Using the word "the" before a highway number

[jakeroot]

I've been hearing "the" all up and down the west coast for several years. Obviously it's more prevalent in southern California, but it's not like "the" doesn't exist in the Bay Area.

Besides, I doubt most people outside of those along the west coast actually understand "the" as being a SoCal "invention". It's just a "California thing".

Huh? I'm from Northern California we have two types of tendencies of naming freeways its "On Highway 880" or "On 880 Nimitz Freeway" or "On Highway 80 Eastshore freeway" Or "On 80"
Some of this was a carry over when I-80 was then called US-40 Eastshore Highway.

In Sacramento you have to call a freeway by its designation like I-5,  Business-80, I-80, US-50, Highway 50, Ca-99, CA-113 and I-505 or Highway 505.

Note Solano county uses both the Sacramento way of Calling freeways and Bay Area way of Calling freeways due to being a commuter county for both Sacramento and Bay Area.

You've never heard anyone say "The 80" or "the 5"? I live in the farthest part of the west coast from SoCal -- Seattle -- yet I've heard this terminology.

I never said it was common. All I said was that I was hearing it. Not commonly, but I've been hearing it.

FWIW, the Sacramento method is unusual, at least by Seattle standards. Most freeways are just "nn" (i.e. 5, 405, 520, 18). You hear "the nn" from time to time. Not commonly. But you hear it.

[KEVIN_224]

All I'd need is to hear somebody in Massachusetts give directions and say "You take THE 128 to the..." and I'd die!

NO! NO! NO! 

Do you dislike Californians?

No, not at all! I'm a CT native and have lived in New England my entire life (includes 2 stints in Maine). NOBODY uses the here when giving directions or in advertising. It's almost as bad when somebody reads off the year as TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN.

[jakeroot]

All I'd need is to hear somebody in Massachusetts give directions and say "You take THE 128 to the..." and I'd die!

NO! NO! NO! 

Do you dislike Californians?

No, not at all! I'm a CT native and have lived in New England my entire life (includes 2 stints in Maine). NOBODY uses the here when giving directions or in advertising. It's almost as bad when somebody reads off the year as TWO THOUSAND AND SIXTEEN.

Well that's fine, but you seem to imply a deep hatred for "the xx". I understand that its not common to use "the" in Connecticut, but that doesn't mean you have to hate it. 

[bing101]

I've been hearing "the" all up and down the west coast for several years. Obviously it's more prevalent in southern California, but it's not like "the" doesn't exist in the Bay Area.

Besides, I doubt most people outside of those along the west coast actually understand "the" as being a SoCal "invention". It's just a "California thing".

Huh? I'm from Northern California we have two types of tendencies of naming freeways its "On Highway 880" or "On 880 Nimitz Freeway" or "On Highway 80 Eastshore freeway" Or "On 80"
Some of this was a carry over when I-80 was then called US-40 Eastshore Highway.

In Sacramento you have to call a freeway by its designation like I-5,  Business-80, I-80, US-50, Highway 50, Ca-99, CA-113 and I-505 or Highway 505.

Note Solano county uses both the Sacramento way of Calling freeways and Bay Area way of Calling freeways due to being a commuter county for both Sacramento and Bay Area.

You've never heard anyone say "The 80" or "the 5"? I live in the farthest part of the west coast from SoCal -- Seattle -- yet I've heard this terminology.

I never said it was common. All I said was that I was hearing it. Not commonly, but I've been hearing it.

FWIW, the Sacramento method is unusual, at least by Seattle standards. Most freeways are just "nn" (i.e. 5, 405, 520, 18). You hear "the nn" from time to time. Not commonly. But you hear it.

The Reason is that in Sacramento we say Designations first because of the fact that there are two highways named 80 like I-80 and Business-80 aka CA51.

[slorydn1]

I know I have touched on this in another thread on this topic somewhere (it may not have been on this forum though) that here in eastern NC its spoken as Highway 70, Highway 43 (in other words no differentiation between US or NC) but it's always I-95, I-40 (etc) when referring to the Interstate Highways.

