Pronunciation of route numbers

[corco]

When I lived in Chicagoland, we lived on Route 38, so I'm guessing the change takes place somewhere in either Illinois or Iowa

[cpzilliacus]

Toll roads are by name (example: The ICC)

Though annoyingly, MdTA has not one ICC sign on any of its BGS panels leading to the ICC.  Only Md. 200.

And all or very nearly all of the signs that read "JFK Highway" are gone (there used to be one on Moravia Road, I think).

I don't think there are any of those distinctive "Bay Bridge" signs left in Maryland (there are some in Delaware).

US highways are by name or number. US 1 - Belair Road (pronounced Blair or Buh-lair). US 40 around Baltimore is 40 West or 40 East, depending on which side of the city you are.
Boulevards and Parkways are usually referenced by name (BW Pkwy, MLK, Perring)
State routes are either by number or name. More likely by name if they are less significant.

Similarly, in the D.C. area, U.S. 50 is frequently  qualified as "the John Hanson Highway" on the Maryland side, and "Arlington Boulevard" on the  Virginia side. 

U.S. 1 seems to be usually called just that, with a geographic qualifier to make clear which part of the road is being discussed.

U.S. 301 is usually just called "301" or sometimes "U.S. 301," but almost never "Crain Highway,"

[1995hoo]

....

I don't think there are any of those distinctive "Bay Bridge" signs left in Maryland (there are some in Delaware).

I haven't been through Baltimore in a while, but the last time I went that way I seem to recall there still being some signs listing "Annapolis" and "Bay Bridge" as control cities for I-895 and I-97.

....

U.S. 301 is usually just called "301" or sometimes "U.S. 301," but almost never "Crain Highway,"

During Tuesday night's weather forecast, Channel 4 weatherman Veronica Johnson called it "I-301" (complete with a text box reference on the screen behind her).

[hbelkins]

I don't think there are any of those distinctive "Bay Bridge" signs left in Maryland (there are some in Delaware).

There are on the peninsula:









These were taken last October.

[theline]

In Oregon people will look at you funny if you say "route".  It's "Highway Two-Seventeen", "Highway Two-Twenty Four", "Highway Ninety-Nine West (or East)", "U. S. Twenty-Six" (or "The Sunset Highway"), and the Interstates are with the "I" ("Eye Five", "Eye Two Oh Five", "Eye Four Oh Five", "Eye Eight-Four" (or "The Banfield")).

The use of "route" or "highway" seems to me to be mostly an east-west split. I don't know of any particular place where it changes, but in general, the further east you go you hear "route" more often and the further west you go you hear "highway" more often. I know here in Nebraska and the middle of the country in general, "highway" is definitely preferred. You will always hear "Highway X" instead of "Route X". "Route" still is used for the totality of the roads you take to get somewhere, like "which route are you taking?"

Does anyone call the famous Chicago-to-the-coast road "Highway 66"?

[Big John]

^^ And that is another item with the Wis-Ill rivalry.  Wisconsin uses highway while Illinois uses route.

[roadman]

This sign I got a picture of in August 2010 includes the uncommon use of "route" with an Interstate shield on a paddle sign (yes, it was a paddle sign--notice the old holes in the sign and the remaining breakaway paddle sign post base still in the ground)...

I strongly suspect that the original "paddle" sign (official MassHighway/MassDOT nomenclature is D6/D8 - the D6 is the larger top mounted (paddle) sign, and the D8 is the smaller 'strapped' sign mounted beneath it) read "TO ROUTES 95 (or perhaps 128?)-90" - without any shields.  More than likely, the District engineer who ordered the replacement sign years ago changed the 95 and 90 numerals to shields (per the MassHighway D6/D8 design standards adopted in 1994), but didn't realize "ROUTES" was redundant and could be removed.

BTW, if it hasn't happened already, this sign will shortly be replaced with a new panel reading 'TO 95 90 (shields)", but without "ROUTES", as part of the Recreation Road overpass rehab nearing completion.  In fact, the base you noted may be for the new sign.

