Highway number vs. local name

[Jerseyman4]

In North Carolina

Outside of town's and cities (let's call them municipalities), numbers are always used on primary routes 1-999.

Inside municipalities of lets say under 10,000, numbers are still likely used. Some of the less important 3 digit routes will probably be referred to it's local name. Then there is also NC Highway 5 in Aberdeen where east of US 1, it's known by local names. In Boone, US 421 is known as King Street but US 321 is 50/50 between Highway 321 and Blowing Rock Road. NC 105 is simply called "105" but the part between US 421 and US 321 is "105 Extension" because that was a road built in recent times. Then there is a "105 Bypass" which isn't NC 105 at all but simply a western bypass of Boone using a two lane state secondary road called "NC 105 Bypass".

Municipalities over 10,000 and less than around 30,000 will be a case-by-case scenario. Asheboro is a big street name user but Pinehurst/Southern Pines uses numbers (except NC Highway 2 ironically).

Over 30,000+are more than likely going to use local names. This is where even *some* freeway bypasses would not even be called their numbers. Example would be the locals calling it the "the bypass". There are exceptions like US 74 through Monroe where it's still called "Highway 74" but in Charlotte, it's Independence Boulevard/Freeway. Greensboro with the exception of Interstates, numbers are not used.

The fact of the matter is, you can go through practically anywhere in NC and expect signage to be present to guide through small and large areas. On the other hand, figuring out where to get back to NC XX(X) won't be easy giving an exact location to AAA or a local who has never left the county who refers NC 87 between Graham and Burlington as "E Webb Ave". 

And of course on state secondaries numbered 1000 and above, local names are ALWAYS used. There are RARE exceptions say in SW NC where roads are not named.

[bassoon1986]

I've only been living in DFW for about 7 months now but on interstates and freeways its mostly the name. Ex: I-635 is LBJ Freeway, I-35E is Stemmons throughout Dallas and the suburbs, and in Fort Worth I-35w is the north or South Freeway. TX 121 has so many sections I'm not sure what they are all called locally because it could refer to the Sam Rayburn Tollway, the 121 from Lewisville to Grapevine, except maybe in Fort Worth its the Airport Freeway. I know theres posts on here somewhere else talking about how the "E" and "W" designation is rarely used for I-35 on tv news and radio, which is definitely true

[roadfro]

I feel like this has been discussed before...anyway...

Primary use in Nevada is to rely on the number.

Nevada parlance in reference to freeways tends to follow the SoCal/NoCal terminology. So in Reno/Northern Nevada, one would say "Take 80 to 395" in giving freeway directions from I-80 to US 395. In the Las Vegas area/Southern Nevada, one would say "Take the 95 to the 15" in giving freeway directions from US 95 to I-15. Las Vegas references to the I-215/CR 215 beltway vary between "the 215" and "the beltway".

References to US highways that are not freeways tend to vary. Some people will say "US xx" while others will say "Highway xx". However, US 50 is almost universally referred to as "Highway 50" and US 6 is rarely called "Highway 6".

State highways are a bit different though. Some people will use numbers ("State Route 225" or "S.R. 225") while use of the name is more common, especially when the highway name incorporates the name of the place that the highway goes to (as in "Mountain City Highway" for SR 225). State highways in urban areas are always referred to by the street name, as the state route number is not always well signed.

This thread reminds me of a sort of related question. In your area, do people use a compass point (or cardinal direction as the MUTCD calls it) to refer only to the part of a road going in a particular direction, or can it refer to a road in general?

One example of this in Nevada is in Carson City. There, US 50 comes in from Lake Tahoe to the west, multiplexes with US 395 for a few miles, then heads eastward to Dayton and Fallon. The eastern leg follows William Street, but it is much more commonly referred to as "Highway 50 East".

Another reference to this is NDOT's current design-build project on I-15 in Las Vegas, which they call the "I-15 South Design Build". Even though work is being done on both directions of the freeway, they name is due to the location being on the southern end of the Las Vegas Valley--NDOT may have done this to distinguish the project internally from the "I-15 Design Build" through North Las Vegas, which was already underway while the current I-15 South project was in planning stages.

[Brandon]

Freeways in Milwaukee are referred to by number, but US/State routes are referred to by street names.

It's the same way in New York (city). Everyone uses names, not numbers. Also true in southwestern Connecticut of state highways (usually), but we refer to Interstate highways and some US highways by number (US 7 is exclusively "route 7", US 1 is either "route 1" or "the post road", but US 6 and US 202 never have their numbers spoken in Fairfield County).

