Renumbering roads to remove a politician's name

[bandit957]

I don't want to get too political or too conspiratorial, but I've noticed a couple of strange things lately.

A few major highways are referred to not by number but by name - and are often named for a past politician. I've noticed that there have been plans lately to give a couple of these roads numbers that would be publicly signed and marked - replacing the previous name. These renumberings have been proposed by well-known politicians who are in office now.

I can't help but thinking that there's an ulterior motive - namely, that the politicians who propose renumbering these roads are ideologically opposed to the politicians that the roads were named for, so the goal is to remove these politicians' names from the roads for ideological reasons.

I don't want to specify which roads or which politicians, since this isn't really a political forum.

[Max Rockatansky]

Anyone know if there is a directory of roads named after presidents?  I would suspect that there are quite a few for every president all the way back to the American Revolution.  I know that I've seen; Obama, Bush Jr, Clinton, Bush Sr and Reagan with pretty frequent regularity....no Jimmy Carters off the top of my head. 

Also, how would renumbering a route imply anything?  Got some examples for reference?

And...Republicans and Democrats not liking what the other party's views?....stop the presses. 

[SectorZ]

I think you may need to name the ones in question so we know what you may actually speak of. Conspiracy theories work better when the evidence to back them is presented.

[jakeroot]

Even if they renumber the route, that doesn't traditionally remove the name?

[bandit957]

The roads I'm talking about have secret numbers, and the signage almost always refers to the politician's name. If they are renumbered, the signs would be changed.

[Mr. Matté]

Bud Schuster is probably mad that the highway that Gov. Casey named after him is now referred to most often by the number Schuster proposed (I-99), not by his name.

[jakeroot]

The roads I'm talking about have secret numbers, and the signage almost always refers to the politician's name. If they are renumbered, the signs would be changed.

I can understand modifying the memorial name, if the physical location of the route changed. But I've never heard of the name changing simply because the route number changed. I don't think the two are connected.

Do you have any examples of this happening before? This is road related -- don't worry about getting flagged for being political.

[Kniwt]

no Jimmy Carters off the top of my head. 

[Max Rockatansky]

no Jimmy Carters off the top of my head. 

Figured there was at least a handful in Georgia.

[lordsutch]

I assume this is a reference to the Kentucky parkways, which historically had names reflecting their geographic locations (except the Daniel Boone and Audubon), then had various politicians' names added to them in the 1990s, and now are getting interstate numbers that will replace the five-or-more-word names they've accumulated. A process that started under the former governor, of the same party as many of the politicians honored, I might add.

Since they never should have been renamed for politicians in the first place except on honorary roadside signs, I don't see it as any great loss.

[SignGeek101]

The QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) in Ontario ought to be Hwy 408 I think.

[peterj920]

I don't think it's entirely true that the names are being changed to dishonor politicians that roads were originally named for.  I-88 was renamed the Reagan Memorial Tollway in 2004 when Illinois was controlled entirely by Democrats.  When I drive through Kentucky, I have no idea who these people are that the parkways are named after.  I guess one representative pushed to remove tolls from the Daniel Boone Parkway and got the parkway named for him.  Does that really deserve a name change? 

Would be great to get rid of Bud Shuster off of I-99, or renumber the interstate.  I thought he named it after himself.  That was the biggest waste of an interstate highway, that doesn't really serve a lot of communities.  If traffic from Pittsburgh wants to get to I-80 or State College, they're going to use I-79.  Coming from Philadelphia, they're going to use US 22.  I can understand an interstate spur to Altoona from the PA Turnpike, but I don't see how the route is useful beyond Altoona. 

I live in Wisconsin, and there aren't many roads or bridges named after politicians.  I counted only 4 out of over 50.  There are quite a few named after veterans and people that were either significant to the state, Frank Lloyd Wright as an example, or someone that did a lot for the community.  The Tower Drive Bridge was named for Leo Frigo, who made it his mission to gather food for the poor in Green Bay.

My favorite memorial highway designation would have to be Wis 32 in Wisconsin that was numbered for the 32nd Red Arrow Division that fought in both world wars and was one of the finest units that the US Military had.  Every Wis 32 sign has 2 red arrows on them, so there is a reminder on each sign.

[peterj920]

The QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) in Ontario ought to be Hwy 408 I think.

That would be a great idea.  The Queen has more things named after her than anyone else in Canada, which I don't understand since she's in Great Britain and has no political power.  I know she's the head of the British Commonwealth and Canada is a part of it, but does she need that much recognition for heading an organization that Canada voluntarily is a part of?

