the Tri-state, and sometimes incorrectly called 294 (this is a common error by southern Lake County/Cook County residents). The word "highway" is almost never used when referring to a specific road which is the opposite of what people do just across the Wisconsin border.

Yes, I live in Lake County and every word of this comment is true.  And, what's even odder (to me) is that some people pronounce route as "root" while others pronounce it as "rout".  Hard to tell, but it seems about 50-50 in the Chicago area.  Go downstate and everyone pronounces it as "rout".   East and north (on the south side) of the Tri-State, expressway names are used (i.e. "the Ike" or "the Kennedy"), outside of that perimeter, the Interstate numbers are more commonly used. Signage reflects this as well. 

And, lets not forget that Indiana folks refer to their state highways as "state road xx". Chicago area traffic reports will use "route" for IL state highways and "state road" for those in IN.  And yet, it is indeed "highway" in Wisconsin and that rubs off on people here too, as in "off Highway 50 in Kenosha".   

El Paso is closer to Southern California than East Texas. And that bears out in how folks refer to roadways around here. A unique blend of "The", "Freeway", and "(Road name without Rd., St., Ave., etc)" are typical in local parlance when referring to major roadways or highways. Numbers are occasionally used on roads with an asterisk. For others, I've never heard a number used. Which drives me nuts.

• "The Freeway" = I-10*
• "The Loop"  = Loop 375*
• "The Spur" = Spur 601*
• "The Patriot Freeway" = US 54*
• "The Anthony Gap" = NM 404
• "Montana" = US 62/180
• "Artcraft" = Texas 178
• "Zaragoza" = F.M. 659
• "Doniphan" and "Alameda" = Texas 20
• "North Loop" = F.M. 76
• "Paisano" = US 85
• "MLK" = FM 3255
• "Dyer" = Business 54
• "Pershing" or "Copia" = Loop 478
• "Vinton Road" = "Spur 37

There are a couple of rare exceptions in which folks always use numbers:

• "Spur 1966", referring to a very short spur connecting Paisano to UT El Paso
• "Spur 16", new Canutillo Bypass
• "Highway 28", referring to the old road which runs to Mesilla, NM

A truly horrifying anomaly occurs on Farm-to-Market Road 259 in West El Paso County. As Texans know, it's not altogether uncommon to hear an F.M. referred to as Farm Road XXX. In this case, folks have taken to just calling it  simply "Farm Road." No number.

However, as the area urbanizes, TxDOT has installed a couple of street name shields on traffic light mast arms with the appropriate F.M. 259.

Quote from: kkt on June 01, 2015, 01:14:54 PM
For interstates, usually "I-" and the number.  For other routes, either just the number or "route" and the number.

Pretty much describes everything east of I-81 and north of DC.

I recall when I lived in the San Diego area in the 70s that "Highway" was generally used, Highway 5, Highway 8, Highway 94, Highway 395...
Don't know if that is still the case there.

For the Kansas City area:

Interstates around here get called "I-#", such as I-49 or I-635.

US highways (on both sides of the line) and MO state routes are usually called "# Highway", such as 7 Highway or 69 Highway.

Kansas state highways are called "K-#", such as K-10 or K-7.

Québec: "La (number)" or "The (number)", except in Montreal, where the highways are almost exclusively refered to by their names.
Ontario: "Highway (number)" for current and former King's Highways, and "County Road (number)" for other city and county roads.

Now when it comes to surface streets with names, my experience growing up in the Midwest and living as an adult in the Southeast has, for the most part pretty much mirrored each other. It seems that people have a tendency to refer to the streets both with and with out the suffix.

Growing up in Schaumburg IL, one would always refer to the main road by my house as Schaumburg Road. Yet, they would refer to IL-72 or IL-58 as Higgins or Golf, leaving the suffix "Road" out. You also had Roselle Road, Plum Grove Road, yet one would just say Meachem, again leaving the suffix out.

It's the same thing here in New Bern NC. The main road in front of the high school is Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. We just call it MLK. Dunkin' Donuts is at the corner of Neuse and Simmons, not Neuse Blvd and Simmons St. But, we always refer to that road on the north side of town as Oaks Rd, never leaving out the suffix "Road".

Stranger yet- when we give some one directions to the court house we always say it is at the corner of Craven and Broad. Yet if we were to describe the bumpy ride across the bricks in front of the courthouse, we would say "Be careful driving up Craven Street in front of the courthouse, those bricks are murder on your car." Or it would be "The morons that decided it would be a good idea to remove 2 lanes down Broad Street so they could have a grass and concrete median because it looks nice should be shot."

Quote from: cl94 on June 02, 2015, 10:14:17 PM
From what I've heard, on Long Island in the very rare occasion a number is used, it is just the number.

It depends on what part of Long Island.  In Nassau County, people talk about Jericho Turnpike, Northern Boulevard, and Sunrise Highway, not NY 25, NY 25A, and NY 27.  A lot of people don't even know what the numbers are.  The two exceptions to this are NY 106 and NY 107, which are known by their numbers, and most people don't know the names.  Suffolk County is a whole other story.  There, it's very common to talk about, for example, 25A, and if you say Northern Boulevard, people will know you're not from Suffolk.

Quote from: dgolub on June 10, 2015, 07:19:10 PM

Quote from: cl94 on June 02, 2015, 10:14:17 PM
From what I've heard, on Long Island in the very rare occasion a number is used, it is just the number.

It depends on what part of Long Island.  In Nassau County, people talk about Jericho Turnpike, Northern Boulevard, and Sunrise Highway, not NY 25, NY 25A, and NY 27.  A lot of people don't even know what the numbers are.  The two exceptions to this are NY 106 and NY 107, which are known by their numbers, and most people don't know the names.  Suffolk County is a whole other story.  There, it's very common to talk about, for example, 25A, and if you say Northern Boulevard, people will know you're not from Suffolk.

If you can't tell, my family is from Nassau, so that's where I got everything. I've never heard anyone refer to NY 27 as anything other than Sunrise Highway or Montauk Highway. Out past Ronkonkoma, though, I do agree completely. Does eastern NY 24 even have a name?

Quote from: slorydn1 on June 10, 2015, 05:45:52 PM
Now when it comes to surface streets with names, my experience growing up in the Midwest and living as an adult in the Southeast has, for the most part pretty much mirrored each other. It seems that people have a tendency to refer to the streets both with and with out the suffix.

Growing up in Schaumburg IL, one would always refer to the main road by my house as Schaumburg Road. Yet, they would refer to IL-72 or IL-58 as Higgins or Golf, leaving the suffix "Road" out. You also had Roselle Road, Plum Grove Road, yet one would just say Meachem, again leaving the suffix out.

It's the same thing here in New Bern NC. The main road in front of the high school is Martin Luther King Jr Blvd. We just call it MLK. Dunkin' Donuts is at the corner of Neuse and Simmons, not Neuse Blvd and Simmons St. But, we always refer to that road on the north side of town as Oaks Rd, never leaving out the suffix "Road".

Stranger yet- when we give some one directions to the court house we always say it is at the corner of Craven and Broad. Yet if we were to describe the bumpy ride across the bricks in front of the courthouse, we would say "Be careful driving up Craven Street in front of the courthouse, those bricks are murder on your car." Or it would be "The morons that decided it would be a good idea to remove 2 lanes down Broad Street so they could have a grass and concrete median because it looks nice should be shot."

In the case of Chicagoland, it depends largely on a couple things as to whether or not people use the various suffix. First, how unique is the name. For example, there is not mistaking IL 19 as Irving Park Rd. I myself often call Irving Park Rd as just Irving. Second, how common is the major road. For instance, there are several Main Sts in the West Suburbs. So usually I will refer to the as Main St Downers Grove, etc. And finally, is it named after a suburb. It makes it easier to not confuse it with the town.

For regular street names, I was really surprised when visiting Cleveland for the first time that the roads are *signed* without suffixes most of the time. Here in NJ and surrounding area that never happens (except those Broadways that don't have suffixes to begin with). I mean there are roads with same names differing only by suffix all over the place.

For state and US routes here in NJ that have names and are not freeways, there is significant variation even on the same routes. For example NJ-38 and NJ-70 are referred to by number and most people don't know their names, but NJ-41 is "Kings Highway", in the area where the two overlap. NJ-27 in New Brunswick changes names several times in close succession, and those names are used, while in Edison and Iselin, where it's "Lincoln Highway", it's almost always called "Route 27". US-30 is not called by number anywhere in NJ, but US-40 is before joining US-322 as the "Black Horse Pike". Of course rural areas are more likely to not give a name to a numbered route, so even a few county route numbers show up in common use there.

Quote from: jp the roadgeek on June 08, 2015, 01:01:46 AM

Quote from: kkt on June 01, 2015, 01:14:54 PM
For interstates, usually "I-" and the number.  For other routes, either just the number or "route" and the number.

Pretty much describes everything east of I-81 and north of DC.

Well, including DC. We might be south of the Mason-Dixon line, but we're mostly culturally northern with a few exceptions, especially with the older folks. I've seen older people say "Highway 50" where we younger Washingtonians wouldn't say highway, but "route" (or nothing at all). My school friends were confused when our soon-to-retire drivers ed instructor called Rockville Pike a "highway," when it's clearly not controlled-access.

Quote from: bzakharin on June 11, 2015, 01:44:01 PM
For regular street names, I was really surprised when visiting Cleveland for the first time that the roads are *signed* without suffixes most of the time.

