Calling freeways or highways "the interstate" as a noun

[Dirt Roads]

When referring to local travel, we call I-77 "the Interstate". Generally, people seem to know the difference between an Interstate and a non-Interstate.

Indeed, the whole rest of the Mountain State says "the Interstate".  But I've actually heard a number of West Virginians refer to freeways in other states (not part of the Interstate system) as "take this here Interstate".  I suspect that many folks don't really know the difference, but since there are so few freeways in West Virginia that "h'aint in the Innerstate syssem" you really don't need to know.  By the way, before the Turnpike was four-laned, nobody called it "the Interstate".

For anything else, they just call it by it's number, including Interstates: "we'll take (I-) 77 down to (I-) 64 and then hop onto (US) 119 and then hit (WV) 10. The classier ones will use "Route" before the road name: "Oh, yes. Route (WV) 44."

Folks in various parts of the state say "root" or "rowt".  Where I grew up in the crossover between north and south, "root" was a noun and "rowt" was a verb.  Never heard it that way anywhere else.

One interesting quirk is the 4-lane freeway—US 33 and WV 2—connecting Ravenswood to the interstate (see what I did there?). People call it "the four lanes". No other expressway is called "the four lanes". Just that one.

That reminds me that in most of Central West Virginia, they say "thie four-lanes" but that term is still singular.  Other folks in some of the Eastern parts of the state differ by using that term as a plural noun phrase.  (Somebody in Elkins gave me directions a few weeks ago and I was jolted that it was plural; note that they said "down thie five-lanes" since it has a chicken lane).

[kphoger]

By the way, before the Turnpike was four-laned, nobody called it "the Interstate".

Here in Wichita, people call I-35 "the turnpike".  And they call I-135 "I-35".

It takes newcomers some getting used to.

[webny99]

I was listening to a podcast where the hosts are from NWA, and they were saying "Driving on the interstate" for what we in Massachusetts would call "the highway". Like use interstate as a noun, like "the first time I drove on the interstate it was scary". Here we would say, "the first time I drove on the highway it was scary". Is this a common way to use the term in rural America where the only freeway is the interstate?

Yes.

"Highway" just refers to any state route, whether it's a normal two-lane between towns or a six-lane Interstate.

Except most state routes aren't also Interstates, but otherwise agreed.

The Dakotas are probably the ultimate example of this usage. "Highway" is basically just any road that's paved and striped, while "Interstate" is just I-29, I-90, or I-94, and sometimes even "the" gets dropped off, e.g. "Take Interstate to Grand Forks".

The phenomenon I was talking about was people insisting that something must have full access control in order to be called a 'highway'.

I'm one of those people, at least locally, since that's how the term is primarily used around here. We don't really have anything in between an arterial and a freeway, so "highway" is essentially a synonym for freeway in local usage. As a result, I feel that using it for arterials or rural two-lanes (other than perhaps super-2's) risks watering it down and creating ambiguity. It's always an adjustment when I visit the Midwest to remember that pretty much anything counts as a "highway" there.

[The_Ginger]

One interesting quirk is the 4-lane freeway—US 33 and WV 2—connecting Ravenswood to the interstate (see what I did there?). People call it "the four lanes". No other expressway is called "the four lanes". Just that one.

That reminds me that in most of Central West Virginia, they say "thie four-lanes" but that term is still singular.  Other folks in some of the Eastern parts of the state differ by using that term as a plural noun phrase.  (Somebody in Elkins gave me directions a few weeks ago and I was jolted that it was plural; note that they said "down thie five-lanes" since it has a chicken lane).

I've never heard "the five-lanes" before. Interesting.

I've forgotten to mention are the ADHS Corridors, the last road type here.

• Corridor G is US 119, and everyone calls it "Corridor G". US 119 is called "119" north and east of Charleston though.
• Corridor L is called "19", and it's also called that when US 19 isn't on Corridor L.
• Corridor D is called "50", no special name there
• Corridor Q—no idea
• Corridor H is weird. Because it's constantly being added to, it's sometimes called "48", but that's usually east of Buckhannon/Elkins. Referring to it as "Corridor H" is rare in Davis, Thomas, and surrounding areas, but it hasn't been fully built there though.

[Rothman]

Eastern KY refers to US 23 as "The Four Lane." (along with its concurrencies with US 460/KY 80/US 119...)

[Dirt Roads]

Eastern KY refers to US 23 as "The Four Lane." (along with its concurrencies with US 460/KY 80/US 119...)

So does Southwestern Virginia (along with its other fourlane roads).  Same goes for Southern West Virginia, along Corridor G (US-119) and Corridor Q (US-460).  For that matter, same goes for pocket next to Appalachian State in the North Carolina Highlands. 