[sp_redelectric]

Does anyone call the famous Chicago-to-the-coast road "Highway 66"?

Does "Route 66" pass in, around, or near Oregon?  Nope.

[djsinco]

Does anyone call the famous Chicago-to-the-coast road "Highway 66"?

Does "Route 66" pass in, around, or near Oregon?  Nope.

Yes, of course it does. It is also called the Greensprings Highway, and it connects Ashland to K-Falls. Duh...

[Quillz]

I generally pronounce zero as "oh" when it occurs in the middle of a 3-digit route.

405 = "Four Oh Five"
505 = "Five Oh Five"

But 710 would be "Seven Ten," not "Seven One Oh."

[US81]

In Texas, I hear "I-Nn" or occasionally the word spoken in full, eg "I-35" or "Interstate 10."   On rare I occasions I hear "US-Nn" eg "US 281" but far more often I hear "Highway Nn" to refer to US or TX routes without differentiation. "Farm Road" and "FM" used interchangeably, as far as I can tell, in east TX but "Ranch Road" and "RM" in west TX. Where they overlap in the Hill Country, I think I hear "Farm Road/FM" slightly more often than "Ranch Road/RM."  I hear "County Road Nn" or occasionally, "[Name] County Nn" eg "Hill County 3102," but never "CR."

There is a definite age-related variation: Younger people tend to use names and older people tend to use numbers.

[SP Cook]

In West Virginia:

Interstates are always "I **", but the West Virginia Turnpike is always "the turnpike" never called an interstate, despite no remaining signage that says "turnpike" other than at the ends of it.

US Routes will vary between "Route **" and "U S **".  US Routes built under the Appalachian Regional Commission are generally "Corridor *" despite almost no signage for that, and the route number will not be used.  In casual converation the nearest one will simply be "the corridor". 

State and County routes are always "Route **", never "West Virginia **" .

The "fractional numbering" of minor County Routes is never used except by internal DOH accounting.  People will call the road after a local name, such as "Sand Creek Road".

No one actually calls any thing named after anybody or anything, including Byrd, by that.  Roads are just called Route whatever.  Bridges, to the extent they need diferentiation, are named after the street (i.e. The Sixth Street Bridge in Huntington) or the towns they connect (i.e. the Nitro-St. Albans Bridge).  Two bridges which have not collected a toll since the mid-70s are still called "The Winfield Toll Bridge" and "The Dunbar Toll Bridge".  People in Point Pleasant still say "The Silver Bridge" (actually the replacement for the one that colapsed) to mean "the bridge across the Ohio" and "The Blue Bridge" (actually a green colored replacement) to mean "the bridge across the Kanawha".

One and two numbers will be pronounced such that Route 10 will be "Route TEN".  Three numbers will be pronouced with the first number alone such that Route 460 will be "Route FOUR SIXTY". 

Zip codes, etc will be each number seperatly, as TWO FIVE FIVE SIX OH, with OH always being used in place of ZERO.

[kphoger]

When I lived in Chicagoland, we lived on Route 38, so I'm guessing the change takes place somewhere in either Illinois or Iowa

Odd.  When I lived in Chicagoland, I lived on Roosevelt. 

[Sykotyk]

Growing up in Eastern Ohio/Western PA, I always used "Eye Seventy-Nine" or "Eye Five Seventy-Nine", etc. Non-freeways were always called "Route Eighteen", "Route Nineteen", etc. "Highway" was never used at all. A road might be a 'high way', but it's always called by it's Route (not root) number.

Now, in Ohio, it's always Route Eleven, Route Seven, Route One Ninety-Three, etc.

Once I started going around the country, I began to lose my localized pronunciation and started using basic vernacular.

Every road just became it's number. Denver to Chicago would be: Take Seventy-Six to Eighty to Eighty-Eight, to Two-Ninety, for instance.

EXCEPT with California. Whenever I'm in California, it's always the way the natives speak for their freeways.