The mostly non-suffixed street blades are also the norm in Toledo, and are/were in Youngstown and Akron -- must be a Northern Ohio big city thing.

Quote from: peterj920 on June 01, 2015, 05:24:10 AM
In Wisconsin most people call route numbers (or letters) highways, except interstates.  Interstates will be called I-43, for example.  State and US routes will just be called Highway 10, for example.  County roads vary a little bit.  Wisconsin has lettered county roads, and they may be called Highway D, or County D for example.  On freeway over or underpasses, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will put Hwy X for any type of numbered or lettered road.

look closely in Wisconsin - they use Hwy for Interstates in places too.

Quote from: thenetwork on June 11, 2015, 02:13:09 PM

Quote from: bzakharin on June 11, 2015, 01:44:01 PM
For regular street names, I was really surprised when visiting Cleveland for the first time that the roads are *signed* without suffixes most of the time.

The mostly non-suffixed street blades are also the norm in Toledo, and are/were in Youngstown and Akron -- must be a Northern Ohio big city thing.

It extends into Metro Detroit as well.

Quote from: cl94 on June 10, 2015, 07:37:50 PM

Quote from: dgolub on June 10, 2015, 07:19:10 PM

Quote from: cl94 on June 02, 2015, 10:14:17 PM
From what I've heard, on Long Island in the very rare occasion a number is used, it is just the number.

It depends on what part of Long Island.  In Nassau County, people talk about Jericho Turnpike, Northern Boulevard, and Sunrise Highway, not NY 25, NY 25A, and NY 27.  A lot of people don't even know what the numbers are.  The two exceptions to this are NY 106 and NY 107, which are known by their numbers, and most people don't know the names.  Suffolk County is a whole other story.  There, it's very common to talk about, for example, 25A, and if you say Northern Boulevard, people will know you're not from Suffolk.

If you can't tell, my family is from Nassau, so that's where I got everything. I've never heard anyone refer to NY 27 as anything other than Sunrise Highway or Montauk Highway. Out past Ronkonkoma, though, I do agree completely. Does eastern NY 24 even have a name?

Yes.  The NY 24/CR 94 multiplex is Nugent Drive.  The rest of NY 24 is Riverhead-Hampton Bays Road.

Quote from: freebrickproductions on June 02, 2015, 08:58:07 PM
Interstates here in Alabama (at least Huntsville) are called "I-xxx" with "xxx" being the route number.
Everything else is just called "highway xxx".

Except certain highways that are referred to (and in some cases signed), "XX-Highway".  The ones that come to mind most are "78 Highway" for US 78, "75 Highway" for AL-75, and "79 Highway" for AL-79.

Since WI was touched on - and simple - Here are the often used for California's metro areas:

California (depending on what latitude you're at, uses (the) # for the most part - most of the northern CA folk use that such as - 80, 280, 101, 12, etc.  Exceptions were the bay crossings - referred by their name (or a shorthand version - Bay Bridge)

Southern CA - especially LA metro - The 5, The 101, The 10, The 60, etc.  maybe you might here something like "the 5 freeway".  The freeways are named, right?  opposite of Alaska - use the #, not the name :D  One exception is CA 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) - as - what else... the PCH!!!

if Agentsteel were still around - he could remind me how they treat SD, I'm thinking they go along with LA - but I'm not going to assume that.

Sorry for the bump.

In New England - particularly Eastern MA into Southern NH - it's either "Route xx" or just the number. MA Route 28 and I-93 are both "Route 28" and "Route 93" or simply 28 and 93. We also have a thing for using older designations on some things - 128 is the overlord example of this, but Francis Sargent's cancellation of 95 through Boston is largely to blame.

Here in Nova Scotia......the 100 series Freeways are usually referred to as "The One Oh One" "The One Oh Two" etc...... and the 104, 105 & 106, collectively; "The Trans-Canada"

The original highways; #1, #2, #3 etc are Trunk 1, Trunk 2, Trunk 3 in NSTIR documents but the public usually says Highway 1 or Highway 2.  And the secondary roads....."Route 201" or "Route 345" etc (and that's "Root" )

In Newfoundland it's usually a names you hear: "The Trans-Canada" "The Trans-Labrador Highway" "The Viking Trail"  "The Burgeo Highway" or "The Stephenville Access" ect.

In New Brunswick .....they're "Roots" : Route 1, Route 2 (or The Trans-Canada), Route 935 etc.

Same in Prince Edward Island ....."The Trans Canada" (Route 1) or Route 2 .....the other main road across the island.

Quote from: ghYHZ on June 22, 2015, 07:03:37 PM
And the secondary roads....."Route 201" or "Route 345" etc (and that's "Root" )

Thank you for reminding me of a point I missed in my post: New England also uses the "root" pronunciation.

Here I think it's pronounced Rowte (like wow but with an r, this pronunciation attempt sucks I get it) instead of 'root', but I know I've heard both before. I interchange them, generally saying 'Root 1' or 'Rowte 95'. Half of the time I just say the number.

Quote from: Zeffy on June 24, 2015, 01:30:19 PM
Here I think it's pronounced Rowte (like wow but with an r, this pronunciation attempt sucks I get it) instead of 'root', but I know I've heard both before. I interchange them, generally saying 'Root 1' or 'Rowte 95'. Half of the time I just say the number.

I've only ever heard it pronounced "root" around here - "rout" is the verb's pronunciation.

In my area, the DFW region, most highways are labelled as "I" or "Highway."  I-35W is "I-35," while I-35E is more often "I-35E."  US 377 is "377" or "Highway 377."  SH 171 is "171" or "Highway 171."  FM 4 is "Highway 4" or less commonly "Farm Road 4" (the way it's written on the signs).  "Route" is an unknown word.  SL 12 is "Loop 12" and SS 408 is "Spur 408," which are both correct.  Business routes are generally "Business XX" or the city street name.  Park roads are generally referred to as "Park Road XX."  I've never heard a recreational road referred to in speech.

US 75 is usually "Central" but occasionally "I-75," and I-635 is usually "LBJ."  I-820 is usually "Loop 820" (I-20 between the two intersections with I-820 is also "Loop 820" [at one time it was part of I-820]).  Around Austin, SH 130 is sometimes "I-130" and sometimes very annoyingly "I-30" and SH 45 is sometimes "I-45" (this pair of severe misinterpretations turns Austin into Dallas).

What just dawned on me is that where I grew up in Massachusetts, yes, you heard "Root 9" and "Root 2" there was even a silly pride in pronouncing it that way.

However, I don't think "Root 91" was very common, but probably not unheard of.  My perception is that people called it just "91" more commonly and the Massachusetts Turnpike was just "the Pike." 

Thinking about it, and building on the above: in CT I'm accustomed to hearing interstates by just their number ("84", "91", "291", "384"), US and state highways as "roots" ("root 2", "root 6", "root 10") with the exception of 15 (known by name: "the Merritt", "the Wilbur Cross", "the Berlin Turnpike"/"the Turnpike")

And, while it's not in Connecticut, the MassPike is always "the MassPike".

In the San Francisco Bay Area


Highway is used before the route number


as in Highway 880 (Officially I-880)
Highway 680 (I-680)
Highway 280(I-280)
Highway 580 (I-580)
Highway 101 (US-101)
Highway 85 (CA-85)
Highway 237 (CA-237)

In northern Kentucky we have people refer to Interstates as I-xx (Example: I-75). And then anything not an interstate is just the number. So like for US 25 it would be 25 or State route 17 is just 17.

Quote from: bing101 on June 25, 2015, 10:59:21 AM
In the San Francisco Bay Area


Highway is used before the route number


as in Highway 880 (Officially I-880)
Highway 680 (I-680)
Highway 280(I-280)
Highway 580 (I-580)
Highway 101 (US-101)
Highway 85 (CA-85)
Highway 237 (CA-237

Pfft.  When I lived in San Francisco, "The 5" was ubiquitous.

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:09:15 PM
Pfft.  When I lived in San Francisco, "The 5" was ubiquitous.

Did you hang out with a bunch of SoCal transplants?

Quote from: freebrickproductions on June 02, 2015, 08:58:07 PM
Interstates here in Alabama (at least Huntsville) are called "I-xxx" with "xxx" being the route number.
Everything else is just called "highway xxx".

The practice is the same in Tennessee.  Well at least in Middle Tennessee.

Quote from: kkt on June 25, 2015, 01:24:09 PM

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:09:15 PM
Pfft.  When I lived in San Francisco, "The 5" was ubiquitous.

Did you hang out with a bunch of SoCal transplants?

Nah.  I think he was right about "Highway 880" or whatever, but I definitely heard "the 5" from long-time residents.

I know in Sacramento its I-80 and I-5 for interstates

Business 80 for CA-51, I-305 and West end of US 50.
Sometimes in Sacramento Biz 80 in mentioned for Business routes.

Highway 99, US-50 is the lingo for Sacramento Valley and I-505.

Quote from: kkt on June 25, 2015, 01:24:09 PM

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:09:15 PM
Pfft.  When I lived in San Francisco, "The 5" was ubiquitous.

Did you hang out with a bunch of SoCal transplants?

Ok I think you are referring to I-505 from Vacaville? Its probably the only time people from  SoCal people talk about that in the Los Angeles way. Like The 405, The 505 freeway. I knew people from Los Angeles who stopped by Solano county on their way to Sacramento and then visit the Bay area.  I don't know if I-205 in Tracy gets the same lingo as Highway 205 or The 205 freeway.

