Highway or Route........What Do You Say?

[Ian]

Actually, now that I think about it, I say whatever gets the thing up to multiple syllables. I'd never say "take 1," I'd say "take highway 1" or "take route 1," but I'd always say "take 272"

I'm the same way. With US 1 near me, I always say "route (root) 1", but with PA 252 near me as well, I always simply say "252." With interstates, I always catch myself leaving out the "I" when talking about them most of the time. "So take 476 south to 95 north."

Of course, when I'm on the computer, I like saying "I-xx", "US xx", "*state abbreviation* xx", "CR xx", etc. I also never really liked people using "route xx" on the internet when talking about roads either, but that's just me.

[vdeane]

Here in upstate NY, everything is route.  People don't even know the difference between interstates and other roads.

Some atlases I have use "Federal Route" for "US Route".

[huskeroadgeek]

It hasn't been noted here yet, but people in Missouri(particularly the KC area, but also in other parts of the state) have a unique way of saying the number before the word "highway" instead of after it-such as "71 Highway" instead of "Highway 71".

[SSOWorld]

I follow the line.  I've heard many in WI refer to the highways as "Highway 94" (ex) or 94 or I-94.  As an earlier poster mentioned Highway (or as WISDoT referred to them as - Hwy!) for everything - Interstates, US, State, County.

On that note many still refer to the interstate between Portage and madison as 90/94 (as if I-39 never existed)

[Eth]

Grew up in Georgia, where the consensus was "highway" (except for Interstates), so that's what I'm most used to.  After moving to the DC area, I've pretty much gravitated toward saying "route" instead (which rhymes with "out", obviously - a "root" is what anchors a tree to the ground), though I generally only say that with one- or two-digit numbers, e.g. "route 28", "route 97", but simply "124" or "355".

[Dr Frankenstein]

I've heard English-language traffic reports in Quebec refer to "autoroutes" (the French term Quebec uses for expressways/freeways), with anglicized pronunciation.  (AW-doh-root)

CHOM FM (which is the channel I almost always listen to in my car) seems to say "Highway", regardless of whether it's an autoroute or another provincial highway.

I've heard English-language traffic reports in Quebec refer to "autoroutes" (the French term Quebec uses for expressways/freeways), with anglicized pronunciation.  (AW-doh-root)

I had no idea that was a French-only thing.  I thought "autoroute" was a perfectly good English word as well.

Well, I can't think of anywhere else in the English-speaking world it's used.  I suppose you could consider it Quebec English.  But do Anglophone Quebeckers use it in non-Quebec contexts, to refer to the 401 or I-87?

Not that I know of. "Highway 401", "I-87", or just "the 401", "the 87"

EDIT: In French though, they will refer to 400-series highways (Ontario) and Interstates as "Autoroutes". That's also what French signs in Ontario say.

[PAHighways]

I use "route" which is the term used across Pennsylvania for anything with a US or Keystone shield, and "I-###" for an Interstate.  Although I have heard "Route 70" in the media for Interstate 70.

PennDOT itself refers to alignments as "State Route" or "SR."

[Michael in Philly]

I've heard English-language traffic reports in Quebec refer to "autoroutes" (the French term Quebec uses for expressways/freeways), with anglicized pronunciation.  (AW-doh-root)

CHOM FM (which is the channel I almost always listen to in my car) seems to say "Highway", regardless of whether it's an autoroute or another provincial highway.

I've heard English-language traffic reports in Quebec refer to "autoroutes" (the French term Quebec uses for expressways/freeways), with anglicized pronunciation.  (AW-doh-root)

I had no idea that was a French-only thing.  I thought "autoroute" was a perfectly good English word as well.

Well, I can't think of anywhere else in the English-speaking world it's used.  I suppose you could consider it Quebec English.  But do Anglophone Quebeckers use it in non-Quebec contexts, to refer to the 401 or I-87?

Not that I know of. "Highway 401", "I-87", or just "the 401", "the 87"

EDIT: In French though, they will refer to 400-series highways (Ontario) and Interstates as "Autoroutes". That's also what French signs in Ontario say.

I'll admit that it's probably been about 30 years since I heard a radio announcer refer to "the Decarie Autoroute" ("Decarie" pronounced "duh-CARry"....)  On more recent trips, I try to stick to French for my media so I don't know current practice.

[AZDude]

I know several old-school sign collectors who use "federal route".  apparently in the 40s it was the colloquial designation especially in the east.

