Something to consider: Why does colloquial speech throughout the U.S. give different titles to numbered highways?
For example, in New Jersey, the word "route" is always said before any number when referring to a highway no matter what type (interstate, U.S., state, or county) I.e. Route 80, Route 206, Route 15, Route 517.
In Florida, I often hear state highways referred as "State Road" or "SR". For example, SR 54.
Michiganders refer to their state higways as "M" highways. I.e. "M-28" Ferderal roads usually include the title of "U.S." I.e. US-2.
In California, major road numbers follow the article "the". I.e. "The 5" or "The 101"
Any thoughts on this? Do any other areas of the country refer to their highways in a different way other than what I've mentioned? Which ones work? I personally hate how Jerseyans use "route" for everything. It makes it confusing. OR does any of this matter?
In OK it's "I-" for Interstates, "Highway" for everything else.
Believe it or not this created a giant fiasco on Wikipedia a few years back...people got temporarily blocked, even.
It is an interesting question, as some areas of the country seem to follow certain conventions. To me, the only thing that matters is that the number of the highway is conveyed. They can call everything "route" or "highway" if they want, as long as I can tell which number they're referring to. That's one reason why I'm not a fan of route number duplication within a state.
California seems to have two conventions. SoCal uses the article and number ("The 5"), while NoCal seems to just use the number ("5"). Nevadans follow this California convention by similar geographic region, at least for freeways:
*In southern Nevada (Las Vegas area), it is common to refer to freeway numbers with the article (this is especially true for "the 215", which is both I-215 and County Route 215).
*In northern Nevada (Reno/Carson City area), it is common to hear just the number for the freeway (moreso for US 395 than I-80).
However, hearing terms like "I-80" and "US 95" is also common.
Outside of urban centers of Nevada, people usually refer to the highways by their proper classification, i.e. "State Route 375" or "US 93". An exception is with US 50, which is often referred to as "Highway 50". This is particularly true in Carson City, where they make the distinction of "Highway 50 East" (heading towards Dayton and Fallon) and "Highway 50 West" (heading towards Lake Tahoe).
Another issue is the pronunciation of "route". Is it Root or Rowt? There doesn't seem to be a consensus on that around here.
Although, the convention of titles is generally such:
- Interstates are mostly referred to by just the number locally, but usually as "I-{#}" when more than an hour or so away from home (e.g., here it's "95", but in Rhode Island or Maryland it's "I-95")
- US and State Highways are referred to as "Route {#}" if it's one single digit route ("Route 9"), but just the number if it's multiple digits ("22") or multiple routes ("1 and 9" or "1-9").
- County Routes are usually referred to as "County Route {#}" ("County Route 21"), but it's not unheard of for people who are not quite local to use "{county name} county {#}" ("Dutchess County 21" if you're from Stamford).
- In urban/suburban areas, if the road or highway in question has a common name, that takes precedence in most cases ("The Deegan" or "The Major Deegan", not "87"; "Long Ridge Road", not "104") but not all ("287", not "The Cross Westchester").
- In exurban/rural areas the number generally takes precedence regardless ("172", not "Pound Ridge Road")
- Special case: US 1 in Connecticut and Westchester County may interchangeably be referred to as "Route 1" or "The Post Road".
I pronounce "route" to rhyme with "out", as opposed to Bobby Troup, and Massachusetts, where I grew up. Mass almost universally precedes any road with "route", regardless of classification.
The 95 beltway around Boston is still called "route 128" in the vernacular, which is still its state highway number from before it was realized that 95 would never be built through downtown and that was just about the only place to put the interstate designation. Officially, 95 and 128 are frequently co-signed, but 128-only signage is fairly uncommon, while 95-only signage isn't hard to find.
Massachusetts never, ever prefaces a road with "the", preferring to leave off any indicator when "route" is not used.
Quote from: Duke87 on January 30, 2010, 07:00:23 PM
Another issue is the pronunciation of "route". Is it Root or Rowt? There doesn't seem to be a consensus on that around here.