Denver: 

Interstates:  I-xx or I-xxx
US Routes:  Highway xx
State Routes:  Highway xx -- lone exception is Highway 470 which is either C-470 (freeway section) or E-470 (tolled section).

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:33:29 PM

Quote from: kkt on June 25, 2015, 01:24:09 PM

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:09:15 PM
Pfft.  When I lived in San Francisco, "The 5" was ubiquitous.

Did you hang out with a bunch of SoCal transplants?

Nah.  I think he was right about "Highway 880" or whatever, but I definitely heard "the 5" from long-time residents.

I can not think of an instance where I heard "the 5" from a Bay Area or Sacramento native or long-time resident.

Quote from: DTComposer on June 28, 2015, 02:15:28 AM

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:33:29 PM

Quote from: kkt on June 25, 2015, 01:24:09 PM

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:09:15 PM
Pfft.  When I lived in San Francisco, "The 5" was ubiquitous.

Did you hang out with a bunch of SoCal transplants?

Nah.  I think he was right about "Highway 880" or whatever, but I definitely heard "the 5" from long-time residents.

I can not think of an instance where I heard "the 5" from a Bay Area or Sacramento native or long-time resident.

No, definitely not.  Using "the 5" will out you as a SoCal native if you use it there.

Nevada - Very much emulates California, right down to the north/south divide...

Interstates: "I-80" or "80" in Reno, "the 15" in Vegas.

U.S. Routes: "US 395" or "395" in Reno, "the 95" in Vegas. Universally in rural areas (and often in news media and by people in the urban areas), it can be "Highway 50". 

State Routes: usually "State Route 306", or sometimes "Highway 306".


EDIT for an afterthought: "Highway X" is often used all over Nevada to refer to a portions of a route (especially US routes) that are not freeway.

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 06:53:24 AM
What just dawned on me is that where I grew up in Massachusetts, yes, you heard "Root 9" and "Root 2" there was even a silly pride in pronouncing it that way.

However, I don't think "Root 91" was very common, but probably not unheard of.  My perception is that people called it just "91" more commonly and the Massachusetts Turnpike was just "the Pike."

Yup. Still called the Mass Pike today, and even I tend to call it that outside of roadgeek stuff. "Root", yes, New England pride. :P

As for 93 here, "Root 93", for the most part, is uncommon, similar to 91, but as you said, not unheard of. "Root 3" is more common (referring to US 3 north of Boston, MA 3 south of the city, don't ask me why it changes), since it is a 1 digit number. For instance, on a phone call, you might hear "Getting on Root 3", and then 10 miles up/down the road, "I'm getting onto 495", or "I'm getting onto 128" (I'm probably the only one who uses 95, but I use 128 when distinguishing 95 between being on and off the Yankee Division Highway.)

Quote from: odditude on June 24, 2015, 11:42:48 PM
I've only ever heard it pronounced "root" around here - "rout" is the verb's pronunciation.

That's interesting, seeing as you're from the same general region I am ("central" New Jersey). When I worked at GameStop, they would always refer to the store in Bridgewater as "the one on 'rout' 22". It almost feels dependent on the number in question - for example, I always hear 'rout' 1, 'root' 31, 'rout' 202, 'root' 206, 'root' 22, etc.

Of course, the better way is to just drop the prefix and say the number.

Quote from: Zeffy on June 29, 2015, 10:56:01 AM

Quote from: odditude on June 24, 2015, 11:42:48 PM
I've only ever heard it pronounced "root" around here - "rout" is the verb's pronunciation.

That's interesting, seeing as you're from the same general region I am ("central" New Jersey). When I worked at GameStop, they would always refer to the store in Bridgewater as "the one on 'rout' 22". It almost feels dependent on the number in question - for example, I always hear 'rout' 1, 'root' 31, 'rout' 202, 'root' 206, 'root' 22, etc.

Of course, the better way is to just drop the prefix and say the number.

I've lived in many parts of NJ, but I think we've established that I have some misperceptions about what is said around me since I am both originally from Russia and have more than a passing interest in roads, but I personally always say "root" when it is followed by a number, but use both pronunciations elsewhere. At any rate, when talking about an interstate, I'll say "I-", but, for whatever reason, I cannot imagine anyone saying "Route 95". It just sounds wrong, but other interstates sound ok. Just saying the number is common too, including in my own speech. Less so when the route in question is a single syllable. I "go on route 9 to get to my bank", but "take 295 and 42 to work".

"Highway" is an infuriatingly vague term here, but is the *only* one understood when talking about a divided (sometimes even an undivided) highway in general (not with a specific number). "Freeway" and "Expressway" may be in names of various routes around here, but apparently mean nothing to most people by themselves (well "the freeway" is sometimes short for the 42 freeway, which is also oddly the only time you hear "the" before a number). Don't these people need a way to differentiate between a full freeway and a divided highway with traffic lights?

Quote from: Dr Frankenstein on June 10, 2015, 12:12:13 PM
Ontario: "Highway (number)" for current and former King's Highways, and "County Road (number)" for other city and county roads.

Ontario:
400-series and Hwy 115 "The ###"
Other Provincial Highways "Highway ##"
Former provincial highways with no local name (or at least not well known) "Highway ##"
County/Regional roads with no local name "Road ##"
Municipal roadways (including county/regional roads, and most former provincial highways) - route name (Elgin Rd, Essa Rd, Hurontario St, Dundas St, Markham Rd, etc)

Quote from: mrsman on June 28, 2015, 08:14:21 AM

Quote from: DTComposer on June 28, 2015, 02:15:28 AM

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:33:29 PM

Quote from: kkt on June 25, 2015, 01:24:09 PM

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:09:15 PM
Pfft.  When I lived in San Francisco, "The 5" was ubiquitous.

Did you hang out with a bunch of SoCal transplants?

Nah.  I think he was right about "Highway 880" or whatever, but I definitely heard "the 5" from long-time residents.

I can not think of an instance where I heard "the 5" from a Bay Area or Sacramento native or long-time resident.

No, definitely not.  Using "the 5" will out you as a SoCal native if you use it there.

I-505 seems to be the odd one where SoCal People looking for a direction to Bay Area , Sacramento and Lake Tahoe where they call it "the 505 freeway" based on how they call their freeways at home.  I never heard of anybody refer to I-205 in Tracy as "The 205 Freeway" as far as I know.

Quote from: bing101 on July 01, 2015, 11:12:26 AM
I-505 seems to be the odd one where SoCal People looking for a direction to Bay Area , Sacramento and Lake Tahoe where they call it "the 505 freeway" based on how they call their freeways at home.  I never heard of anybody refer to I-205 in Tracy as "The 205 Freeway" as far as I know.

I've personally never heard of anyone refer to I-505 as "The 505 Freeway".  Local media in the San Francisco Bay Area generally refer to the freeway as "Interstate 505" or just "505".

Quote from: cl94 on June 02, 2015, 10:14:17 PM
New York depends. Western New York is "the" for everything with no other prefix before the route number. From what I've heard, on Long Island in the very rare occasion a number is used, it is just the number. In most other places, it's "I-" for Interstates and "route" for everything else. I do know a couple people from Central New York who call everything "highway xx", but I don't know how prevalent that is.

In Central New York and the North Country I've mostly heard "Route XX" (root) regardless of what kind of highway it is.  "Route 481", "Route 11", "Route 81", "Route 13".

I've noticed in Montana people tend to just avoid using route numbers altogether- in the rare instances they are used, it's just the number or I-number (take 287 to I-90).

Generally, though, if somebody were going to, say, Glasgow from Helena, they'd say "I'm going through Great Falls and Havre" (I-15 to US 87 to US 2) or "I'm going through White Sulphur, Lewistown, and Jordan." (US 12 to US 191 to MT 200 to MT 24- realizing "Jordan" is just an approximation for where MT 24 is). Giving directions by highway number is useless- I was meeting some folks in Winnett last week, and we were discussing the best route to get back to Helena, and it was "go through Roundup" as opposed to "take 244 south to 87 south to 12 west."


I don't really know of anybody that uses the route numbers. Even if referring to a road in isolation, the road is identified by the two cities it connects.  Montana 16, for instance, would be "the road from Sidney to Glendive." If for some reason somebody were talking about the entire length of Montana 16, they'd say "16" but that's usually because in that context you're talking about the road itself and not travelling on the road. Secondaries nearly always have a name and are nearly always referred to by their name as opposed to their numeric designation.

I think it's because there aren't that many paved roads in most of Montana outside of major highways and city centers, so no real reason to distinguish between route numbers.

Quote from: myosh_tino on July 01, 2015, 02:45:27 PM

Quote from: bing101 on July 01, 2015, 11:12:26 AM
I-505 seems to be the odd one where SoCal People looking for a direction to Bay Area , Sacramento and Lake Tahoe where they call it "the 505 freeway" based on how they call their freeways at home.  I never heard of anybody refer to I-205 in Tracy as "The 205 Freeway" as far as I know.

I've personally never heard of anyone refer to I-505 as "The 505 Freeway".  Local media in the San Francisco Bay Area generally refer to the freeway as "Interstate 505" or just "505".

Yes Solano County residents and Sacramento Valley residents call interstate 505 as I-505. Bay area residents call it highway 505. You are correct.

