Unique Public Roadway Types

[webfil]

This might be slightly off-topic, but do anyone think it's weird that Florida Turnpike is spelled "Florida's Turnpike"?

To me it sounds like some branding.
"Florida's very own, new and improved turnpike, with now 147% more sodium!"

[empirestate]

....

As for words like Parkway and Highway, those often stand alone as descriptors in their own right: King's Highway, Ocean Parkway. If the name of a road were simply "Parkway", then it would fall into the same class as Fenway. Conversely, if there were a road called "Johnson Fenway", then "Fenway" would indeed become quite a unique descriptor!

As I mentioned somewhere earlier in this thread, there's a street a few miles from where I live called "The Parkway," which is pretty close to what you suggest–I mentioned before that the map on my sat-nav, which omits street type designators, shows that street as a line with the word "The" next to it (i.e., it considers it a parkway named "The").

In a way, that's sort of correct. An article ("the", "a") serves the same adjectival function as a word like "red" or "grand" or "Johnson's". "Johnson" is of course a noun, and a proper one, but when you append another noun like "parkway", the noun "Johnson" is implicitly derived from its possessive sense, "Johnson's", and thus takes on an adjectival function, as it modifies and particularizes the noun "parkway".

And articles do the same, but to a greater ("the") or lesser ("a") degree of specificity. So in our construct of "name" + "descriptor" where the first is an adjective (or adjectival noun) and the second is a noun, then your machine is parsing it right, technically.

(This points up the fact that "descriptor" probably isn't the right word for the noun part of the construct, since that noun is the thing being described, not the one doing the describing.)

EDIT:

This might be slightly off-topic, but do anyone think it's weird that Florida Turnpike is spelled "Florida's Turnpike"?

To me it sounds like some branding.
"Florida's very own, new and improved turnpike, with now 147% more sodium!"

Didn't notice this last message before posting, but that's a great example of adjectival function. Many other Turnpikes are named similarly, except that they've devolved the name into noun form rather than possessive form. After all, "Massachusetts's Turnpike" is rather unwieldy!

[1995hoo]

All valid points. "The Parkway" is sort of an odd one, however, because (aside from my sat-nav) nobody would tell you, for example, "Take Telegraph south and then make a left on The," whereas with other more normal names they might ("Take Telegraph south and make a right on Climbhill" if referring to Climbhill Road, for instance).

Actually, my sat-nav wouldn't ever say to make a left on "The" because it doesn't speak street names, only numbers. But you know what I mean.

[roadman65]

This might be slightly off-topic, but do anyone think it's weird that Florida Turnpike is spelled "Florida's Turnpike"?

To me it sounds like some branding.
"Florida's very own, new and improved turnpike, with now 147% more sodium!"

Garden State's Parkway
New York's Thruway
Pennsylvania's Turnpike
Bloomfield's Avenue
Pulaski's Skyway

Newark's Liberty Airport
Chicago's O' Hare Airport
LA's X

I see what you mean.

[cpzilliacus]

This might be slightly off-topic, but do anyone think it's weird that Florida Turnpike is spelled "Florida's Turnpike"?

To me it sounds like some branding.
"Florida's very own, new and improved turnpike, with now 147% more sodium!"

Garden State's Parkway
New York's Thruway
Pennsylvania's Turnpike
Bloomfield's Avenue
Pulaski's Skyway

Newark's Liberty Airport
Chicago's O' Hare Airport
LA's X

I see what you mean.

Though Dulles's Toll Road sounds pretty bad.   

Dulles Toll Road (and Dulles Access Road and Dulles Greenway) have a much better "sound."

[empirestate]

This might be slightly off-topic, but do anyone think it's weird that Florida Turnpike is spelled "Florida's Turnpike"?

To me it sounds like some branding.
"Florida's very own, new and improved turnpike, with now 147% more sodium!"

Garden State's Parkway
New York's Thruway
Pennsylvania's Turnpike
Bloomfield's Avenue
Pulaski's Skyway

Newark's Liberty Airport
Chicago's O' Hare Airport
LA's X

I see what you mean.

Though Dulles's Toll Road sounds pretty bad.   

Dulles Toll Road (and Dulles Access Road and Dulles Greenway) have a much better "sound."

There is some semantic history behind names like these, which I've gotten into in other threads and apparently is of more interest to me than I at first realized. :-)

I wouldn't say that "Pulaski's Skyway" is quite the same as "Bloomfield's Avenue", because the skyway doesn't belong to Pulaski, but refers to him. And the avenue doesn't belong to Bloomfield, but leads to it. By contrast, a road that originally passed through property settled by Farmer Johnson might have been called "Johnson's Road", but since evolved into simply "Johnson Road".

Still, the adjectival function seems to hold up, as: The skyway, in remembrance of Pulaski. The avenue, leading to Bloomfield. The road, belonging to Johnson. A road name is a slightly more elaborate grammatical construct than a simple proper name, like yours or mine. Yes, we could say "the person, who is known as Jim", but that doesn't convey any further information than simply "Jim".