In New Jersey, which as I said, always refers to all highways as "route X", it is absolutely, positively, without a doubt pronounced "root." If you say "rowt", you will most likely be told ta-fuhghettaboutit, ehh!! :-D
When I was younger and we lived in Illinois and referred to highway numbers, it was "Route 38." I'm not sure how interstates go since in suburban Chicago the freeways were almost universally referred to by name.
My parents are both from Columbus and when we're around there they just refer to all highways by number (161, 315, 70, 62)
Idaho seems to be mixed...you never hear "Route 55" but you'll hear a mix of "Highway 55" and "55." US-95 is almost always referred to as "95" and I-84 is always referred to as "84"
Puget Sound area Washington seemed to have a mix...you'd hear either "16" or "SR 16" for one or two digit routes. Notably, I-405 was frequently referred to as "the 405," (while I-5 was "I-5") and so was "the 520"
Wyoming is sort of an odd case- interstates are always preceded by I- so I-80 or I-25. US routes are usually just called by their number so "287." The state highway system tends to be mostly supporting level routes that nobody ever mentions by number anyway (take the road to Albany, you'd say, not "take WYO 11 south"). However, the main roads are usually numbered as a branch off the US Highway system, so those ones tend to inherit the US type pronunciation, so "120, 130."
That said, when referring to the few important non US branch highways (all of which are two digit), you'll frequently hear the WYO prefix- it's generally "WYO 34" as opposed to just "34"
Actually, I think that goes to a broader thing in Wyoming...three digit routes are too much of a mouthful so the prefix is just omitted, but two digit routes aren't long enough so they add a prefix
Quote from: corco on January 30, 2010, 07:34:22 PM
Puget Sound area Washington seemed to have a mix...you'd hear either "16" or "SR 16" for one or two digit routes. Notably, I-405 was frequently referred to as "the 405," (while I-5 was "I-5") and so was "the 520"
Just across the Columbia River, everyone I know in Oregon says "highway" for all routes except interstates, which are usually "I-." On the Portland news, though, a couple of the freeways are referred to by their names: the Banfield (I-84) and the Sunset (US 26W). They used to also refer to the Baldock freeway (I-5 south) the same way when I was a kid, but now it's just I-5. What's interesting is that they refer to Oregon numbered routes as "highway whatever," but they refer to Washington state highways as "SR-number."
And amusingly, they're all wrong. In Oregon DOT parlance, "highway" refers to the internal inventory designations. The signed designations are "routes"!
In writing, I write, for example, "I-85," "S.R. 85," or "U.S. 41." But in speaking, I say "85," "Highway 85," "41," or "Highway 41"; "19/41" when the two routes (roots ;-)) are cosigned. Lots of folks just refer to Georgia State Routes as "Georgia-Highway Number."
Be well,
Bryant
I sometimes say "the 5" or "the 405" when I'm just talking to regular people.When I'm talking road geek, I always say "I-5" or "US 101" so they know what I'm talking about.For state routes, I always say "the 91" when talking regular, and I say "California 91" when with road geeks.Specifically because on this forum and talking to fellow road geeks, I'm not just talking to people from California, so I can't just say "State Route" as saying "State route 15" could mean anything from any state.
EDIT:I say pronounce route as "root".Saying "rowt" just seems awkward.
Quote from: agentsteel53 on January 30, 2010, 07:05:09 PM
I pronounce "route" to rhyme with "out", as opposed to Bobby Troup, and Massachusetts, where I grew up. Mass almost universally precedes any road with "route", regardless of classification.
The 95 beltway around Boston is still called "route 128" in the vernacular, which is still its state highway number from before it was realized that 95 would never be built through downtown and that was just about the only place to put the interstate designation. Officially, 95 and 128 are frequently co-signed, but 128-only signage is fairly uncommon, while 95-only signage isn't hard to find.
Massachusetts never, ever prefaces a road with "the", preferring to leave off any indicator when "route" is not used.
When I first moved to Braintree, MA, I was talking with somebody on how to get to Milton from the Taunton area. I mentioned take Route 24 to I-95. The person said there is no 95...it's 128. I said 95 & 128. She replied that I didn't know what I was talking about...that it was 128.