Do they call I-10 in Florida "the 10?" or "the 10 freeway"? When I visited California, they refer to the freeways over there as just simply the route numbers, like "the 10", "the 101", "the 5", etc.

I-10 is called I-10, or maybe "the Interstate" in areas where there isn't any other nearby.

Quote from: mrsman on June 28, 2015, 08:14:21 AM

Quote from: DTComposer on June 28, 2015, 02:15:28 AM

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:33:29 PM

Quote from: kkt on June 25, 2015, 01:24:09 PM

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:09:15 PM
Pfft.  When I lived in San Francisco, "The 5" was ubiquitous.

Did you hang out with a bunch of SoCal transplants?

Nah.  I think he was right about "Highway 880" or whatever, but I definitely heard "the 5" from long-time residents.

I can not think of an instance where I heard "the 5" from a Bay Area or Sacramento native or long-time resident.

No, definitely not.  Using "the 5" will out you as a SoCal native if you use it there.

All I can say is that I lived in San Francisco (right in the Sunset District) for over a year and definitely heard "the 5" frequently.

Quote from: Rothman on July 06, 2015, 12:37:38 PM
All I can say is that I lived in San Francisco (right in the Sunset District) for over a year and definitely heard "the 5" frequently.

Which is interesting because "the 5" is a significant distance away from San Francisco... Enough so that I feel nobody living in/around San Francisco should really have any reason to refer to I-5 on a regular basis unless going to Sacramento or SoCal.

Quote from: roadfro on July 08, 2015, 10:41:48 PM

Quote from: Rothman on July 06, 2015, 12:37:38 PM
All I can say is that I lived in San Francisco (right in the Sunset District) for over a year and definitely heard "the 5" frequently.

Which is interesting because "the 5" is a significant distance away from San Francisco... Enough so that I feel nobody living in/around San Francisco should really have any reason to refer to I-5 on a regular basis unless going to Sacramento or SoCal.

There you have it.

Quote from: Rothman on July 09, 2015, 12:24:59 AM

Quote from: roadfro on July 08, 2015, 10:41:48 PM

Quote from: Rothman on July 06, 2015, 12:37:38 PM
All I can say is that I lived in San Francisco (right in the Sunset District) for over a year and definitely heard "the 5" frequently.

Which is interesting because "the 5" is a significant distance away from San Francisco... Enough so that I feel nobody living in/around San Francisco should really have any reason to refer to I-5 on a regular basis unless going to Sacramento or SoCal.

There you have it.

Right, so people would refer to "the 5" because it is the road to LA.  But you are much less likely to hear "the 280" or "the 80" in SF because the road does not go to LA.

Quote from: roadman65 on June 01, 2015, 03:50:13 AM
I lived in NJ for half of my life as I am 50 now and moved to Florida when I was 25.  I noticed big changes down here from up there.  Some I had to adjust to in my reference of some roads here.  For example I had to learn to say "I-4" rather than "Route 4" and use the term "highway" to identify US, State, and County designations as well.

In New Jersey all designations whether Interstate, US, State, and county are all called "Route x" regardless.  I believe PA and NY followed the same calling I-80 as "Route 80" or I-81 as "Route 81" rather than I-80 or I-81 as well.

In Florida we say I-4, I-10, I-75, and I-95 for the four major interstates.  Then US 1 exclusively as no one ever says Highway One or just plain ole One as even US 17 will be called either "US 17" or "Highway 17" and the same for State Road 50 having both "State Road 50" or "Highway 50" and so on.

What does your area you live in call its route numbers?  I am curious to know who says Route, who says Highway, or who uses letter prefixes.

Don't forget that us Floridians generally use "the" to refer to non-interstate freeways like "the 417".

Here in the Arizona area the general rule is that Interstates are referred to as "I" followed by their route number, US routes are referred to as "US" followed by their route number, and state routes are referred to as either "AZ" followed by their route number (such as AZ51), "Loop" followed by their route number (such as Loop 101). 

However, a very significant population simply refers to everything as "the" followed by the route number.

Quote from: mrsman on July 12, 2015, 07:30:14 AM

Quote from: Rothman on July 09, 2015, 12:24:59 AM

Quote from: roadfro on July 08, 2015, 10:41:48 PM

Quote from: Rothman on July 06, 2015, 12:37:38 PM
All I can say is that I lived in San Francisco (right in the Sunset District) for over a year and definitely heard "the 5" frequently.

Which is interesting because "the 5" is a significant distance away from San Francisco... Enough so that I feel nobody living in/around San Francisco should really have any reason to refer to I-5 on a regular basis unless going to Sacramento or SoCal.

There you have it.

Right, so people would refer to "the 5" because it is the road to LA.  But you are much less likely to hear "the 280" or "the 80" in SF because the road does not go to LA.

But do the SF people also say "the 101"? That highway runs right through SF and also goes to LA, but the impression I get is that it is referred to as simply "101".

"The 5" seems to be an anomaly to the typical NorCal lingo...at least according to discussion in this thread.

I used to spend a lot of time in the Bay Area for work, and never once heard it referred to as "the 5", at least by anyone not from SoCal. Always I-5 or just 5.

Quote from: dfwmapper on July 16, 2015, 03:01:22 PM
I used to spend a lot of time in the Bay Area for work, and never once heard it referred to as "the 5", at least by anyone not from SoCal. Always I-5 or just 5.

My experience places San Francisco behavior along with Seattle behavior. Most roads are just referred to by number, no suffix.

I wanted to talk about state route prefixes, and assuming bumping this is preferred to starting a new thread (?)

Here in NY, we usually omit the prefix when speaking. We'd just say "take 28" or "get on 590". Curious if this is also the case in other states, or if there are places where the prefix is commonly used. Michigan, maybe, since it's just M.
IMO it starts getting clunky when you have to say multiple syllables.

For Michigan State highways. Usually it's called M and then the number like M-46 which is a long cross peninsula highway in the lower peninsula. A lot of times though you can just say the route number like 46 without saying M first and people will still know what you are talking about.

In the Detroit area this practice isn't common because all the state highways in the Detroit area except for a couple are called by another name such as Woodward Avenue for M-1 or the Lodge for M-10. I very rarely have heard someone actually call Woodward M-1 or the Lodge M-10. M-53 is known as Van Dyke other than a few name changes through towns or on the expressway part in Macomb County for its entire length.

Quote from: jakeroot on July 16, 2015, 06:28:50 PM

Quote from: dfwmapper on July 16, 2015, 03:01:22 PM
I used to spend a lot of time in the Bay Area for work, and never once heard it referred to as "the 5", at least by anyone not from SoCal. Always I-5 or just 5.

My experience places San Francisco behavior along with Seattle behavior. Most roads are just referred to by number, no suffix.

Interestingly you're more likely to hear the Bridge Name or Freeway Name I've found in the Bay Area over a Highway number.  Example; if you are heading south on US 101 from San Francisco you take the "Bayshore."    If you're headed to Oakland on I-80 you take the "Bay Bridge."   Even some State Highways like CA 35 get referred to by name such as "Skyline."    

in Massachusetts we say "route" for 1 or 2 digit numbers (like "route 9" or "route 20"), and just the number for anything else (like "146" or "495"). We don't say "I" or "US". Exception being that I-90 is "the pike"

"Zoo Town" tends to get sprung a lot because of the downtown area of Missoula.

"Malfunction Junction" - not too well known nowadays, but it referred to Russell Street, Brooks Street and South Avenue as a six-way intersection that U.S. 93, and 12 connected to, until a portion of Sussex Avenue was used as a through connector to westbound traffic past the former 6-way interchange. It used to be a bitch to get across both Russell and Brooks via South.

Montanans don't really use a lot of lingo. We typically would call, say, U.S. 2 as "Highway 2", but that's confusing because which Highway 2 are you referring to? U.S. 2 in Northern Montana or Montana Highway 2 in Southwest Montana near Butte? "Highway 93" makes a bit more sense referring to U.S. 93. A lot of times "I" is used for the Interstates like 90, 15 and 94, and "Highway" or "HWY" for the state and U.S. highways. I don't know if people along the southern stretch of Montana Highway 59 still call that "Highway 312", because of its former assignment as U.S. 312.

There are some names like "Skalkaho Highway", which is Montana Highway 38, but isn't that well traveled in the winter

"Clearwater Junction", the intersection of Montana Highway 200 and 83 near Ovando, MT

"The Wye", the confluence of U.S. 93, Montana Highway 200 and Interstate 90 west of Missoula International Airport, including Secondary 474, often called "Highway 10" because of the former assignment of U.S. 10.

The "Highway 10" name in Montana is strewn everywhere because of the old highway being overrun by I-90.

"Beartooth Highway" is U.S. 287 from Billings to Red Lodge along that mountain range.

"Pintler Scenic Highway" is Montana Highway 1 from Drummond to Phillipsburg, the former assignment of Montana Highway 110 and U.S. 10 Alternate.

Quote from: Flint1979 on December 22, 2019, 03:09:32 PM
For Michigan State highways. Usually it's called M and then the number like M-46 which is a long cross peninsula highway in the lower peninsula. A lot of times though you can just say the route number like 46 without saying M first and people will still know what you are talking about.

Not always though.  Say "96", and people will think you're referring to I-96, not M-96 (both in the lower peninsula and not far from each other).