Don't forget the expressways and parkways (their terms for freeways with some exceptions in the parkways  which for here are obvious as no route number is assigned).  Not only do they have names, they ave acronyms - actually abbreviations for freeway names (Brooklyn Queens Expressway = BQE, Cross Bronx Expressway = CBE, Franklyn D Roosevelt Drive = FDR, etc. (I don't believe all expressways are that way, any New Yorker chime in).

Chicago refers to expressways (their term for the freeways) by name where applicable.  notable exceptions are I-57 and I-80.  Also I-55 is mentioned.  I think they take the Stephenson as from the Tri-State into Downtown, but I'm not sure.

Several cities often look at endpoints as names - especially interchanges
Milwaukee: Marquette, Zoo, Stadium, Mitchell, Hale
Chicago, The Junction (on the Kennedy), The Circle
Boston: The split (I-93 and MA route 3) - someone confirm)

The Stevenson is only from the Tri-State to LSD.  Beyond there to I-355, the "Stevenson" name has been extended, but out here, it's just "I-55" or "55".

[sandiaman]

  On  maps  of Albuquerque,  I-40  is  called  the Coronado Freeway, I  have NEVER  heard it refered to that  way.  People  would say there is no such freeway,  it is just  called I -40.  I-25  is  known  as the Pan American  Freeway,  and the frontage roads  sometimes show that designation,  but it is also  known as  just I -25.  I  guess  New Mexicans  like  numbers    better than names.  US  666  was  known as the Devil's Highway,  but  was  decomissioned to  US  491  a few years ago by Bill Richardson.  I have not heard the term Devil's Highway  since then,  so maybe that   worked.

[bulldog1979]

In Michigan:
(the first five are all in the Detroit area)
M-1 is more commonly known as Woodward
M-3 is more commonly known as Gratiot
M-5 is more commonly known as Grand River
M-8 is more commonly known as Davison
M-10 is more commonly known as the Lodge
M-11 is more commonly known as 28th St in Grandville, Wyoming, Grand Rapids, and Kentwood
M-37 is more commonly known as the Beltline in Grand Rapids, Broadmoor in Kentwood, and Alpine in Comstock Park

It's funny here in Grand Rapids though. The names for Alpine, East Beltline/Broadmoor and 28th Street/Wilson Avenue are used versus the highway numbers because those are really just local arterial streets that happen to be part of state highways. North of Sparta or south of M-6 or Caledonia, I'd say that M-37's number reappears. M-11's number never gets used, but M-44's number would reappear north of the Plainfield Avenue junction.

I-196 is about 50-50 on people using the number or its name, the Ford Freeway (Gerald R. Ford or GR Ford on the rare cases to differentiate with the Edsel Ford Freeway in Detroit). Many around here mis-read I-196 as I-96 and vice-versa and get confused. Some traffic reporters try to call M-6 "the Henry" but that name is not really in the local lexicon. (Unlike the BGSs for I-196 junctions that list "G.R. Ford Freeway", only one sign ever proclaims the "Paul B. Henry Freeway".) Speaking of traffic reporters, one must have been from SoCal, calling it "the M-6" and "the 131".

[thenetwork]

It's kinda odd in the Cleveland area.  Just about every surface street within Cuyahoga County is referred by it's street name and not by it's route number.  Meanwhile, for Cuyahoga County's, for example:

Medina County:  Nearly all roads are referred to their route number.

Lorain County:  It's a mix (i.e. US-6 along Lake Erie is still more commonly known as Lake Road, while SR-58 is more known as...SR-58).

Summit County:  Again, a mix, with street names more common closer to Akron, and highway numbers further out -- even going as far as the road being more commonly known as it's de-commissioned name.  I.e. Cleveland-Massillon Road is still known more as "Old (U.S.) 21", while there is an Old (US) 224,  Old Route 8 and even a section of Old 8 that is named "Olde Eight Road".

Lake County:  Mostly by Route Number, with few east-west exceptions (SR-283/Lake Shore Boulevard and US-20/Mentor Avenue)

Geauga County:  Mostly by route number.

[JCinSummerfield]

In Monroe, MI, M-125 goes by not only M-125, but also Monroe Street & Dixie Hwy.  I've seen all 3 used on street sign blades within a mile of each other.

[berberry]

I think Baton Rouge and New Orleans have names for all of their US highways.  In both towns, US 61 is known as Airline Highway, and within Baton Rouge; older alignments are called Jefferson Highway and Scenic Highway (and it's anything but scenic!).  Part of 190 is called Florida Blvd, and an older alignment of that road is called Old Hammond Hwy.

In New Orleans, parts of US 90 are known as Chef Menteur Hwy and Jefferson Hwy.  I seem to remember there was a local name for US 51, which runs to a point near New Orleans to its west, but I've forgotten what it was.