Of course, I replied and insisted that it was I-95. Not knowing that Bostonians refer to it as 128. This woman actually did not know it was also signed as I-95.
In Ontario I usually hear 400 series highways referred to by just the highway number such as "400" or following the article "the" such as "the 401". I've rarely have heard them referred to as highways before such as "highway 407" before.
For the other highways I hear them referred to as "highway XX" or just by the highway number before.
I usually refer to most Ontario highways as either Highway XX or when I'm in a road forum usually ON XX to prevent confusion.
Coming from Portland, I've always referred to route numbers as the number by itself, e.g. "5", "26", "205", "84" "217", etc. Though, if i'm referring to an interstate route, I'll switch up between the number itself or preceding it with an I-(n). If the route has a commonly known name, that usually takes precedence at least with established residents.
I've always found it interesting how 3 digit route numbers are pronounced rather universally, at least as far as the US is concerned... "One-oh-one," "Three-Ninety-five", "Seven-Thirty," "Two-Ten," etc. One quirk I have is to pronounce the full cardinal direction a split route carries: 99W(est), 80N(orth), 42S(outh), 35E(ast) and so on. When coming across a 4 or 5 digit route, how would you pronounce it?
After moving down to SoCal a few years ago, I've resisted adding "The" in front of any route number. It just sounds funny to me. XD
Quote from: luokou on January 30, 2010, 09:39:02 PM
One quirk I have is to pronounce the full cardinal direction a split route carries: 99W(est), 80N(orth), 42S(outh), 35E(ast) and so on. When coming across a 4 or 5 digit route, how would you pronounce it?
At least you acknowledge the suffix: most people refer to both 99W and 99E as "99."
And 42S(outh) is technically wrong, though completely understandable, since it's to the south of mainline OR 42. It's actually 42S(pur).
Oregon comments have been made already, so no need to rehash them. However, on the root/rowt: route is a French word, so root is the correct pronunciation, not that we Americans give too much credence to those silly French... What makes things confusing is the word 'router', particularly the computer network variety, which draws its definition from route. :pan:
Quote from: luokou on January 30, 2010, 09:39:02 PM
When coming across a 4 or 5 digit route, how would you pronounce it?
4 digits would get pronounced like a year. "twelve-oh-six", "thirty-one-eighty-two", "two-thousand-six", etc.
5 digits would getpronounced like a zip code. "three five seven six two", "four oh nine eight one", "one four six seven six:, etc.
Where on earth is there a
signed five digit route, anyway?
I've seen them (on Google maps). Can't remember where. Portugal or Spain, maybe?
Quote from: Bickendan on January 31, 2010, 03:14:16 AM
And 42S(outh) is technically wrong, though completely understandable, since it's to the south of mainline OR 42. It's actually 42S(pur).
It really should just have another number, as it's pretty long for a spur route. However, it can't use its Highway #244, as there's already an OR 244 (near La Grande), so it would have to be OR 544. That's actually o.k., as there are both OR 540 and OR 542 in the same county, so it would fit in.
QuoteOregon comments have been made already, so no need to rehash them. However, on the root/rowt: route is a French word, so root is the correct pronunciation, not that we Americans give too much credence to those silly French... What makes things confusing is the word 'router', particularly the computer network variety, which draws its definition from route. :pan:
IMO, it should be pronounced "rowt," though, just to distinguish it from the word "root." We adopted a lot of words from the French that have had their pronunciations altered, like "garbage" (note the difference in pronunciation from "camoflage," borrowed later so we still say it the French way).
I find that pronouncing "35W" as "35 west" causes confusion. People can interpret it as meaning "take 35 westbound". I always pronounce it "35-W", and if any further clarification were needed I'd likely resort to the phonetic alphabet ("35-Whiskey" vs. "35-Echo", "80-November", "42-Sierra").
West Virginia:
All roads other than interstates are "route", which rhymes with "root", regardless of state, US or other status. Interstates are "I - ". Three number roads are always one number, two number, such as 220 would be "two-twenty".
However most of the Appalachian Development highway system is refered to by its project number as "Corridor G", despite almost no signage to call it that. As the state has moved beyond the Corridor system the word "corridor" now means "not full interstate standard four lane" as "the new Route 35 is a being built as a corridor".