It's "The Five", "The Sixty", "The Ninety-One", "The Four-Oh-Five", "The Two-Fifteen", etc. Other non-freeways still get the simple treatment from me (The Fourteen, to Three-Ninety-Five, to Six). I do not call CA58 "The 58", rather it's just "Fifty Eight", because it's not all freeway. Ninety-Nine, on the other hand, is always referenced as "The Ninety-Nine".

For toll roads, the only toll road I call by the numbers is Interstate 44 in Oklahoma (Because it has three names). That's "Forty-Four". And, I guess also "Ninety" in Illinois or the "Two-Ninety-Four". NY is always the Thruway, OH is always the Ohio Turnpike or "the Turnpike", Indiana is always "The Toll Road", Pennsylvania is always "The Turnpike", unless I'm differentiating segments (Take Seventy-Six to Breezewood to Seventy East).

For four-digit routes (KY and TX mostly), It's always in two groups of two digits (FM 1462 becomes FM Fourteen Sixty-Two). Although, that would just be "Mines Road".

In NYC, no interstate numbers are used by me. I always, always, always call it by the preferred name. When going to Long Island, I always reference the bridge if connecting to "the LIE" (not Long Island Expressway), the Whitestone, Throgs Neck, Triborough, Verrazano, etc. But, it's always Cross Bronx, Bruckner, Sheridan, the LIE, the BQE, State Island Expressway, the Goethals, the Outerbridge, the GW, Major Deagan, etc.

[corco]

When I lived in Chicagoland, we lived on Route 38, so I'm guessing the change takes place somewhere in either Illinois or Iowa

Odd.  When I lived in Chicagoland, I lived on Roosevelt. 

We were pretty far west- just east of Randall Rd. I guess the road is still technically called State St out there (it may not have been in the 90s) but we just called it Route 38. I was too young to talk when we moved out there, but my parents always called it that presumably because when we moved there in '89 there was absolutely nothing out there. I don't even think there was a light at Randall Rd when I think back on my earliest memories.

[Brandon]

When I lived in Chicagoland, we lived on Route 38, so I'm guessing the change takes place somewhere in either Illinois or Iowa

Odd.  When I lived in Chicagoland, I lived on Roosevelt. 

We were pretty far west- just east of Randall Rd. I guess the road is still technically called State St out there (it may not have been in the 90s) but we just called it Route 38. I was too young to talk when we moved out there, but my parents always called it that presumably because when we moved there in '89 there was absolutely nothing out there. I don't even think there was a light at Randall Rd when I think back on my earliest memories.

The change from name to number varies in the west, southwest, and south suburbs.  West, it seems to be at the Fox Cities.  South has the change around the Will-Cook Line.  Southwest has the change vary by road.  I-55 changes at the Tri-State Tollway.  IL-83 is known as both 83 and Kingery.  Archer (IL-171) retains its name until Lockport and is never called by its number (Archer, State, Collins).  53 is interchangeable with Joliet Road south of where the two meet in Romeoville.

[cpzilliacus]

I don't think there are any of those distinctive "Bay Bridge" signs left in Maryland (there are some in Delaware).

There are on the peninsula:

I meant signs like this one (not sure of its location, probably somewhere in Delaware).  The Maryland versions were cutout to that shape (otherwise same layout), but were black on yellow.  They were once common along highways in the Eastern Shore Counties, and I recall seeing a few in Anne Arundel County (Western Shore county where the bridge lands).

[djsinco]

When I lived in Chicagoland, we lived on Route 38, so I'm guessing the change takes place somewhere in either Illinois or Iowa

Odd.  When I lived in Chicagoland, I lived on Roosevelt. 

We were pretty far west- just east of Randall Rd. I guess the road is still technically called State St out there (it may not have been in the 90s) but we just called it Route 38. I was too young to talk when we moved out there, but my parents always called it that presumably because when we moved there in '89 there was absolutely nothing out there. I don't even think there was a light at Randall Rd when I think back on my earliest memories.