[lordsutch]

That would be a great idea.  The Queen has more things named after her than anyone else in Canada, which I don't understand since she's in Great Britain and has no political power.  I know she's the head of the British Commonwealth and Canada is a part of it, but does she need that much recognition for heading an organization that Canada voluntarily is a part of?

The Queen is not from the perspective of Canadians just some old English woman who happens to be the head of the Commonwealth of Nations; she's the Queen of Canada, as in the head of state and, in effect, the living symbol of the Canadian nation (just as she is the Queen of Australia, the Queen of New Zealand, the Queen of Jamaica, etc.). That she happens to also be the monarch of 15 other sovereign countries and doesn't spend much time in Canada is rather immaterial to that constitutional fact.

Besides which, the QEW is actually named in honor of the current queen's mother, also named Elizabeth, who was the queen consort of King George VI, who was the King of Canada when the QEW was originally built.

[jakeroot]

Without the Queen's confirmation (by way of either her or the Governor General), laws in Canada cannot be passed. She is still somewhat redundant, in that she rarely, if ever, denies the law its passage, but she still plays an everyday roll.

[bulldog1979]

The QEW (Queen Elizabeth Way) in Ontario ought to be Hwy 408 I think.

It's already Highway 451 internally.

[hbelkins]

The only Kentucky parkways that have had names removed for numbers are parts of the Western Kentucky and Pennyrile parkways where I-69 has taken over. Other than the Purchase Parkway, which will become I-69 in its entirety, and the Audubon (not a politician) and Natcher (totally renamed from Green River instead of having a name added), which are now slated to become 3di children of I-69, I am aware of no plans to remove the names from any of Kentucky's other parkways and replace them with signed numbers, although I think the state should either sign them with numbers or revert back to the traditional signage with auxiliary signs for the politician (as was done with the Mountain Parkway).

The only Republican governor honored with a parkway in his name is Louie B. Nunn, who was really a RINO. All the other gubernatorial parkways are named after Democrats. All of these changes were ordered by Democrat governors.

As for Hal Rogers, I've told this story many times. He had nothing whatsoever to do with the Daniel Boone Parkway being renamed for him, and was as surprised as everyone else when the name change was announced at a ceremony in which one of the old toll booths was symbolically demolished. That was done by Gov. Paul Patton, a Democrat. The recent extension of the Hal Rogers Parkway name along KY 80 between London and Somerset was ordered by Steve Beshear, also a Democrat.

So in short, partisan politics has nothing to do with the conversion of any Kentucky parkways to Interstates.

[NE2]

When CR 54 in Polk County was named after mezzanine, they removed the number.

[bandit957]

I wasn't referring to I-69 in particular, since I-69 was going to go through Kentucky anyway. I was referring to other designations that are completely new but would subsume an entire road.

[opspe]

Interstate 3 would be the most egregious case of political naming ever.  To say nothing of I-99.

[Brandon]

I have no idea how a renumbering would affect a politician's name on a road.  Now, a renaming would do the trick.

[jakeroot]

I have no idea how a renumbering would affect a politician's name on a road.  Now, a renaming would do the trick.

That's what I've been saying, but I'm not getting anywhere with Bandit. Names and numbers are not mutually exclusive, and both are free to be changed or removed at any time. A renumbering could change the name, but that would have to be part of the plan from the get-go. Simply changing the number doesn't automatically remove the old name.

[NE2]

I-69 has been assigned to several named parkways. Signs now say
69
FORMERLY
[name]

[briantroutman]

Are you describing a scenario like the following hypothetical:

• A road is named the Jimmy Carter Parkway–which is also secretly SR 450, but everyone just calls it the "Jimmy Carter Parkway" .
• Then a group of Republican lawmakers (who disdain Carter), have SR 450 redesigned as I-3 with great fanfare.
  
• The new signs just say I-3 (not Jimmy Carter Parkway), but nobody notices because they're distracted by the hoopla over I-3.

That's basically what you're describing?

[lordsutch]

I'd also add that there was an intention to incorporate other named parkways into I-66 and proposals to put interstate designations on other parkways have been floating around for 10+ years. Perhaps assigning unwieldy names like "Edward T. Breathitt Pennyrile Parkway" - all crammed into an unreadable shield rather than being posted as an honorary designation on guide signs - added to the pressure, but I suspect not.

As far as I know there's been no Georgia effort to rename anything named for Jimmy Carter, or even at the local level in Republican jurisdictions to get rid of roads named for Democrats like Carl Vinson and Richard Russell.