[NE2]

Florida's Turnpike was originally called the Sunshine State Parkway. (Why is there no sign on www.aaroads.com/shields/thumbs.php?state=FL ?) Signs also said "Turnpike":


Michael Summa pics from http://www.gribblenation.com/flpics/vintage/
I would guess that it was unofficially known as "Florida's Turnpike", and later this name was adopted officially.

[SidS1045]

After all, "Massachusetts's Turnpike" is rather unwieldy!

Even without the "'s" it's unwieldy enough that no one uses that term around here.  It's the MassPike...so often used that even the signage at some of the smaller toll booths uses that term rather than the full-length "Massachusetts Turnpike."

[agentsteel53]

Florida's Turnpike was originally called the Sunshine State Parkway. (Why is there no sign on www.aaroads.com/shields/thumbs.php?state=FL ?) Signs also said "Turnpike":

I'll be damned; I could've sworn I had some SSP shields up there... well, next time, I can upload some.

[cpzilliacus]

Florida's Turnpike was originally called the Sunshine State Parkway. (Why is there no sign on www.aaroads.com/shields/thumbs.php?state=FL ?) Signs also said "Turnpike":

I'll be damned; I could've sworn I had some SSP shields up there... well, next time, I can upload some.

I have not driven Florida's Turnpike when it was called the Sunshine State Parkway, but seeing images of the shields from that era would be very, very cool.

[Kacie Jane]

Florida's Turnpike was originally called the Sunshine State Parkway. (Why is there no sign on www.aaroads.com/shields/thumbs.php?state=FL ?) Signs also said "Turnpike":

I'll be damned; I could've sworn I had some SSP shields up there... well, next time, I can upload some.

I have not driven Florida's Turnpike when it was called the Sunshine State Parkway, but seeing images of the shields from that era would be very, very cool.

*scrolls up three posts*

Why yes, yes it would.

[1995hoo]

If you take a look at the Gousha map thread you'll see a 1956 map showing the SSP as then proposed–northeast to Jacksonville.

I always find it interesting to see old maps showing plans that never came to be and that one is no exception.

[empirestate]

Here, this is definitely a unique roadway descriptor: http://goo.gl/maps/4f2O1

:-)

[US81]

There is a McAllen Pass in Austin TX - not many streets named "Pass" in this non-mountainous area of Texas.

[Road Hog]

There is a McAllen Pass in Austin TX - not many streets named "Pass" in this non-mountainous area of Texas.

Every third new subdivision in my part of the state has at least one "Pass," it seems.

[1995hoo]

Driving through DC last night prompted me to recall that when I was growing up, there was a minuscule diagonal street (ridiculously short and more in the nature of a driveway that linked to two streets) behind the National Archives building linking 9th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue NW; its name was "Market Space NW." It's gone now, but it remains the only street I know of named "Space."

Apparently once upon a time the slave market was located in that general area, which probably explains both the name's origin AND the reason for its eventual demise!

[clef]

A Tallahassee, FL neighborhood uses "Nene", a Seminole word for "trail". You can see these on the map here... here is someone's personal site explaining the term http://www.olary.com/nene.html

[webfil]

This week, I saw a "Sunnyview Oval" in Edison, NJ, which is a quite unique designation for a residential street ; I would have expected bleachers.

[agentsteel53]

A Tallahassee, FL neighborhood uses "Nene", a Seminole word for "trail". You can see these on the map here... here is someone's personal site explaining the term http://www.olary.com/nene.html

why yes, let's name a subdivision filled with rich white people after those who were forcibly deported.  lebensraum much?

[NE2]

why yes, let's name a subdivision filled with rich white people after those who were forcibly deported.  lebensraum much?

And put an "Optimist Park" right in the middle

Actually it's close enough to downtown that it could be anywhere from rich white to poor awesome.

[agentsteel53]

Actually it's close enough to downtown that it could be anywhere from rich white to poor awesome.

when a land developer gets to choose all the street names in his subdivision, I think of a very specific type of suburban development.

[sandwalk]

Cannery Row in Monterey.

I don't know how common "Row" is used as a road suffix though...

Relatively uncommon in the U.S., at least. Park Row is a prominent one here in NYC.

We've got a 'Washington Row' in the downtown of my hometown of Sandusky, Ohio:
http://goo.gl/maps/H7tg6

[agentsteel53]

as long as they don't have a "row" and a "road" of the same root name in close proximity to one another.

[empirestate]

Cannery Row in Monterey.

I don't know how common "Row" is used as a road suffix though...

Relatively uncommon in the U.S., at least. Park Row is a prominent one here in NYC.

We've got a 'Washington Row' in the downtown of my hometown of Sandusky, Ohio:
http://goo.gl/maps/H7tg6

Geez, how could I have forgotten Washington Mews, also in NYC?
http://goo.gl/maps/35sDR

[webfil]

Cannery Row in Monterey.

I don't know how common "Row" is used as a road suffix though...

Relatively uncommon in the U.S., at least. Park Row is a prominent one here in NYC.

We've got a 'Washington Row' in the downtown of my hometown of Sandusky, Ohio:
http://goo.gl/maps/H7tg6

Geez, how could I have forgotten Washington Mews, also in NYC?
http://goo.gl/maps/35sDR

You're telling me there has been more than one Mew?