[kphoger]

"Highway" just refers to any state route, whether it's a normal two-lane between towns or a six-lane Interstate.

Except most state routes aren't also Interstates

I'm surprised it took that long for someone to question me on that.  See if you can tell what I mean here:

1.  All Interstates are state routes.
2.  Not all State Routes are Interstates.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I've heard southern Wisconsin residents refer to "the interstate" to mean the greater I-90 corridor along with the associated duplexed routes it shares. I think the term just specifically refers to the type of road.

[pderocco]

People give me shit off forum for referring to long distance road corridors that aren't limited access as "highways."  I really never understood the basis for that, but to each their own I guess.

They probably spend too much time on SkyscraperCity forums.  People over there also seem to get worked up over it, but I think that's mainly due to European influence.

It is actually kind of all over the place in terms of who gets uppity about it.  For example; when I posted something about Coalinga Road in the Diablo Range I called it a "highway."  IMO that seems like a pretty reasonable thing to call a 25 mile road that crosses over a mountain range.  Some people didn't agree because said corridor is mostly about 1.5 lanes wide.  Their arguments were that the narrow width coupled with the lack of highway shields just makes it a "road."

I wouldn't give you shit about it, but I think of "highway" as some road that is roughly above the median speed for all roads.

[GaryV]

except devices exclusively moved by human power

So a bike trail only open to e-bikes makes it a highway?

(Ah, ain't in fun when the human race invents things faster than the regulators can regulate them?)

[bing101]

I used the word "freeway" once in Arkansas and someone asked me if I was from California.

Did someone ask you if you're from the Southland.

[jdbx]

Here in Northern California, I hear "highway" applied to any long-distance road, including freeways.  You will hear people say "Highway 80", "Highway 101", and "Highway 24", all of which are signed freeway routes.  But they will also talking about taking "Highway 50" up to Tahoe, which is a 2-lane route through the mountains.  If people are talking about the facility itself, they usually just say "freeway" if they are referring to a access-controlled road in the generic sense ie- "I was broke down on the side of the freeway"

One big tell that somebody is not a native and has came from down south is use of "The" to refer to a highway number.  You will get jeered at for that by a lot of people.

I do think that our heavy use of "highway" for most routes is at least partly driven by the fact that we don't have state troopers, we have "California Highway Patrol" who is responsible for law enforcement on every class of road you can think of, even many routes that are not officially numbered highways.

[JayhawkCO]

At least for me...

"The highway" is going to be a limited access road.
"Highway X" is fine for any state/US route no matter if it's 2-lane or 10-lane-limited.
"Interstate/The Interstate" will be literal.

[bing101]

Here in Northern California, I hear "highway" applied to any long-distance road, including freeways.  You will hear people say "Highway 80", "Highway 101", and "Highway 24", all of which are signed freeway routes.  But they will also talking about taking "Highway 50" up to Tahoe, which is a 2-lane route through the mountains.  If people are talking about the facility itself, they usually just say "freeway" if they are referring to a access-controlled road in the generic sense ie- "I was broke down on the side of the freeway"

One big tell that somebody is not a native and has came from down south is use of "The" to refer to a highway number.  You will get jeered at for that by a lot of people.

I do think that our heavy use of "highway" for most routes is at least partly driven by the fact that we don't have state troopers, we have "California Highway Patrol" who is responsible for law enforcement on every class of road you can think of, even many routes that are not officially numbered highways.

True and there's this sometimes I heard of I-80 and Highway 80 gets used here interchangeably in Northern California to mean the same route from San Francisco to Nevada State line but it's a carryover of Business 80 and I-80 being separate freeways in Sacramento. 

[jdbx]

Here in Northern California, I hear "highway" applied to any long-distance road, including freeways.  You will hear people say "Highway 80", "Highway 101", and "Highway 24", all of which are signed freeway routes.  But they will also talking about taking "Highway 50" up to Tahoe, which is a 2-lane route through the mountains.  If people are talking about the facility itself, they usually just say "freeway" if they are referring to a access-controlled road in the generic sense ie- "I was broke down on the side of the freeway"

One big tell that somebody is not a native and has came from down south is use of "The" to refer to a highway number.  You will get jeered at for that by a lot of people.

I do think that our heavy use of "highway" for most routes is at least partly driven by the fact that we don't have state troopers, we have "California Highway Patrol" who is responsible for law enforcement on every class of road you can think of, even many routes that are not officially numbered highways.