Then, M-14 just gets called "M-14" since it lacks a name like the Southfield (M-39).

Quote from: webny99 on December 22, 2019, 02:44:07 PM
I wanted to talk about state route prefixes, and assuming bumping this is preferred to starting a new thread (?)

Here in NY, we usually omit the prefix when speaking. We'd just say "take 28" or "get on 590". Curious if this is also the case in other states, or if there are places where the prefix is commonly used. Michigan, maybe, since it's just M.
IMO it starts getting clunky when you have to say multiple syllables.

NY is much more varied than this.  I've come across all sorts of variations during my time living and visiting here.

Quote from: Brandon on December 22, 2019, 08:12:12 PM

Quote from: Flint1979 on December 22, 2019, 03:09:32 PM
For Michigan State highways. Usually it's called M and then the number like M-46 which is a long cross peninsula highway in the lower peninsula. A lot of times though you can just say the route number like 46 without saying M first and people will still know what you are talking about.

Not always though.  Say "96", and people will think you're referring to I-96, not M-96 (both in the lower peninsula and not far from each other).

Then, M-14 just gets called "M-14" since it lacks a name like the Southfield (M-39).

Yeah some of them you can't do that without confusing people. And yeah M-14 can't really be called anything else. The Southfield and Lodge do get called by their number too though. Most of them are pretty well known since the service drives carry the name as well most of the time anyway.

Due to US-65's freeway status in the area, it is sometimes referred as I-65 (In fact, MODOT printed two since-removed I-65 mile markers) though most of the time it is simply referred to as Highway 65. I-44 (the only interstate around here) is known as Interstate 44 or I-44, while state, US, and state secondary routes are referred as 'highway' or 'route', with 'highway' being the more common of the two.

Quote from: roadfro on July 16, 2015, 03:17:44 AM

Quote from: mrsman on July 12, 2015, 07:30:14 AM

Quote from: Rothman on July 09, 2015, 12:24:59 AM

Quote from: roadfro on July 08, 2015, 10:41:48 PM

Quote from: Rothman on July 06, 2015, 12:37:38 PM
All I can say is that I lived in San Francisco (right in the Sunset District) for over a year and definitely heard "the 5" frequently.

Which is interesting because "the 5" is a significant distance away from San Francisco... Enough so that I feel nobody living in/around San Francisco should really have any reason to refer to I-5 on a regular basis unless going to Sacramento or SoCal.

There you have it.

Right, so people would refer to "the 5" because it is the road to LA.  But you are much less likely to hear "the 280" or "the 80" in SF because the road does not go to LA.

But do the SF people also say "the 101"? That highway runs right through SF and also goes to LA, but the impression I get is that it is referred to as simply "101".

"The 5" seems to be an anomaly to the typical NorCal lingo...at least according to discussion in this thread.

In the Bay Area its US-101 or Highway 101 or The BayShore Freeway though.

Quote from: Rothman on December 22, 2019, 08:39:58 PM

Quote from: webny99 on December 22, 2019, 02:44:07 PM
Here in NY, we usually omit the prefix when speaking. We'd just say "take 28" or "get on 590". Curious if this is also the case in other states, or if there are places where the prefix is commonly used.

NY is much more varied than this.  I've come across all sorts of variations during my time living and visiting here.

Such as...?
I don't usually hear "NY XX", and certainly not "State Route XX". It's usually just the number around here, but I'm interested in what is said elsewhere in the state. Maybe there's some variations I'm missing, too.

Quote from: webny99 on December 22, 2019, 10:11:47 PM

Quote from: Rothman on December 22, 2019, 08:39:58 PM

Quote from: webny99 on December 22, 2019, 02:44:07 PM
Here in NY, we usually omit the prefix when speaking. We'd just say "take 28" or "get on 590". Curious if this is also the case in other states, or if there are places where the prefix is commonly used.

NY is much more varied than this.  I've come across all sorts of variations during my time living and visiting here.

Such as...?
I don't usually hear "NY XX", and certainly not "State Route XX". It's usually just the number around here, but I'm interested in what is said elsewhere in the state. Maybe there's some variations I'm missing, too.

The variety I've heard leads me to conclude that there really isn't a standard for all of NY.  I've heard route numbers only, I've heard "route" and then number.  Interstates sometimes get the I, sometimes don't, and sometimes are just referred to by the common name of the road.  Even just in the Albany area, I didn't really notice a local standard. 

Like someone said above, when I grew up in MA, there definitely was and they laid it out well in their post.  I have not experienced that kind of standard here in NY.

If it has three digits? Just the number: 285, 316, 278.

If it has one or two digits? Usually "Highway X," unless it's an Interstate, which instead takes the (optional) I prefix. Highway 5, Highway 92, Highway 41; 75, 85, (I-)20. I-20 is more likely to get the prefix than the others probably because it's a shorter number and there's occasionally a need to disambiguate vs SR 20 (can also happen more rarely with I-85 vs SR 85).

In Florida we say I prefix for its interstates and that includes I-275.  We say the numbers usually for US routes or sometimes highway in front of except US 1 which is called that.  US 17 & 92 are called seventeen ninety-two, but other concurrencies are usually be one number like US 17 &  441 between Leesburg and Ocala is four forty-one just like in Orlando where US 17, 92,  & 441 is also just US 441 called by number only if not OBT for Orange Blossom Trail. 

US 19 & 98 is just referred to US 19 as Hwy. 19 and in South Florida where US 441 is concurrent with FL 7 it is called State Road 7 as most state designation do get called "State Road."  However no one in Broward or Palm Beach Counties ever refers to SR 7 as US 441 and even street blades call it that even though it is not shielded FL 7.

Quote from: Rothman on July 06, 2015, 12:37:38 PM

Quote from: mrsman on June 28, 2015, 08:14:21 AM

Quote from: DTComposer on June 28, 2015, 02:15:28 AM

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:33:29 PM

Quote from: kkt on June 25, 2015, 01:24:09 PM

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:09:15 PM
Pfft.  When I lived in San Francisco, "The 5" was ubiquitous.

Did you hang out with a bunch of SoCal transplants?

Nah.  I think he was right about "Highway 880" or whatever, but I definitely heard "the 5" from long-time residents.

I can not think of an instance where I heard "the 5" from a Bay Area or Sacramento native or long-time resident.

No, definitely not.  Using "the 5" will out you as a SoCal native if you use it there.

All I can say is that I lived in San Francisco (right in the Sunset District) for over a year and definitely heard "the 5" frequently.

What? the nearest Freeway to the Sunset District is I-280 or as Bay Area residents call it Highway 280. Lobbyist from San Francisco who commutes to Downtown Sacramento living in the Sunset District?

I know in Sacramento people are very specific to route designations especially  with the history of Business 80 and I-80 in that area and they would call it I-5.  But the story I heard was People who have a house in San Francisco commute to their jobs in San Jose in the past decade though and they use Highway 101 Bayshore  or Highway 280 to get to their VC jobs or tech jobs in that area.


https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44325340 (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-44325340)

https://www.kqed.org/news/11328302/s-f-agency-votes-to-make-google-bus-program-permanent (https://www.kqed.org/news/11328302/s-f-agency-votes-to-make-google-bus-program-permanent)

If you ever heard of the "Google Bus" protests it was a protest against income inequality in the Bay Area though. 

In Chicagoland, we called all expressways and tollways by their names instead of the numbers:

I-55--Stevenson
I-80--Kingery in IL, Borman in IN
I-90 east of I-94 split--Skyway
I-90 from O'Hare to Rockford--Northwest Tollway
I-90/I-94--Kennedy north of Downtown (same applies to I-90's solo route from I-94 split to O'Hare), Dan Ryan south of Downtown
I-94 north of I-90 split--Edens
I-94 south of I-57--Calumet (but then it became Bishop Ford)
I-290--Eisenhower
I-294--Tri-State Tollway (also applied to toll portions of I-94 and I-80)
I-355--North-South Tollway
IL 5, now I-88--East-West Tollway

I-57 was the main exception, because it had no name attached to it. AFAIK, I've never heard it being called the Dan Ryan West Leg, even though that's its official name.

Quote from: bing101 on December 23, 2019, 10:20:07 AM

Quote from: Rothman on July 06, 2015, 12:37:38 PM

Quote from: mrsman on June 28, 2015, 08:14:21 AM

Quote from: DTComposer on June 28, 2015, 02:15:28 AM

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:33:29 PM

Quote from: kkt on June 25, 2015, 01:24:09 PM

Quote from: Rothman on June 25, 2015, 01:09:15 PM
Pfft.  When I lived in San Francisco, "The 5" was ubiquitous.

Did you hang out with a bunch of SoCal transplants?

Nah.  I think he was right about "Highway 880" or whatever, but I definitely heard "the 5" from long-time residents.

I can not think of an instance where I heard "the 5" from a Bay Area or Sacramento native or long-time resident.

No, definitely not.  Using "the 5" will out you as a SoCal native if you use it there.

All I can say is that I lived in San Francisco (right in the Sunset District) for over a year and definitely heard "the 5" frequently.

What? the nearest Freeway to the Sunset District is I-280 or as Bay Area residents call it Highway 280. Lobbyist from San Francisco who commutes to Downtown Sacramento living in the Sunset District?

I-5 is an important route no matter where you are in California, whether it is somehow used to commute or not.  I was just saying (a long time ago now), that I definitely heard "the 5" when I lived right in San Francisco.

