Why is there an interstate THERE but not one___?

[US20IL64]

I now can see 'freeway' meaning free from stop lights, but then some states call 2 lane highways that. Example, the 'notice, freeway' signs on state roads to prevent someone adding driveways. But, will not make a big deal of semantics, here.

Back on topic, some Interstates are added to try to 'add commerce' to remote areas, like Quincy IL getting I-172, or Hannibal MO getting 1-72 extended there.

[SEWIGuy]

^ All of this "we shouldn't sign US highways as interstates just because they're freeways"  gives me the sense that the same people saying this believe the interstate system just shouldn't exist then. Because that's exactly what you're saying.

Frankly, there's no need for two separate national numbering systems. Either discontinue the US highway system, or the US highway numbers should've been moved onto today's interstates and the substandard/not feasible to upgrade routes be downgraded to state highways.

See you are just viewing this wrong.  These days, US Highways are just state routes with a common numbering system.  It isn't a "downgrade" to go from a US route to a state route.  It's the same thing except the US route continues its number across state lines.

[roadman65]

New to this board, but not sure why 'freeway' term is used so much? To me, it is same as expressway, highway, and opposite of 'tollway'. Seen some call tolled Interstates a 'freeway'. Chicago may have Bishop Ford Freeway, but no one calls it that locally.

Depends on Metro area whether limited access highways are called freeway or expressway. Just my 2 cents.

Many people on the forum use the official terms, and in their areas the transportation departments may use them as well. But in various parts of the country, many people will use different terms.

Then in Texas you even have the prefix IH instead of I like other states use for interstates.

In New Jersey all highways regardless of intestate, state, or US are all routes before the number. When I first moved to Florida I had a hard time getting used to calling interstate 4 as I-4 because being from the Garden State we would call it Route 4.

Each end the country has its own lingo about roads. 

[achilles765]

New to this board, but not sure why 'freeway' term is used so much? To me, it is same as expressway, highway, and opposite of 'tollway'. Seen some call tolled Interstates a 'freeway'. Chicago may have Bishop Ford Freeway, but no one calls it that locally.

Depends on Metro area whether limited access highways are called freeway or expressway. Just my 2 cents.

Many people on the forum use the official terms, and in their areas the transportation departments may use them as well. But in various parts of the country, many people will use different terms.

Then in Texas you even have the prefix IH instead of I like other states use for interstates.

In New Jersey all highways regardless of intestate, state, or US are all routes before the number. When I first moved to Florida I had a hard time getting used to calling interstate 4 as I-4 because being from the Garden State we would call it Route 4.

Each end the country has its own lingo about roads. 

I have noticed that what one calls a road often is dependent on their location.  While most of us on this board use the official terms, many of us sometimes slip into the colloquial...like how I tend to refer to all Interstates as IH xx...because I have lived in Texas for 14 years and have become accustomed to Texas' style of doing things.  It's why when I went to Louisiana in June for a funeral, it was odd to be on interstate 10,12, and 55 and not see frontage roads. 

Back home in rural Louisiana/Mississippi people just use the term "Interstate" because usually the interstate is the only freeway anywhere near them.  Even cities like Baton Rouge and Jackson only have Interstate routes as freeways.  New Orleans will use the term "expressway" to refer to BUS US 90...but I have heard many people call it "the interstate" or even "Interstate 90."

When I would travel with my friends to New England, though, it seems like everything was "the highway." In Massachusetts, it was either the highway, or the turnpike for I-90.  In New York, expressway was the term I always heard, and in Jersey, it was route,..unless you were talking about IH 95, then it was  the turnpike. 
I've seen this expressed in speech when people from one region are in another one too...Here in Houston, we have freeways and tollways but many of us just use the number, unless we are referring to a specific area that requires a term.  288 is almost always just referred to as 288 but you may hear someone say "I-10..the Katy" or "The gulf freeway...45". So it's always interesting to me when a transplant asks for a direction to "the expressway" or "the highway."  It's one of the ways you can tell how long someone has been in Houston..that and whether they refer to the Easter and Southwwest Freeways as "Interstate 69" or "highway 59."

[Rothman]

In MA, the Pike is the Pike, not the "highway." 

[SkyPesos]

It's one of the ways you can tell how long someone has been in Houston..that and whether they refer to the Easter and Southwwest Freeways as "Interstate 69" or "highway 59."

Same with telling how long someone has been in St Louis, by seeing whether they refer to one freeway in the city as 40 or 64.

[JayhawkCO]

New to this board, but not sure why 'freeway' term is used so much? To me, it is same as expressway, highway, and opposite of 'tollway'. Seen some call tolled Interstates a 'freeway'. Chicago may have Bishop Ford Freeway, but no one calls it that locally.

Depends on Metro area whether limited access highways are called freeway or expressway. Just my 2 cents.

Many people on the forum use the official terms, and in their areas the transportation departments may use them as well. But in various parts of the country, many people will use different terms.

Then in Texas you even have the prefix IH instead of I like other states use for interstates.

In New Jersey all highways regardless of intestate, state, or US are all routes before the number. When I first moved to Florida I had a hard time getting used to calling interstate 4 as I-4 because being from the Garden State we would call it Route 4.

Each end the country has its own lingo about roads.

In California, you have a completely different prefix: "the".

Chris

[SeriesE]

^ All of this "we shouldn't sign US highways as interstates just because they're freeways"  gives me the sense that the same people saying this believe the interstate system just shouldn't exist then. Because that's exactly what you're saying.

Frankly, there's no need for two separate national numbering systems. Either discontinue the US highway system, or the US highway numbers should've been moved onto today's interstates and the substandard/not feasible to upgrade routes be downgraded to state highways.

See you are just viewing this wrong.  These days, US Highways are just state routes with a common numbering system.  It isn't a "downgrade" to go from a US route to a state route.  It's the same thing except the US route continues its number across state lines.

No, I get it perfectly about the realities of the US highway system. It's that some people perceive a state highway as "lesser" than a US highway even though it's not justified.

[SeriesE]

In California, you have a completely different prefix: "the".

Chris

Only in southern California. Northern California says highway xx or just the number. Since California doesn't allow duplicate numbers, it all works out.

[achilles765]

In MA, the Pike is the Pike, not the "highway." 

That's what I thought I wrote. I heard people refer to everything else as the highway but the pike specifically as "the turnpike"  or "the mass pike" . But I only ever really met and talked to people who either lived in Boston or in and around the area near Sturbridge/Far east CT. I used to visit the Woodstock, CT area every year.

[SkyPesos]

Only in southern California. Northern California says highway xx or just the number. Since California doesn't allow duplicate numbers, it all works out.

That seems to be the case in Ohio (another state that doesn't duplicate numbers) too. Most often, I hear either just the route number (75, 50, 4, etc) without a prefix, or the road name if there is one.

[US20IL64]

Bay Area nearly uses all #'s 1-9 for x80 routes. Posted elsewhere maybe I-238 should be 1180? 4di!