In NOLA, I-10 is usually either "the I-10" or "the interstate" while the other interstates are "310", "510", and "610". U.S. highways usually go by a names like "Airline Hwy", "Jeff Hwy", "Chef Hwy" or the streetname. The exception is U.S. 11 which is known as "highway 11". Also, the Pontchartrain Expwy portion of U.S. 90 B is usually just referred to as "The Riverbound or Lakebound Expressway" depending on what direction you're traveling. State highways either go by the streetname, "Highway ##" or "LA ##".
It could be different for the rest of the state. I know on the northshore I hear "I-10", "1-12", etc.
The "rowt"/"root" pronunciation of 'route' debate is interesting as well. I find myself varying between the two.
For most usage of the word, I usually pronounce it as "root":
* "Let's take the scenic 'root'."
* "The U.S. numbered 'root' system."
However, if I'm using the term to talk specifically about state highways, I always use "rowt":
* "Many of Nevada's state 'rowts' are two-lane highways."
* "State 'Rowt' 159."
Weird, I know. I'm not sure how I developed the distinction...
In New Jersey, at least North Jersey we use route for all highways; interstate, US, and state. Other times just a number is used for all highways. I guess it depends on who's speaking.
I tend to find myself using just numbers when people ask me directions. "Yes, of course I know how to get there...take 80 west to 15 north to 94 north." or "Oh yeah, that's down on 46." When I'm speaking roadgeek I'd identify the highway with it's proper designation (I, US, or whatever state).
Also, for the record I pronounce route "root". The only time I use or hear the "rowt" pronunciation is when speaking with USPS or UPS workers and their daily traveled routes to drop off/pick up their packages. The "rowt" being the areas they traverse, not the routes (roads) they actuallt travel on. If speaking of the actual roads I'd say and expect to hear "root".
In upstate NY we use "Route X", which actually works even with our duplication as the duplicated routes are often in different parts of the state (exception: I-90/NY 90, but just about everyone knows I-90 as the Thruway so it's not an issue). Local roads are usually referred to by name, not number, and I don't think county routes are known anywhere, even when they're signed.
I notice that in casual conversation... here in CT we would just say "take 91 south" for I-91... or "Take a left on 159" for CT-159....
...but when it comes to single digit highways (either us or state)... we usually always say.. "take Route 2 east" for CT-2... or for US routes.... EITHER "at the light, turn left on US 5" (us 5 obviously) OR "take route 6 east" for US 6, etc. etc. and so on.
Quote from: Bickendan on January 31, 2010, 03:14:16 AM
And 42S(outh) is technically wrong, though completely understandable, since it's to the south of mainline OR 42. It's actually 42S(pur).
D'oh, my bad! i stand corrected :] i also do understand the confusion of saying the full word for the initial on a split route, but i guess i tend to give the benefit of the doubt if i'm referring a route to a person who already knows which directions said highway goes.
In WI I've found everyone referred to as "Highway ???" (couldn't use a letter since letters can be highway designations :P), even interstates. Highway 94, Highway 41, Highway 29, Highway X. (there are some who use I-94 (43, 894, 794, 39, 90, 535) though.)
Quote from: Master son on February 01, 2010, 07:59:49 AM
In WI I've found everyone referred to as "Highway ???" (couldn't use a letter since letters can be highway designations :P), even interstates. Highway 94, Highway 41, Highway 29, Highway X. (there are some who use I-94 (43, 894, 794, 39, 90, 535) though.)
Even WisDOT thinks everything is "Highway ##". For years their mileage signs would be of the following format:
Hwy 94 8
Hwy X 10
Hwy 14 12
And all were different classes of roads (interstate, county, and US)!
Quote from: Brandon on February 01, 2010, 11:44:30 AM
Even WisDOT thinks everything is "Highway ##". For years their mileage signs would be of the following format:
Hwy 94 8
Hwy X 10
Hwy 14 12
And all were different classes of roads (interstate, county, and US)!
That's changing though now that they're starting to use the shields instead of text.