Quote from: ozarkman417 on December 22, 2019, 09:02:14 PM
[Missouri] state, US, and state secondary routes are referred as 'highway' or 'route', with 'highway' being the more common of the two.

One thing I'd like to point out is that–at least in your part of Missouri–the word 'highway' often comes after the number or letter rather than before it.

For example, someone might give you directions that include taking "T Highway".  Similarly, the only name other than "The Strip" that I've heard locals call MO-76 through Branson is "76 Highway".

This way of referring to highways is something I've never encountered elsewhere.  I'm curious to know if there are other regions that do it this way.

Quote from: Rothman on December 22, 2019, 08:39:58 PM

Quote from: webny99 on December 22, 2019, 02:44:07 PM
I wanted to talk about state route prefixes, and assuming bumping this is preferred to starting a new thread (?)

Here in NY, we usually omit the prefix when speaking. We'd just say "take 28" or "get on 590". Curious if this is also the case in other states, or if there are places where the prefix is commonly used. Michigan, maybe, since it's just M.
IMO it starts getting clunky when you have to say multiple syllables.

NY is much more varied than this.  I've come across all sorts of variations during my time living and visiting here.

Agreed. The Buffalo area uses "The" a lot, "The 190", "The 290", etc.  Central New York uses "Route" for everything. You can tell when a radio or TV ad is written out of town, they'll say "I-81 Exit 36", locals will say "Route 81 Exit 36".

Quote from: machias on December 23, 2019, 01:50:52 PM
Agreed. The Buffalo area uses "The" a lot, "The 190", "The 290", etc.  Central New York uses "Route" for everything. You can tell when a radio or TV ad is written out of town, they'll say "I-81 Exit 36", locals will say "Route 81 Exit 36".

Makes one wonder what will happen when there will be both I-81 and BL 81.

MN:
Interstates: I-xx, or just xx
All other state-maintained routes: Highway xx, also sometimes just "xx" but less commonly than with interstates
County roads: usually County xx, unless it has a better known local street name

Quote from: OCGuy81 on June 01, 2015, 10:49:36 AM
I live in the area with the very well known practice of putting "The" in front of highway numbers.

The 405, The 5, The 10.

Sometimes I do hear people add freeway to the end.  For example "take the 10 freeway east".

Yes Los Angeles residents does this The 405, the 5 and the 10!!

For Utah:

Interstates are (I-)xx, except for 215 which may also be referred to as the "west belt", "east belt", or "south belt" depending on what segment is being referenced. Although it is well signed as the Belt Route, I have never heard anyone say this in person.

US highways and state routes are either just their number, "US xx" or "SR xx", or just "Highway xx" which tends to be more common for US highways. You might also hear a few references to "State Route xx", but nobody says "Route xx".

Quote from: Henry on December 23, 2019, 10:26:36 AM
In Chicagoland, we called all expressways and tollways by their names instead of the numbers:

I-55--Stevenson
I-80--Kingery in IL, Borman in IN
I-90 east of I-94 split--Skyway
I-90 from O'Hare to Rockford--Northwest Tollway
I-90/I-94--Kennedy north of Downtown (same applies to I-90's solo route from I-94 split to O'Hare), Dan Ryan south of Downtown
I-94 north of I-90 split--Edens
I-94 south of I-57--Calumet (but then it became Bishop Ford)
I-290--Eisenhower
I-294--Tri-State Tollway (also applied to toll portions of I-94 and I-80)
I-355--North-South Tollway
IL 5, now I-88--East-West Tollway

I-57 was the main exception, because it had no name attached to it. AFAIK, I've never heard it being called the Dan Ryan West Leg, even though that's its official name.

I-80 (west of Hazel Crest) is the Moline Expressway, although I haven't heard the term used in decades.

Generally, in my area, during conversations with others, they call the Interstates by their numbers, usually, but not always, with I or Interstate in front of it.  Radio traffic reports use the names much more than everyday people.  No distinction is made between US and IL routes.

Local routes, followed by how I usually hear them referred to (ordered by most to least frequent):

Interstate 80:  I-80, Interstate 80, 80 (Moline Expressway is never used)
US 45:  Route 45, LaGrange Road, Mannheim (rare here)
IL 43:  Harlem (NEVER called by the number 43)
IL 50:  Cicero, Route 50 (rare)
US 6:  159th Street (only referred to as Route 6 outside of the Wolf, 159th, Torrence, and I-80 segments)
US 30:  Route 30, Lincoln Highway
Interstate 57:  I-57, Interstate 57, 57

Quote from: Brandon on December 22, 2019, 08:12:12 PM

Quote from: Flint1979 on December 22, 2019, 03:09:32 PM
For Michigan State highways. Usually it's called M and then the number like M-46 which is a long cross peninsula highway in the lower peninsula. A lot of times though you can just say the route number like 46 without saying M first and people will still know what you are talking about.

Not always though.  Say "96", and people will think you're referring to I-96, not M-96 (both in the lower peninsula and not far from each other).

Then, M-14 just gets called "M-14" since it lacks a name like the Southfield (M-39).

Also M-75 isn't that far from I-75. This is why they shouldn't duplicate route numbers.

In Hampton Roads, I've heard it all...

Interstate 17, Interstate 168, Interstate 164, Interstate 58... pretty much on any section of road resembling a freeway.

Other than that, it's usually either "Route XX" or simply "XX"

I've heard people refer to I-264 as Route 44, it's former name before it was redesignated in 1999.

The Chesapeake Expressway (VA-168) is often referred to as the bypass, sometimes as the expressway, by locals.

In Northern Virginia, "XX" would likely describe the majority of route number references (I-95, I-66, I-395, US-29, US-50, VA-28, VA-123). The notable expectations being the Beltway, Dulles Toll Road, GW Pkwy, Fairfax County Pkwy, and Prince William Pkwy.

However, I will say that will one digit highways such as US-1 and VA-7 are usually referred to with "Route" in front.

Quote from: Super Mateo on December 26, 2019, 05:35:46 PM
US 45:  Route 45, LaGrange Road, Mannheim (rare here)

96th Avenue.

Quote from: Flint1979 on December 26, 2019, 06:02:06 PM
Also M-75 isn't that far from I-75. This is why they shouldn't duplicate route numbers.

Michigan didn't duplicate between M and US route numbers, except for when the M highway was an extension of the US highway.

But when the Interstates came, they didn't bother with that rule any more.  Every 2-di in Michigan has a M highway with the same number.

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on December 24, 2019, 03:12:15 PM
MN:
County roads: usually County xx, unless it has a better known local street name

I also hear the name of the county used instead of "County".

Example:  "Anoka 10"

Quote from: Super Mateo on December 26, 2019, 05:35:46 PM

Quote from: Henry on December 23, 2019, 10:26:36 AM
In Chicagoland, we called all expressways and tollways by their names instead of the numbers:

I-55--Stevenson
I-80--Kingery in IL, Borman in IN
I-90 east of I-94 split--Skyway
I-90 from O'Hare to Rockford--Northwest Tollway
I-90/I-94--Kennedy north of Downtown (same applies to I-90's solo route from I-94 split to O'Hare), Dan Ryan south of Downtown
I-94 north of I-90 split--Edens
I-94 south of I-57--Calumet (but then it became Bishop Ford)
I-290--Eisenhower
I-294--Tri-State Tollway (also applied to toll portions of I-94 and I-80)
I-355--North-South Tollway
IL 5, now I-88--East-West Tollway

I-57 was the main exception, because it had no name attached to it. AFAIK, I've never heard it being called the Dan Ryan West Leg, even though that's its official name.

I-80 (west of Hazel Crest) is the Moline Expressway, although I haven't heard the term used in decades.

Generally, in my area, during conversations with others, they call the Interstates by their numbers, usually, but not always, with I or Interstate in front of it.  Radio traffic reports use the names much more than everyday people.  No distinction is made between US and IL routes.

Local routes, followed by how I usually hear them referred to (ordered by most to least frequent):

Interstate 80:  I-80, Interstate 80, 80 (Moline Expressway is never used)
US 45:  Route 45, LaGrange Road, Mannheim (rare here)
IL 43:  Harlem (NEVER called by the number 43)
IL 50:  Cicero, Route 50 (rare)
US 6:  159th Street (only referred to as Route 6 outside of the Wolf, 159th, Torrence, and I-80 segments)
US 30:  Route 30, Lincoln Highway
Interstate 57:  I-57, Interstate 57, 57

As something of a test, I just asked my mother how she would get from where she lives to the city, and she said "I'd take 290 or 55." So, there's that.

Quote from: CtrlAltDel on December 27, 2019, 06:03:19 PM

Quote from: Super Mateo on December 26, 2019, 05:35:46 PM

Quote from: Henry on December 23, 2019, 10:26:36 AM
In Chicagoland, we called all expressways and tollways by their names instead of the numbers:

I-55--Stevenson
I-80--Kingery in IL, Borman in IN
I-90 east of I-94 split--Skyway
I-90 from O'Hare to Rockford--Northwest Tollway
I-90/I-94--Kennedy north of Downtown (same applies to I-90's solo route from I-94 split to O'Hare), Dan Ryan south of Downtown
I-94 north of I-90 split--Edens
I-94 south of I-57--Calumet (but then it became Bishop Ford)
I-290--Eisenhower
I-294--Tri-State Tollway (also applied to toll portions of I-94 and I-80)
I-355--North-South Tollway
IL 5, now I-88--East-West Tollway

I-57 was the main exception, because it had no name attached to it. AFAIK, I've never heard it being called the Dan Ryan West Leg, even though that's its official name.