True and there's this sometimes I heard of I-80 and Highway 80 gets used here interchangeably in Northern California to mean the same route from San Francisco to Nevada State line but it's a carryover of Business 80 and I-80 being separate freeways in Sacramento.

With the erasure of Business 80 from the segment that was cosigned with US-50 in practice, if not officially, there is probably a lot less confusion in that area.  If Caltrans ever decided to get into the business of renumbering highways again, and legislation supported it, I could see Business 80 disappearing completely.

[Max Rockatansky]

Here in Northern California, I hear "highway" applied to any long-distance road, including freeways.  You will hear people say "Highway 80", "Highway 101", and "Highway 24", all of which are signed freeway routes.  But they will also talking about taking "Highway 50" up to Tahoe, which is a 2-lane route through the mountains.  If people are talking about the facility itself, they usually just say "freeway" if they are referring to a access-controlled road in the generic sense ie- "I was broke down on the side of the freeway"

One big tell that somebody is not a native and has came from down south is use of "The" to refer to a highway number.  You will get jeered at for that by a lot of people.

I do think that our heavy use of "highway" for most routes is at least partly driven by the fact that we don't have state troopers, we have "California Highway Patrol" who is responsible for law enforcement on every class of road you can think of, even many routes that are not officially numbered highways.

True and there's this sometimes I heard of I-80 and Highway 80 gets used here interchangeably in Northern California to mean the same route from San Francisco to Nevada State line but it's a carryover of Business 80 and I-80 being separate freeways in Sacramento.

With the erasure of Business 80 from the segment that was cosigned with US-50 in practice, if not officially, there is probably a lot less confusion in that area.  If Caltrans ever decided to get into the business of renumbering highways again, and legislation supported it, I could see Business 80 disappearing completely.

[/quote

Legislatively it always has been CA 51. That's how Caltrans got away with the duplicate field signed 80.

[michravera]

I was listening to a podcast where the hosts are from NWA, and they were saying "Driving on the interstate" for what we in Massachusetts would call "the highway". Like use interstate as a noun, like "the first time I drove on the interstate it was scary". Here we would say, "the first time I drove on the highway it was scary". Is this a common way to use the term in rural America where the only freeway is the interstate?

Yes.

"Highway" just refers to any state route, whether it's a normal two-lane between towns or a six-lane Interstate.

In California, it's even more general than that (at least in the CVC). A "highway" is basically "any public road".

People in areas that don't have a lot of freeways often conflate "the Interstate" with "the freeway". Rural vs. Urban doesn't, in my experience, have as much to do with it. It might be regional. For instance, in areas where peoples first or only experience with freeways was with interstates, people might conflate the two. In areas, like California for instance, that had freeways before interstates, will usually stick to "freeway" whether it "I-5", "US-101", or "CA SR-99". I keep reminding my wife and mother-in-law that there is no "the 237" or "the 280", but cut them slack when they say "the 101", since there is one (even if it isn't normally called that near us).

[kphoger]

In California, it's even more general than that (at least in the CVC). A "highway" is basically "any public road".

Legally, that's the case in every state's vehicle code that I can recall looking it up in.  But colloquially, it's a different story.

[triplemultiplex]

Everything with a number (or a letter) is a 'highway' in these parts.

I even hear people say things like, "Highway I-94".

The best/worst though is a local TV commercial that touted their location as "just off Interstate I-39".
I wonder if they have an ATM Machine?

[achilles765]

Growing up in Southwest Mississippi and Southeastern Louisiana (like between New Orleans and Jackson) "the interstate" is pretty much what most people I knew called it--because outside of New Orleans the only roads that were freeways were and still ARE interstates: notably I-55, I-12 and I-10...
IN fact my parents and as far as I know everyone else who lives in the more rural parts of that area say "the interstate.."
Only within like Baton Rouge and New Orleans did I ever hear any different--and that was mostly referring to a route by its specific number.  "I-12, I-10" instead of just "the interstate." 
New Orleans is quite different because no one says "freeway.." its "I-10", "I-610", "the expressway" (for BUS US 90--the Westbank Expressway), or maybe "I-310" if you live out that way.

Here in Houston, I never hear "the interstate" unless someone is talking about the one nearest to them.  Generally its "10, 45, 59, 288, 249, 610, beltway, westpark, hardy.."  Sometimes by the names but "Katy Freeway", "Southwest Freeway" and "North Freeway" are the only ones I hear consistently outside of traffic reports. Only newer residents refer to US 59 as I-69...which gives them away immediately haha.

[Bickendan]

I used the word "freeway" once in Arkansas and someone asked me if I was from California.

Understandable given the history:

That was a great edit of that scene