What is the lingo in your area for calling route numbers?

[ztonyg]

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.

[roadfro]

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.

[dfwmapper]

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.

[jakeroot]

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.

[webny99]

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.

[Flint1979]

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.

[Max Rockatansky]

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."    

[Ben114]

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"

[Billy F 1988]

"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.

[Brandon]

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).

[Rothman]

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.

[Flint1979]

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.

[ozarkman417]

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.

[bing101]

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.

[webny99]

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.

[Rothman]

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.

[Eth]

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).

[roadman65]

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.

[bing101]

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.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. 

[Henry]

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.

[Rothman]

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.

[kphoger]

[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.

[machias]

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".

[vdeane]

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.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

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