I-80 (west of Hazel Crest) is the Moline Expressway, although I haven't heard the term used in decades.

Generally, in my area, during conversations with others, they call the Interstates by their numbers, usually, but not always, with I or Interstate in front of it.  Radio traffic reports use the names much more than everyday people.  No distinction is made between US and IL routes.

Local routes, followed by how I usually hear them referred to (ordered by most to least frequent):

Interstate 80:  I-80, Interstate 80, 80 (Moline Expressway is never used)
US 45:  Route 45, LaGrange Road, Mannheim (rare here)
IL 43:  Harlem (NEVER called by the number 43)
IL 50:  Cicero, Route 50 (rare)
US 6:  159th Street (only referred to as Route 6 outside of the Wolf, 159th, Torrence, and I-80 segments)
US 30:  Route 30, Lincoln Highway
Interstate 57:  I-57, Interstate 57, 57

As something of a test, I just asked my mother how she would get from where she lives to the city, and she said "I'd take 290 or 55." So, there's that.

Both are well known by their names the Eisenhower and Stevenson though.

Quote from: GaryV on December 27, 2019, 07:50:11 AM

Quote from: Flint1979 on December 26, 2019, 06:02:06 PM
Also M-75 isn't that far from I-75. This is why they shouldn't duplicate route numbers.

Michigan didn't duplicate between M and US route numbers, except for when the M highway was an extension of the US highway.

But when the Interstates came, they didn't bother with that rule any more.  Every 2-di in Michigan has a M highway with the same number.

M-24 was never an extension of US 24. In fact, until the truncation of US 10, and the extension of US 24, they weren't even in the same county.




In Washington, US Highways and State Routes are often called "Highway XXX", even though there are also several roads that have the name "Highway 99", but aren't part of any active route (former routings).  Interstates are I-XXX.  There are few named highways, but the big ones are "Bothell-Everett Highway" (SR 527), "The Valley Freeway" (SR 167), the "Hewett Avenue Trestle" (US-2 from I-5 to Lake Stevens), "The Boeing Freeway" or "The Casino Freeway" (SR 526), and "Kent-Des Moines Rd." (SR 516).  Over time, however, people are slowly moving to saying "SR" in front of the route number.


In Portland, using "SR" is common to refer to Washington State Routes, whereas Oregon Routes are simply called either by number or "Highway XXX", except again for those that have proper names.  Most things in the Portland Grid, just get called by their Portland Street names (OR 213 is always "82nd Avenue", never "Avenue of the Roses"), regardless of actual designation.  Many are called by the Oregon Highway Names, rather than Route Number by people who actually know such things.  Interstates are called I-XX, or just the number, except for I-84 between I-5 and I-205, which is almost always called "The Banfield", do to its original designation when it was built.

Quote from: TEG24601 on December 27, 2019, 07:27:05 PM

Quote from: GaryV on December 27, 2019, 07:50:11 AM

Quote from: Flint1979 on December 26, 2019, 06:02:06 PM
Also M-75 isn't that far from I-75. This is why they shouldn't duplicate route numbers.

Michigan didn't duplicate between M and US route numbers, except for when the M highway was an extension of the US highway.

But when the Interstates came, they didn't bother with that rule any more.  Every 2-di in Michigan has a M highway with the same number.

M-24 was never an extension of US 24. In fact, until the truncation of US 10, and the extension of US 24, they weren't even in the same county.




In Washington, US Highways and State Routes are often called "Highway XXX", even though there are also several roads that have the name "Highway 99", but aren't part of any active route (former routings).  Interstates are I-XXX.  There are few named highways, but the big ones are "Bothell-Everett Highway" (SR 527), "The Valley Freeway" (SR 167), the "Hewett Avenue Trestle" (US-2 from I-5 to Lake Stevens), "The Boeing Freeway" or "The Casino Freeway" (SR 526), and "Kent-Des Moines Rd." (SR 516).  Over time, however, people are slowly moving to saying "SR" in front of the route number.


In Portland, using "SR" is common to refer to Washington State Routes, whereas Oregon Routes are simply called either by number or "Highway XXX", except again for those that have proper names.  Most things in the Portland Grid, just get called by their Portland Street names (OR 213 is always "82nd Avenue", never "Avenue of the Roses"), regardless of actual designation.  Many are called by the Oregon Highway Names, rather than Route Number by people who actually know such things.  Interstates are called I-XX, or just the number, except for I-84 between I-5 and I-205, which is almost always called "The Banfield", do to its original designation when it was built.

M-24 isn't an extension of US-24 that is right but they have always ended somewhere in the Pontiac area. Telegraph and Square Lake is where I think that US-24 originally ended at and was extended north when US-10 was scaled back to end in Bay City.

US-10 and US-45 are the only other US highways in Michigan to have a duplicate state highway.

Quote from: Flint1979 on December 27, 2019, 10:35:04 PM
M-24 isn't an extension of US-24 that is right but they have always ended somewhere in the Pontiac area. Telegraph and Square Lake is where I think that US-24 originally ended at and was extended north when US-10 was scaled back to end in Bay City.

US-10 and US-45 are the only other US highways in Michigan to have a duplicate state highway.

The second M-24 did intersect the northern terminus of US 24 in Pontiac in 1926. They did so until 1963 with the completion of I-75 in the Pontiac area. (http://www.michiganhighways.org/listings/M-024.html)

Also, US 8 and M-8 say hello.

Quote from: bulldog1979 on December 28, 2019, 02:38:34 AM

Quote from: Flint1979 on December 27, 2019, 10:35:04 PM
M-24 isn't an extension of US-24 that is right but they have always ended somewhere in the Pontiac area. Telegraph and Square Lake is where I think that US-24 originally ended at and was extended north when US-10 was scaled back to end in Bay City.

US-10 and US-45 are the only other US highways in Michigan to have a duplicate state highway.

The second M-24 did intersect the northern terminus of US 24 in Pontiac in 1926. They did so until 1963 with the completion of I-75 in the Pontiac area. (http://www.michiganhighways.org/listings/M-024.html)

Also, US 8 and M-8 say hello.

Oh yeah I totally forgot about US-8. I knew of M-8 but wasn't even thinking that US-8 entered Michigan when I posted this. I've clinched US-8 in its entirety too.

I still don't think it was meant as an extension of US-24. Other than 24 though the other duplicates aren't that close together. We formerly had US-25 and M-25 as well.

All the examples of duplicates in MI are latter day numberings, after the start of the Interstates.  M-45 was created to replace a section of M-50 to eliminate a duplication of routes through Grand Rapids.  (I can remember it confusing me to no end when my parents still called it M-50.)  M-8 was applied to the Davison well after the Interstate era began.  M-10 is a replacement for a prior section of US-10 - which itself had replaced part of the original M-10 in 1926.

And yes, the ends of US-24 and M-24 met in downtown Pontiac at one point.

Quote from: TEG24601 on December 27, 2019, 07:27:05 PM
In Washington,...Interstates are I-XXX.

Usually with two-digit routes, but three-digit routes are up in the air. I-405 is usually just "405", but I-705 is almost always "the 705". This is likely because the road was originally referred to as "the Tacoma Spur"; the indefinite article stuck around once the number became the more popular reference.

I-84, from the New York border east to the Connecticut River in Hartford, is called the Yankee Expressway...but nobody calls it that. I-91 was informally the Dike Highway in its early days (being on or next to a dike for the Connecticut River).

Quote from: Flint1979 on December 28, 2019, 05:51:33 AM
I still don't think it was meant as an extension of US-24. Other than 24 though the other duplicates aren't that close together. We formerly had US-25 and M-25 as well.

Since 1926, Michigan has had M-8, M-10, M-24, M-25, M-27, M-33, M-45, M-112, and M-131. (M-102 was not designated until after US 102 had already been decommisisoned in 1928.)


M-8 came many years after US 8. M-10 replaced former segments of US 10. M-24 was an extension of US 24. M-25 was an extension of US 25 created in 1933 after US 25 was extended over the central section of M-29 between Port Huron and Port Austin, severing M-29 in two in the process. M-27 is a former segment of US 27. M-33 has had no connection with US 33; ditto M-45 and US 45. M-112 was a bypass of US 112 in the Ann Arbor area that later became part of I-94. M-131 was an extension of US 131 initially.

Since 1926, M-12, M-16, M-23, M-31 and M-41 have not been reused, and M-127, M-141 and M-223 have yet to be assigned. M-2 may have been used for the I-96 service drives.

None of them were extensions of the US route otherwise the US route would have kept on going. I'm pretty sure that they were numbered the same to ease confusion M-24 was never intended to be a part of US 24. It even says so on the Michigan highway site.

SocarBoy just did a segment on I-85 and SC-9 at the 8:40 Mark I saw a description where he said locals in South Carolina call State route 9 as Number 9.

in North Carolina, interstates will usually get an "I-xx"  and anything else just gets the number. the toll roads around Raleigh are often just called "the toll road" . US 1 is about the only road i hear called "Highway xx"

although i predict some changes in the future due to all the number shuffling being done by NC DOT.