[Scott Onson fails quoting forever.]
In Pennsylvania it is route for anything US or PA and Interstates always being called that or I-. Terminology near the cities is is either name or number or a combination of both. For example in Pittsburgh, names take precedence when describing the Parkways (or Parkway East, West and North), Crosstown Boulevard, and the Turnpike. The state route designated expressways are either route 28, [former] 60, 65, or East Ohio Street/Allegheny Valley Expressway, Beaver Valley Expressway, and Ohio River Boulevard. Turnpike 43 is always the Mon-Fayette, or Mon Valley, Expressway, but Turnpike 66 is always just 66.
In Florida, state highways are "state roads", labeled "SR" on street signs. In conversation, people will sometimes call out a road by type ("state road A1A", "I-95", "US-27"), sometimes they'll refer to them simply by number ("A1A", "95", "27"). US-1 is always "U-S-1" and I-4 is always "I-4". Minor, urban state roads and most county roads are usually referred to by street name, not number, and are often poorly signed.
In Orlando, the toll highways are usually referred to as "the" ("the 408", "the 417"). They all have names, but expressway authority took down the old signs with names so most people just use the numbers now. The only exception is SR-528 which people still often call "the bee-line", even though that's not even the proper name anymore.
In Miami, even though the freeways are signed by number, people typically use the name instead of the number ("the Palmetto", "the Dolphin").
Florida's Turnpike is always "the Turnpike".
You'll occasionally see a private sign at a neighborhood or shopping center entrance use "route", but it's glaringly obvious that those were done by a yankee. You'll also see dumb people sometimes write "1-95" instead of "I-95", or "1-92" instead of "US-192" on business maps or online forums; those people are usually from New Jersey.
Quote from: PAHighways on February 01, 2010, 03:09:25 PM
In Pennsylvania it is route for anything US or PA and Interstates always being called that or I-. Terminology near the cities is is either name or number or a combination of both.
In my part of the state it was pretty much the same. Now, maybe it's because my dad was an English professor, I said "root" but pretty much everyone else around Bloomsburg said "rowt."
P. S. I remember having this discussion a while ago in another thread but I couldn't find it in a quick search.
Yeah it's been brought up before but that was a while ago and the thread's lost to the depths by now.
Here in southeastern Virginia, we are mixed on how we refer to roads. Major ones, such as I-64, are just referred to as "64", never as "the Hampton Roads Beltway", or "199" (VA-199), not "the Humelsine Parkway", or "17" (US-17), not "George Washington Memorial Highway". However, there are exceptions, such as "the Western Freeway" (VA-164), or "Magruder Boulevard/Hampton Highway", not VA-134, and occasionally "Route" will even sneak in, such as "Route 60" for US-60. City streets, on the other hand, are never referred to by number. US-258 is "Mercury [Blvd]", VA-169 is "Fox Hill [Rd]", US-460 is "Granby St." Usually the suffix (road, street, etc.) is omitted, but not always.
As for pronounciation, it's "root" here. ;-)
I heard "rowt" just as often as I heard "root" during my Norfolk days. "Root" must be a Peninsula thing.
In Phoenix, we say "the 17" (I-17) or "the 10" (I-10) or "the 60" (US 60). We also have two major loops, called "Loop 101" and "Loop 202." Loop 101 begins at I-10 near Avondale, heads north for about a dozen miles, then bends east, crosses the 17 and Arizona 51, then bends south through Scottsdale. It makes its first crossing of the Loop 202, crosses the 60 in Tempe, then dead-ends at its second contact with the Loop 202 in Chandler (I think). The western portion of Loop 101 is the "Agua Fria Freeway," the eastern portion is the "Price/Pima Freeway."
The even longer Loop 202 starts at the "Mini-Stack" where it meets I-10 and Arizona 51, goes east for a long way, crossing the Loop 101 for the first time. Way out in east Mesa, the freeway makes a long, sweeping bend to the south to cross the 60 almost out in Apache Junction, then bends again to the west, doubling back through Gilbert and Chandler. It meets the Loop 101 once more, then ends at the I-10, which at that point runs north and south rather than east and west. (It might help you to consult a road map of the Phoenix area.) The portion between the "Mini-Stack" and the 60 is the "Red Mountain Freeway," the portion between US 60 and I-10 back through Gilbert and Chandler is the "San-Tan Freeway." "Detour Dan" will use those names in his traffic reports ("The 'Agua Fria' portion of the Loop 101" for example).