When I hear "The 5" on a TV show, I instantly think southern California, and it doesn't bother for me. It does cause me to snicker, a little, when I see it typed out that way, though. I am not sure why, probably because in the back of my mind I think it will cause a thread like this one.

[kkt]

All I'd need is to hear somebody in Massachusetts give directions and say "You take THE 128 to the..." and I'd die!

NO! NO! NO! 

Do you dislike southern Californians?

Fixed that for you.

Is that true though? I've been hearing "the" all up and down the west coast for several years. Obviously it's more prevalent in southern California, but it's not like "the" doesn't exist in the Bay Area.

Besides, I doubt most people outside of those along the west coast actually understand "the" as being a SoCal "invention". It's just a "California thing".

It started as a SoCal thing and is still mostly a SoCal thing.  I didn't hear it hardly at all growing up in NoCal.

It's probably because SoCal used to use freeway names a whole lot more both in speech and on the BGSs.  "The Santa Ana Freeway" got abbreviated to "The Santa Ana" and when the names were removed from the BGSs that changed to "The 5".

[jakeroot]

The not-for-profit "Regional Plan Association" lists 11 mega-regions in the US. Northern California is one of them, and it includes the Bay Area and Sacramento.

This, beside the fact that you're talking complete shit anyway.

[hotdogPi]

Look carefully at the image and you'll see that I-27 has been extended.

[jbnv]

Where does this map come from?

[jakeroot]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/MapofEmergingUSMegaregions.png

Where does this map come from?

(Here) and (here)

[jbnv]

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/MapofEmergingUSMegaregions.png

Where does this map come from?

(Here) and (here)

I have created a topic for further discussion about this.

[epzik8]

Getting back on topic... I have now taken to calling Pennsylvania Route 309, a Philadelphia-Allentown connector, "The 309".

[Chris19001]

Getting back on topic... I have now taken to calling Pennsylvania Route 309, a Philadelphia-Allentown connector, "The 309".

You are probably the first, and hopefully the only to do so.

[kkt]

Wait Jefferson territory was always interned to be north of the Sacramento area but wait Placer, Yuba, Sutter and El Dorado area in this case are included in the Jefferson proposal and part of the "North California" Proposal.
http://www.soj51.net/




https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_(proposed_Pacific_state)


But wait some of these places are still influenced by the culture of Bay Area and Sacramento in terms of naming highways.

But Ecotopia was portrayed as including the San Francisco Bay Area and south to the Tehachapis.

[cpzilliacus]

Citylab.com: Why West Coast Drivers Add 'The' to Their Freeway Numbers - It's not an affectation of the car-obsessed–it's history.

[Rothman]

Citylab.com: Why West Coast Drivers Add 'The' to Their Freeway Numbers - It's not an affectation of the car-obsessed–it's history.

Have never heard Utahns refer to I-15 as "The 15."  Then again, has Saint George picked up the practice?

[cpzilliacus]

Citylab.com: Why West Coast Drivers Add 'The' to Their Freeway Numbers - It's not an affectation of the car-obsessed–it's history.

Have never heard Utahns refer to I-15 as "The 15."  Then again, has Saint George picked up the practice?

I have never listened to traffic reports in Utah, and the only freeway in the Beehive State that I have driven in its entirety is I-70, which is mostly in the  middle of nowhere (and thus not in need of traffic reports because volumes are so low).

[bzakharin]

Citylab.com: Why West Coast Drivers Add 'The' to Their Freeway Numbers - It's not an affectation of the car-obsessed–it's history.

I've heard the rationale before, but haven't we had a similar history on the east coast? Take Philadelphia. The Schuylkill Expressway has existed since 1952 and is still call that today. The Vine Expressway has existed since 1960 and was already an interstate when it opened.  It is still called that today. Even I-476 which was never given an official name is called "The Blue Route". Yet, nobody says "The 95" or for nearby freeways in, say, NJ which never had publicly used names, "The 295" or "The 676" ("The 42 Freeway" is an exception in this regard). Similarly, New York names almost all their interstates, but nobody from New York appends "the" to the ones in nearby NJ or CT.