In Pascagoula and Moss Point, some old segments of US 90 are called Old Mobile Hwy.  Throughout North MS, scattered segments of old US 78 alignments are locally known as Bankhead Hwy and Bankhead St.  In Tupelo, an old expressway alignment of US 78 is called McCullough Blvd.

I can't verify this, but as I understand it US 51, though unmarked on the route except at the US 80 interchange, officially runs along State Street in Jackson.  I have never heard State St referred to as 51, though.

MDOT has issued press releases in the past expressing intentions for the future re-christening of US 90 as the Old Spanish Trail and US 84 as the El Camino Highway.  Whether the idea goes anywhere or not I have no idea, but OST, along with Bankhead and Jefferson Hwys, date to the old Auto Trails.

[flowmotion]

Bay Area: older freeways tend to be referred to by name (Bayshore, MacArthur, Eastshore, Nimitz) even years after signage for those names has been deprecated, numbers used too

True, older freeway names are commonly heard on traffic reports, but I don't think I've ever heard anyone use them in the vernacular. You would never hear someone say "Take the Eastshore to Nimitz and exit at Hegensberger". Maybe they would if California bothered to sign the highway names.

Also more Bay Areans have adopted the Socal convention of "The 101" than Northern Californians like to admit.

[pianocello]

It seems like most locals prefer names over numbers, but in the Illinois Quad Cities, "IL-92" trumps the many names on that road. One name is a lot easier to remember than 5th Ave, 38th St, 7th Ave, 5th Ave, 6th Ave, 5th Ave, 4th Ave, 17th Ave, 18th Ave, and 1st Ave.

See for yourself: http://maps.google.com/?ll=41.508272,-90.561676&spn=0.012968,0.027466&z=16 and pan eastward.

[agentsteel53]

Also more Bay Areans have adopted the Socal convention of "The 101" than Northern Californians like to admit.

why is prefixing a freeway designation with "the" such a horrible thing?  I don't think, objectively, it's better or worse than omitting it. 

[myosh_tino]

Also more Bay Areans have adopted the Socal convention of "The 101" than Northern Californians like to admit.

why is prefixing a freeway designation with "the" such a horrible thing?  I don't think, objectively, it's better or worse than omitting it.  

It's because saying "the" before the route number is considered a "southern California thing" and that's what makes it taboo among northern Californians.  This feeling is so strong I've heard new radio traffic reporters (probably from so-cal) be admonished, in a playful manner, on the air about the use of the word "the".

As for flowmotion's assertion that more Bay Areans  have adopted this socal convention, I'd say the majority of those saying "the 280" are recent transfers from so-cal or other regions in the US that use the "the".

[hm insulators]

And believe me, northern Californians do not like anything to do with southern California!

[1995hoo]

Growing up in the DC area (and with most of my relatives hailing from Brooklyn) I never heard anyone use "the" with a number except when I heard people talking about trips to Europe and referring to "the M4" or "the A90" or the like. It still sounds extremely weird to me but I recognize it as one of those peculiar regionalisms that doesn't bother me as long as the people who do it don't try to "correct" you if you don't do it. It would mark you as an outsider if you came here and referred to I-395 as "the 395," that's for sure.

To me the weirdest regionalism is the people from Texas who refer to Interstates as "IH-x" instead of the more common "I-x." I gather that's how the state DOT does it and the usage may have spread, but I never really understood it for two reasons: (1) The term "Interstate" is so ubiquitous in referring to the highway system that the word "highway" seems to me to be implied by the word "Interstate" to a degree that if you want to use that word to refer to something else, you pretty much need to clarify. Think of how people might say, "I stayed off the Interstate because a truck overturned." So I don't understand why anyone would need to say "Interstate Highway 95" (or "IH-95") instead of simply "Interstate 95" (or "I-95"). (2) I've always thought that when you abbreviate, you eliminate as much unnecessary verbiage as possible in the abbreviation as long as it's still clear, although sometimes a potential ambiguity might require an otherwise-omittable character. (For instance, I worked for a law firm whose former name had the initial letters C, G, and L. But they abbreviated it as "CG&L" instead of "CGL" because they did insurance work and "CGL" is a type of insurance policy. In that case, the inclusion of the normally-unnecessary ampersand in the abbreviation made sense.) So if the word "Highway" is unnecessary because it's clearly implied, I don't understand why the "H" in the abbreviation is needed either.