In cities in TN, highways are generally referred to their names. That is probably in part due to the poor signing of arterial numbered routes in most Tennessee cities. The main road where I work is Hillsboro Road not US 431. The interstates in Nashville go by their I numbers as "I-xx" but the non-interstate freeways go by their names:
Briley Parkway (not TN 155)
Vietnam Veterans Blvd (not TN 386)
Saturn Parkway (not TN 396)
Quote from: mightyace on February 02, 2010, 07:10:25 PM
In cities in TN, highways are generally referred to their names. That is probably in part due to the poor signing of arterial numbered routes in most Tennessee cities. The main road where I work is Hillsboro Road not US 431. The interstates in Nashville go by their I numbers as "I-xx" but the non-interstate freeways go by their names:
Briley Parkway (not TN 155)
Vietnam Veterans Blvd (not TN 386)
Saturn Parkway (not TN 396)
Would this usage of name extend to the Ellington Parkway (as opposed to calling it US 31E)?
Quote from: TheStranger on February 02, 2010, 07:50:26 PM
Would this usage of name extend to the Ellington Parkway (as opposed to calling it US 31E)?
Yes, it would. That one slipped my mind for some reason. :banghead:
Quote from: Scott5114 on January 31, 2010, 10:55:44 AM
I find that pronouncing "35W" as "35 west" causes confusion. People can interpret it as meaning "take 35 westbound". I always pronounce it "35-W", and if any further clarification were needed I'd likely resort to the phonetic alphabet ("35-Whiskey" vs. "35-Echo", "80-November", "42-Sierra").
I'll assume you're talking about I-35W in Dallas. In the Twin Cities, I've never heard it called by anything other than "35-double-u" except by my parents who just called it "35" which irked me to no end growing up.
Quote from: wandering drive on February 02, 2010, 11:46:15 PM
I'll assume you're talking about I-35W in Dallas. In the Twin Cities, I've never heard it called by anything other than "35-double-u" except by my parents who just called it "35" which irked me to no end growing up.
I-35W is in Fort Worth. I-35E is in Dallas. I don't know about how it goes in Ft. Worth, but all my family in Dallas uses freeway names, not usually numbers. I-635 - "The LBJ", I-35E - "Stemmons", US-75 - "Central Expressway", etc. And if they do absolutely need to use a number for I-35E, they'll usually just say "35".
Occasionally when I feel like watching something stupid on TV, I watch the "To Catch a Predator" shows on MSNBC. The way I can tell that the idiots they catch weren't roadgeeks is that on one of the shows they were doing a sting operation in Ohio, and the decoy girl told her suitors to follow "the 70" to get there. A roadgeek would have realized that she was either from Ontario or Southern California, and not from Ohio...
Quote from: algorerhythms on February 03, 2010, 09:39:07 AM
Occasionally when I feel like watching something stupid on TV, I watch the "To Catch a Predator" shows on MSNBC. The way I can tell that the idiots they catch weren't roadgeeks is that on one of the shows they were doing a sting operation in Ohio, and the decoy girl told her suitors to follow "the 70" to get there. A roadgeek would have realized that she was either from Ontario or Southern California, and not from Ohio...
Very good point. No one in Ohio refers to a highway as 'the <insert number>". Everything here is either "route <number>" or just "<number>". Such as, "Take 315 South to 70 East".
Quote from: realjd on February 03, 2010, 08:02:28 AM
I don't know about how it goes in Ft. Worth, but all my family in Dallas uses freeway names, not usually numbers. I-635 - "The LBJ", I-35E - "Stemmons", US-75 - "Central Expressway", etc. And if they do absolutely need to use a number for I-35E, they'll usually just say "35".
Out of curiosity, is the "Central Expressway" name used for the south segment (US 175/SH 310) as well?
