Exit Number or Street Name?

[stevenliu96]

For example, would you say "take Exit 2" or "exit the freeway at Main St?"

[jp the roadgeek]

Depends on the area and whether or not I'm familiar with it.  In a big city, I'd say "Take the ___ St. Exit" because there are usually many exits close together (often with letters).  In suburban areas, I'll use the street name if it's in my local area, but in describing it to an out of towner, I'll use the exit number.  In non-local areas and in rural areas, I'll use the exit number.

[epzik8]

I would probably give the name or number of the street that exit serves, regardless of how rural or urban the area is.

[Rothman]

In NY, the affinity for giving directions by exit number has led to opposition to mileage-based exit numbering.

[TR69]

I usually give the street name, followed by the exit number if I know it.

[PHLBOS]

In MA & PA, most people just see the street/highway name/route number instead of the exit number.  For toll roads like the Mass or PA Turnpike, most refer to the exits by the town name(s).

[frankenroad]

Since my friends and family treat me as a GPS - I try to be as complete as possible, normally giving both (and the route number, too, if there is one).

Even that is not foolproof - despite telling my friend, "at the top of the cut in the hill, take the Kyles Lane exit, number 189, which is Route 1072", he still missed it!!  SMDH

[Rothman]

In MA & PA, most people just see the street/highway name/route number instead of the exit number.  For toll roads like the Mass or PA Turnpike, most refer to the exits by the town name(s).

Yeah, this is true for MA: e.g.,  "Take the Pike and get off at Lee" or "Get off of I-91 at Route 9."  Wondered if this still pertains to eastern MA, though.

[PHLBOS]

In MA & PA, most people just see the street/highway name/route number instead of the exit number.  For toll roads like the Mass or PA Turnpike, most refer to the exits by the town name(s).

Yeah, this is true for MA: e.g.,  "Take the Pike and get off at Lee" or "Get off of I-91 at Route 9."  Wondered if this still pertains to eastern MA, though.

Still does.

[1995hoo]

I try to give both, though I may use route number instead of street name. Extra clarification.

Our exit off the Beltway is an annoying and odd situation since it's Exit 173 and it follows Exit 57 if you're coming around the Outer Loop, so I often have to do some explaining.

[AlexandriaVA]

I would imagine that on highways where exit numbers are calibrated with the mile marker, then saying the exit number works better.

On my primary highway, I-395, we use sequential exit numbers (no other choice) and I prefer to use the street when corresponding.

[kphoger]

I voted for Street Name.

Even though I usually know the exit number in advance of where I'm turning, when I'm the passenger I only use it as a reference for determining distance until the exit. 

[jwolfer]

Its exit in NJ.. The stereotypical "what exit?" people know turnpike and parkway exit numbers... I did not live near i80 or 78 not sure what the local usuage is there.

Here in Florida you can NJ transplants by theie use of exit number exclusively. They also say "route xx" not SR xx or US xx or I xx

LGMS428

[jakeroot]

I usually say whatever's on the exit sign (if I can remember). I work at a hotel, so when I give directions, I generally will say something like "5 south to South 56 Street eastbound".

I almost never refer to an exit by its exit number, because I generally can't remember them. That's likely the result of Washington's freeway system lacking any sort of exit numbers on the vast majority of state highways (interstates always have exit numbers). Recently rebuilt sections of the 520 and 522 lack exit numbers; even the brand-new 395 freeway in Spokane lacks exit numbers). I could have swore that exit numbers were a requirement at this point ... guess not.

[Buck87]

Some of both depending on the area, and sometimes using both together. In general I use street name/route number for  familiar/frequently traveled to areas and exit numbers in areas I'm not as familiar with.

[vdeane]

On my primary highway, I-395, we use sequential exit numbers (no other choice) and I prefer to use the street when corresponding.

Looks like DDOT attempted to convert to mile-based numbers and then backtracked.

[1995hoo]

On my primary highway, I-395, we use sequential exit numbers (no other choice) and I prefer to use the street when corresponding.

Looks like DDOT attempted to convert to mile-based numbers and then backtracked.

I believe he was referring to the Virginia portion anyway, given his username!

Following up on my comment from earlier since I can give a little more detail now–I try to give people multiple reference points if I know what they are. In giving directions to my house I will mention street names, the number of traffic lights you encounter, two community features you see, and a high school you pass. So on the highway I try to give exit number, route number, street name if it's posted, and destination (all subject to my knowing what they are when giving directions).

[stevenliu96]

I am originally from California and I didn't grow up using exit numbers. Maybe that's why I tend to memorize street names rather than exit numbers. Sure, after I become more familiar with an area I will start memorizing what road is what exit. Exit numbers are not well marked in California anyway. However, I find myself doing the same thing outside of California.

[Quillz]

Locally, I use the exit name. Somewhere else within the state, I'll use the exit number.

[sbeaver44]

Locally, I use the exit name. Somewhere else within the state, I'll use the exit number.

I think this thread made me realize, I almost always refer to the street name/highway number rather than the exit number when telling other people. 

Might be a function of PA not always using exit numbers on highways, like US 15 or US 30.  That's something I'd love... exit numbers on every highway with multiple exits.

Of course...PennDOT isn't always consistent with its mile markers...  The previously discussed US 22/322 markers from I-81 is one example.  Another is US 30...At the PA 441 interchange in Columbia, the marker is Mile 254, which I believe is correct from WV.  Just after PA 10 near Parkesburg, the marker shows 269.  It is about 35 miles between those on US 30.

[adventurernumber1]

I typically refer to freeway exits by street name. If someone says an exit number (such as I-75 in GA's Exit 348) in my area, I know exactly what exit they're talking about (I'd be like 'yeah, that's Georgia Highway 151; Ringgold, LaFayette') - others might not so readily know. It seems that for me and everyone else, at least around here, the common practice is to refer to exits by street name. Referring to them by exit numbers is less common, but does happen rarely.


If people might happen to mention exits by exit number, they typically look to me as translator. 

[Brandon]

Around Chicagoland, I tend to give out the street name, even for the expressways and tollways (unless the number is the only name, or the number is slightly better).  This is fairly typical of people in the area.  Of course, like California, the Tollways did not have exit numbers until recently.

[slorydn1]

This thread really made me think about it.

I've lived here in New Bern more than 25 years now, and until the last 10 or so, none of the exits on US-70 were numbered. Many still are not, so we call the exits the "Glenburnie Exit" or Clarks Exit". That said, we refer to the newly added exits for US-17 and the NC-43 connector as "the 410 Exit or the 411 Exit" respectively.

When I first started driving, which was in the Chicagoland area, everything was by name, too. I to this day couldn't tell you what exit Cumberland Ave is off the Kennedy, but I surely could tell you how to get there.

[machias]

Growing up in Central New York and traveling down into Syracuse we always used the name of the exit, but then again, some of the exits on I-81 through Syracuse weren't numbered until the early 1980s and old habits stick. Up in the Lake Ontario snowbelt it's the exit name, "Get off at Adams Center". Even today, when referring to the Thruway, "Get off at Verona". I would make an educated guess that Rochester and Buffalo are the same way. When hearing directions given in Rochester at work I don't remember ever hearing a local use an exit number. We can't help but use exit names around Utica, there's no exit numbers.

[Darkchylde]

Around here, most people seem to use the exit name rather than the number. It was typically the same when I lived down in Louisiana - you'd hear "Take I-12 to Airport Road," not to Exit 80.