But as I said, it doesn't really BOTHER me, I just think it sounds weird. The most important thing from my point of view is that it's clear what you mean. Come to think of it, do any of you West Coast folks know whether this "the" usage is one reason California doesn't want to have different classes of roads with the same number (e.g., a state route and an Interstate)? It seems to me to be easy enough just to say "US-x" and "I-x," but if the prevailing usage is "the x," you get into a potential situation of ambiguity when someone gives directions.

[1995hoo]

And believe me, northern Californians do not like anything to do with southern California!

We cross-posted....from what I'm told, the reverse is also true. Doesn't the University of Southern California administration complain about the name "Southern Cal" because they think people might interpret it as meaning they're affiliated with the UC system, perhaps as a southern branch of the one in Berkeley that's often called "Cal" in the sports context?

[myosh_tino]

And believe me, northern Californians do not like anything to do with southern California!

We cross-posted....from what I'm told, the reverse is also true. Doesn't the University of Southern California administration complain about the name "Southern Cal" because they think people might interpret it as meaning they're affiliated with the UC system, perhaps as a southern branch of the one in Berkeley that's often called "Cal" in the sports context?

Hmmm... I thought, from a purely sports perspective, the University of Southern California was always referred to as "USC" or "The Trojans" (although I suspect the University of South Carolina would have a problem with the USC moniker).  I, for one, jokingly refer to USC as the University of Spoiled Children

[1995hoo]

At least on the East Coast the name "Southern Cal" is frequently used in the newspapers; the Associated Press uses it as well. No doubt part of that is to avoid ambiguity as to the other USC located in Columbia, South Carolina (students and alumni there more often call it Carolina).

[roadfro]

... Come to think of it, do any of you West Coast folks know whether this "the" usage is one reason California doesn't want to have different classes of roads with the same number (e.g., a state route and an Interstate)? It seems to me to be easy enough just to say "US-x" and "I-x," but if the prevailing usage is "the x," you get into a potential situation of ambiguity when someone gives directions.

I think the notion of not repeating numbers predates the "the xx" nomenclature, as highway names used to be a lot more prominent in California.

California's non-repetition of numbers between highway types probably has more to do with the fact that California highways are legislatively defined (all as "routes", regardless of highway class) and that the legislative route number and signed route number correspond in nearly all cases.

[apeman33]

The AP uses "Southern Cal" in the polls but is equally likely to use "Southern Cal" or "USC" in a story. However, it's always "LSU" and "BYU" in sports stories, almost never the full name.

As far as Kansas goes, it depends. But I think in most cases, it's going to be called whatever the city itself calls the street. The prime example would be Kellogg in Wichita. There aren't too many people calling it U.S. 54. Even people from outside Wichita know what "Kellogg" means, mostly because 2/3rds of Kansas is in the Wichita TV market and is exposed to the local Wichita use. There's also the "Canal Route" over I-135. Not used as much as "Kellogg" but I'd say quite a few outside Wichita are also familiar with the use through TV reports. The "Northeast Expressway" hasn't been around nearly as long as the other two, so I think most people from outside Wichita would know it better as "K-96".

Sometimes in small towns, the state will post the highway number on the traffic signal post even if the town calls the road "Main St." Greensburg is an example, where it's always said "U.S. 54" or "U.S. 54/400" on the signal post instead of "Kansas Ave."

[oscar]

Hmmm... I thought, from a purely sports perspective, the University of Southern California was always referred to as "USC" or "The Trojans" (although I suspect the University of South Carolina would have a problem with the USC moniker).  I, for one, jokingly refer to USC as the University of Spoiled Children

As a graduate of one of Southern Cal's many archrivals, I could cite some other alternate definitions of USC ... except every one of them is NSFW.  At football games, we'd also mock their "Tommy Trojan" (on a horse) with a guy walking the sidelines wrapped in white plastic garbage bags.

U. of South Carolina goes by Gamecocks, oft-shortened to something also kind of NSFW (but I've seen it on baseball caps). 

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

U. of South Carolina goes by Gamecocks, oft-shortened to something also kind of NSFW (but I've seen it on baseball caps). 

Someone came up the great idea to design hats with sexual connotations. Beaver(s) for Oregon State, Woody (as Woody Hayes) for Ohio State, and the the shortened version of Gamecocks for South Carolina.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

There is only one OSU that matters. (I don't care for the affirmative article used with said university)
Right, Mr. Tressel? <elbow to the side>

[agentsteel53]

I think it's okay to use the shortened version of "gamecocks" on this forum.

OCKS IS A FOUR-LETTER WORD.

[Interstate Trav]

In Parts of Los Angeles I'm used to saying Santa Ana Freeway or Hollywood Freeway.  For example though the Golden State Freeway I-5 once your over the Grapevine, I don't think anyone refers to it as anything but "the 5".