In the Greater Toronto Area, we use "Highway x" for all provincial and former provincial roads (Highway 401, Highway 404, Highway 7). However we pretty much never refer to Regional Routes and we just use the name of the road instead. (Dufferin Street as opposed to Regional Road 53)

Quote from: Mrt90 on June 01, 2015, 02:30:56 PM

Quote from: peterj920 on June 01, 2015, 05:24:10 AM
In Wisconsin most people call route numbers (or letters) highways, except interstates.  Interstates will be called I-43, for example.  State and US routes will just be called Highway 10, for example.  County roads vary a little bit.  Wisconsin has lettered county roads, and they may be called Highway D, or County D for example.  On freeway over or underpasses, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will put Hwy X for any type of numbered or lettered road.

I live in Kenosha, WI and I agree with this for my corner of Wisconsin, too. But I work in Lake County, IL which borders Wisconsin and I've noticed a difference down there.  Some highways are almost always referred to as routes (typically 60 and 22) while others are just referred to by number (176, 137, 173, 120, 21). No one ever calls 132 anything but Grand[Avenue].  US41 is never called anything but 41.  I-94 is usually called the tollway, or rarely called the Tri-state, and sometimes incorrectly called 294 (this is a common error by southern Lake County/Cook County residents). The word "highway" is almost never used when referring to a specific road which is the opposite of what people do just across the Wisconsin border.

I have to agree with my neighbor Mrt90 (who seems to live AND work in the same areas as I do  :wow:).  In IL, state highways are called by "route" followed by number.  Some people pronounce it "rout" and others say "root".  41 is 41 and 94 is the Tollway.  In fact, any tollway is "the Tollway".  The Chicago natives that move up here all seem to refer to 94 as 294, which is wrong north of Lake-Cook Road (just as mrt90 says).

And, interestingly enough, folks in IL refer to non-toll limited access highways as "expressways", while Wisconsonites call them "freeways".  Having lived much of my life in western and southern states, the latter verbiage works better for me. 

Quote from: TheHighwayMan394 on December 24, 2019, 03:12:15 PM
MN:
Interstates: I-xx, or just xx
All other state-maintained routes: Highway xx, also sometimes just "xx" but less commonly than with interstates
County roads: usually County xx, unless it has a better known local street name

One exception:  MN-62 in the Twin Cities isn't usually "Highway 62" (and from what I understand, before 1988, it wasn't referred to as "County 62" either), it's "The Crosstown".  This also applies to the section in Minnetonka west of I-494 that's still County 62.

That said, I sometimes get weird looks when I call it "Route 62"   :-D

I don't know about St. Louis or Kansas City, but in Mid-Missouri, roads are simply referred to by their route number, XX. Lettered routes are known as Route *letter*.

One thing I haven't figured out yet: Single-digit numbers in this area are called "Route X", while two digits or more is just the number. However, I don't know if it's one digit or one syllable that makes the difference. I don't live close enough to 7, 10, or 12. Does anyone know which it is?

Quote from: 1 on February 01, 2020, 07:56:14 PM
One thing I haven't figured out yet: Single-digit numbers in this area are called "Route X", while two digits or more is just the number. However, I don't know if it's one digit or one syllable that makes the difference. I don't live close enough to 7, 10, or 12. Does anyone know which it is?

I've noticed one and two digit numbers get "route" and three digits don't.

Quote from: Ben114 on February 02, 2020, 01:20:33 PM

Quote from: 1 on February 01, 2020, 07:56:14 PM
One thing I haven't figured out yet: Single-digit numbers in this area are called "Route X", while two digits or more is just the number. However, I don't know if it's one digit or one syllable that makes the difference. I don't live close enough to 7, 10, or 12. Does anyone know which it is?

I've noticed one and two digit numbers get "route" and three digits don't.

Eh, I'd say it's a mix with 2-digit numbers. When I lived in Somerville, for example, 16 and 28 usually did not get the "route" prefix. 93 however often did, which always irked me. I cringed every time I heard "route 93". I want to say route 60 usually did, and 1A did not. Of course all this is based on my anecdotal observations. There are always outliers, especially with the large population of college students and other transplants in the Boston area.

What fascinates me though is when names are used vs. numbers. It seemed the local consensus was generally to only use numbers when referring to multiple named segments of the route (e.g. going from Cambridge to Medford you'd say "take 28" instead of "take O'Brien to McGrath to the Fellsway"), and only on certain portions of the route (e.g. going from Medford to Revere you'd say "take 16" instead of "take Mystic Valley Pkwy to Revere Beach Pkwy", but if going from Everett to Watertown, you'd list all of the parkways instead of just saying "take 16"). And even this was generally limited only to routes that followed major roads. Nobody ever uses the number for 38, or 60 west of Malden, or 2A on Mass Ave.

It's a bit less confusing now that I've moved to NH, where outside of urban centers everything is just a number.

For Vermilion County, Illinois, we tend to follow these rules for referring to roads:
- Interstate 74 is usually referred to as either "74", "I-74" or "the Interstate".
- U.S. routes are referred to as "U.S. xxx" or simply by its route number without a prefix, except where multiplexed with IL-1.
- IL-1 within Vermilion County is always referred to as "Route 1", even where IL-1 is multiplexed with US-150 or US-136. IL-9 is treated similarly, being always referred to as "Route 9".
- IL-49 and IL-119 follow similar reference conventions to U.S. routes, with the "Route (x)xx" or the route number by itself without a prefix being used to refer to the highway in question.
- For county highways (these are very sparingly marked with blue pentagon route markers), usually a local name will be used to refer to those; for example, Vermilion County Highway 1 is referred to as "Henning Road", and Vermilion County Highway 8 is referred to as "Catlin-Homer Road".
- For county roads (note that there is a distinction between a county highway and a county road in a lot of counties in downstate Illinois, including Vermilion County), the usual form of reference is either "((x)x)xx North" for east-west roads and "((x)x)xx East" for north-south roads unless a local road name is in common vernacular (examples being Grape Creek Road southeast of Danville and Kickapoo Park Road west of Danville).

Colorado (Denver Metro):

Interstate XX (or I-XX)
US-XX or Highway XX
State highway, Colorado or just XX for state highways.  Some state highways are urban arterials and no one calls them by the highway number when they're named arterials (US40 vs. Colfax).  The exception is US-6, which is called 6th Avenue by many, and the 6th Ave Freeway continues onto 6th Ave in the Denver Metro Grid system.

Most county highways have another name and are called that, unless it's only CR-XX, then it's called that. 

Florida officially refers to Interstates as such (Interstate 95, or I 95), and same for US routes. Our state highways are specifically called "State Road" so State Road A1A, or SR A1A (no dash).
The people however, in my area, simply refer to the route by just its number only, however if someone needs to be more specific, they'll use the full designation Florida goes off of. An example would be: "take SR 200 to I 95, then get off at US 1 ALT, and look for the SR 228 sign to go over the Hart Bridge." (crossed out designations being what we don't normally say). This sort of thing is why I wouldn't blame FDOT for numbering SR A1A as such, rather than SR 1, to prevent confusion with US 1, due to how people would just call it "1" or "Route 1".

In Michigan we refer to the interstates as I-xx, most of the time we refer to US and State routes as "US-xx" & "M-xx"  with exceptions in the Detroit area where we instead use the local name of the road.

In the Detroit area:

I-75 downtown is the Fisher Fwy - called simply "75"
I-75 uptown in the Chrysler Fwy - called "75"
I-94 downtown is the Edsel Ford Fwy and Detroit Industrial Fwy - called "94"
I-96 downtown is the Jeffries Fwy - called "96"
I-696 is the Walter Reuther Fwy - called "696"
I-275 - called "275"
I-375 downtown is called "375"

Here's where it gets interesting in the Detroit area as we generally don't call out the road number or whether it is a Road/Avenue/Highway etc.:

US 24 is named Telegraph Road but is called "Telegraph"
US 12 is named Michigan Avenue but is called "Michigan"
Michigan state route 1 - called "Woodward"
Michigan state route 3 - called "Gratiot"
Michigan state route 5 - called "Grand River" & "Haggerty Connector" north of I-696
Michigan state route 8 - called "Davison Fwy"
Michigan state route 10 - called "Lodge Fwy" and "North Western" north of I-696
Michigan state route 24 - called "Lapeer Road" & "Dixie Highway"
Michigan state route 39 - called "Southfield Fwy"
Michigan state route 53 - called "Van Dyke" in Detroit area / M-53 north of Macomb County.
Michigan state route 59 - called "M-59" or "Hall Road"
Michigan state route 85 - called "Fort Street"
Michigan state route 97 - called "Groesbeck"
Michigan state route 108 - called "8 Mile"
Michigan state route 150 - called "Rochester Road"
Michigan state route 153 - called "Ford Road"

(https://www.aaroads.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.asphaltplanet.ca%2FMI%2FMI%2F10%2FM10_dv_7_south.jpg&hash=cbc30f450925a9c71ef6432971847a4c96545aad)
(https://www.motorcities.org/images/file-20160104163929_History_John_C_Lodge_Freeway.jpg)
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbatL3RXUAEo_-v?format=jpg&name=4096x4096)

Houston:

For most it's just the number: 45, 59, 249, 288, 90, 1960, 2920, etc

I-10 normally gets its full name, but mostly in reference of distance within the city. IE: NRG and Toyota Center are south of I-10.

Some go by street name: nobody says FM 525, it's Aldine Bender. Not FM 1093, it's Westheimer.