I believe "Federal Highway" appears as a local street name for a US route (forget which) somewhere in the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area. 

Yup, "Federal Highway" is US 1 through part of the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area.

[bulldog1979]

Michigan DOT also uses the term "trunkline highway" (I think, though I have not checked, as their private term for a primary state highway).

Act 51 of 1951 defines the "state trunkline highway system", but it's not so private. There will be signs at city or county lines that use "county roads or state trunklines". Usually it's signs up north that state whether or not snowmobiles or ORVs can use the shoulder of the road or not. No, it's not in layman's usage, but it's not totally internal to MDOT either

As to the question originally posed, I say I-75, US 41 or M-28. Tourists or ignorant reporters are the ones that drop the "M-" from the numbers. (Although I did hear a substitute traffic reporter here in the Grand Rapids area call it "The M-6" instead of "M-6" or even "the M-6 interchange" ) In other states, I use the term that's appropriate. Wisconsin has STH-X and CTH-X (not "highway#" or "WIS #") and Minnesota is TH-#. (Their logs have ISTH, USTH and MNTH for Interstates US Highways and state highways.)

If it's a county road in Marquette County, I use "CR" as the abbreviation on the primary county roads (numbered) but "Co. Rd." on the lettered (double or triple) secondaries, assuming that the road has no other name. (Many don't.) In other counties, if they participate in the CDH system, I use the number without prefacing (H-58).

A "route" is the path a car takes along highways, or the path the highway itself takes through the landscape. ("Route" rhymes with "out" except US 66.)

[MDRoads]

In most of Maryland, it's "route" (out) when it's used for US or MD, and "I-xx" for Interstates.  Often people just use the number, regardless of the route type.  Some use "beltway" as a noun to refer to any I-standard highway. "Expressway" was SHA's preferred term in planning docs, "freeway" less so.

[algorerhythms]

There's an odd division in Allegany County, Maryland, over "Route". In most of the county it rhymes with "out" but the southwestern portion of the county insists on pronouncing it like "root." The same portion of the county also pronounces "creek" as "crick".

[roadfro]

Nevada tends to use both "highway" and "route" for numbered roads in the state. The term "highway" tends to be connected more with the US numbered routes--especially in reference to US 50--but is sometimes used to talk about state highways. The term "route" tends to get connected more with state highways, and nearly always in the construct of "State Route ###". Interstates are generally just referred to as an "interstate" or simply "I-##".

However, Nevada is a state where the number alone is predominately used in everyday speech. Most of the state will use the number by itself (i.e. "80", "395", "431", "233"), but southern Nevadans/Las Vegans tend to place the definite article before the highway number when referring to major freeways (i.e. "the 15", "the 95", "the 215").

Regarding pronunciation and choice of "Route" versus "Highway," I use whatever is idiomatic for the given state.  ...  I pronounce "Route" both ways, but tend to rhyme with "out" in the phrase "State Route" and with "root" when I don't identify the system.  I get irritated when Californians use the definite article to refer to primary state highways outside California.

My pronunciation styles are very similar in that I use both pronunciations of "route".  I always rhyme with "out" in the phrase "State Route ###", but rhyme with "root" when not identifying the system and in practically every other usage of the word.

[Scott5114]

The same portion of the county also pronounces "creek" as "crick".

I had no idea that there were actually people who did this seriously.

[kharvey10]

Missouri refers all their highways as Routes

Illinois it depends on what part of the state you're at

[mightyace]

The same portion of the county also pronounces "creek" as "crick".

I had no idea that there were actually people who did this seriously.

Actually, it's the common pronunciation where I grew up around Bloomsburg.  Saying "creek" (long e) was evidence you were one of those college snobs.

[corco]

I had no idea that there were actually people who did this seriously.

That is the common pronunciation in rural Idaho- same with where my grandfather lived in Southern Ohio

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

The same portion of the county also pronounces "creek" as "crick".

I had no idea that there were actually people who did this seriously.

It's called linguistics. It falls under the anthropology area of study.

[J N Winkler]

Dialectology is a major field of study within sociolinguistics.  But actually it is not just anthropologists or linguists who have to take an interest in it--for example, if you do a degree in English, you will generally be required to take an entry-level linguistics course where you learn about American regional dialects and how to identify a speaker's dialect by markers such as word choice and pronunciation.  For example, if a person says "parking" to refer to the strip of grass between the curb and the sidewalk, you know instantly that he or she is from Wichita.