Quote from: TheStranger on February 03, 2010, 11:17:51 AM
Out of curiosity, is the "Central Expressway" name used for the south segment (US 175/SH 310) as well?
I haven't really been out to that part of Dallas too much, but IIRC folks refer to it as the "South Central Expressway", and it's not entirely limited-access.
It is a pet peeve of mine, LOL
We Marylanders use "route xx" for everything, just like New Jersey. I suppose it's a Mid-Atlantic thing.
Whenever people are talking about roads, I ask: State route, interstate, or ?
"the 101" or "the 5" is a California thing only.
Quote from: F350 on February 04, 2010, 10:32:53 PM
"the 101" or "the 5" is a California thing only.
Not quite. As I mentioned upthread, it is very prevalent in southern Nevada. Others have said this nomenclature sees limited use elsewhere.
In my experience in Phoenix "the" is also highly used there, particularly with young people.
In Raleigh it's always "I-40" but their outer loop is just "540". In SoCal, the Pacific Coast Highway never gets "the" added before. You just say "on PCH".
The only time the "the" is added in Indiana is when refering to the named expressways, "the Borman", "the Lloyd", and "the Sam Jones". I supposed this is being carried over from Chicago where the expressways are refered to as such (the Eisenhower, the Kennedy, the Dan Ryan). Other than that, it is I-X, US-X, or State Road X.
In the Bay Area, I think the freeway names are only used for four routes on a regular basis: the Bayshore (101), the Macarthur Freeway (580 between 880 and 238), the Eastshore Freeway (80 between 880 and the Carquinez Bridge), and the Nimitz (880). Not sure I've ever heard the other monikers used in traffic reports, maybe sporadically if at all.
Normally I hear either the route number (101, 280, 880, 92, etc) or the freeway name (Bayshore Fwy, Eastshore Fwy, etc) on the local traffic reports on TV and radio. Sometimes the local reporters add the word "highway" before the route number. Since California does not allow duplication of route numbers (for example, I-180 and CA-180 would not be allowed), all numbered routes can be identified by "highway xx" regardless of their type (interstate, US or California state route).
Other "colorful" names used for Bay Area freeway segments...
* "Nasty Nimitz" - Interstate 880, entire length
* "MacArthur Maze" or simply "the Maze" - major interchange in Oakland where I-80, I-880 and I-580 come together.
* "Hospital Curve" - U.S. 101 as it nears downtown San Francisco
* "The S-Curve" - Temporary bypass structure on the S.F. Oakland Bay Bridge near Treasure Island
Quote from: myosh_tino on February 06, 2010, 03:57:01 AM
* "Hospital Curve" - U.S. 101 as it nears downtown San Francisco
Specifically, the segment around the Vermont Street interchange, before the 80/101 split. It's not the only Hospital Curve out there - I know that Interstate 65 has a similarly-named stretch of road in Louisville!
How often is the Junipero Serra Freeway name used for I-280, other than on maps and one or two signs?
...or the Southern Freeway (I-280 in San Francisco itself), the James Lick Freeway/Skyway (US 101, I-80 in SF itself)?
"James Lick" and "the Skyway" are pretty commonly used while "Junipero Serra" is rarely used by traffic reporters. Instead of referring to I-280 as the "Southern Freeway", many refer to the segment from US 101 to King Street as "The 280 Extension".
Quote from: myosh_tino on February 06, 2010, 01:11:36 PM
"James Lick" and "the Skyway" are pretty commonly used while "Junipero Serra" is rarely used by traffic reporters. Instead of referring to I-280 as the "Southern Freeway", many refer to the segment from US 101 to King Street as "The 280 Extension".
In SF, the Bayshore Freeway name applies to 101 as well as "James Lick" - which one is used more often to refer to that stretch from 80 southwards? (Signage at the 280/101 junction has it at "Bayshore")
There are two other freeway names in the region that do get mentioned once in a while...the Central Freeway (101 between 80 and Van Ness Avenue) and, though nowhere as often as it was during the reconstruction/realignment, the Cypress Freeway (880 from 980 to 80/580 at the MacArthur Maze).