The change from name to number varies in the west, southwest, and south suburbs.  West, it seems to be at the Fox Cities.  South has the change around the Will-Cook Line.  Southwest has the change vary by road.  I-55 changes at the Tri-State Tollway.  IL-83 is known as both 83 and Kingery.  Archer (IL-171) retains its name until Lockport and is never called by its number (Archer, State, Collins).  53 is interchangeable with Joliet Road south of where the two meet in Romeoville.

US34 is Ogden Ave., not sure where it becomes only 34 again, probably west of Downers Grove, though.

[Brandon]

When I lived in Chicagoland, we lived on Route 38, so I'm guessing the change takes place somewhere in either Illinois or Iowa

Odd.  When I lived in Chicagoland, I lived on Roosevelt. 

We were pretty far west- just east of Randall Rd. I guess the road is still technically called State St out there (it may not have been in the 90s) but we just called it Route 38. I was too young to talk when we moved out there, but my parents always called it that presumably because when we moved there in '89 there was absolutely nothing out there. I don't even think there was a light at Randall Rd when I think back on my earliest memories.

The change from name to number varies in the west, southwest, and south suburbs.  West, it seems to be at the Fox Cities.  South has the change around the Will-Cook Line.  Southwest has the change vary by road.  I-55 changes at the Tri-State Tollway.  IL-83 is known as both 83 and Kingery.  Archer (IL-171) retains its name until Lockport and is never called by its number (Archer, State, Collins).  53 is interchangeable with Joliet Road south of where the two meet in Romeoville.

US34 is Ogden Ave., not sure where it becomes only 34 again, probably west of Downers Grove, though.

Bizarrely, the Ogden Avenue name has been migrating west toward Oswego.  The stretch of US-34 between US-30 and Naperville was known as Oswego Road for the longest time.  Now, I see all the signs state that it is Ogden Avenue.

[Scott5114]

When I lived in Chicagoland, we lived on Route 38, so I'm guessing the change takes place somewhere in either Illinois or Iowa

My guess is that it's probably right up the middle of Missouri. Officially, MO state highways are called "routes", (i.e., Route 13), and MoDOT signs them as such when they must be spelled out in text (including the bizarre construction "Route I-44"). However, by the time you get to Kansas City, the local usage definitely favors "Highway"–north of I-49's terminus, it's "71 Highway". Of course, too far west and you get into K land.

[ghYHZ]

Here in Nova Scotia, the 100 series Freeways are usually referred to as "The One Oh One" "The One Oh Two" etc...... and the 104, 105 & 106, collectively; "The Trans-Canada"

The original parallel highways; #1, #2, #3 etc are Trunk 1, Trunk 2, Trunk 3 in TIR documents but the public is more apt to say Highway 1 or Highway 2.  The secondary roads are "Route 201" or "Route 345" etc (......and that's "root" )

In Newfoundland it's usually a name you hear: "The Trans-Canada" "The Trans-Labrador" "Viking Trail"  "Burgeo Highway" or "Stephenville Access" ect.

In New Brunswick .....they're: Route 1, Route 2 (The Trans-Canada), Route 935 etc.

Same in Prince Edward Island ....."The Trans Canada" (Route 1) or Route 2 etc.

[apeman33]

When I lived in Chicagoland, we lived on Route 38, so I'm guessing the change takes place somewhere in either Illinois or Iowa

My guess is that it's probably right up the middle of Missouri. Officially, MO state highways are called "routes", (i.e., Route 13), and MoDOT signs them as such when they must be spelled out in text (including the bizarre construction "Route I-44"). However, by the time you get to Kansas City, the local usage definitely favors "Highway"–north of I-49's terminus, it's "71 Highway". Of course, too far west and you get into K land.

But that can be helpful since there's a highway 7 (errrr, "7 highway") on each side of the metro. "K-7" leaves no doubt that you're talking about the highway that goes through Olathe and Leavenworth. "7 Highway" pretty much means the road that goes from Harrisonville to Clinton.

"___ highway" usage drifts down into Linn and Bourbon Counties a little bit where U.S. 69 is sometimes "69 Highway" and U.S. 54 is occasionally "54 Highway." But that usage is irregular compared to "71 Highway" and "40 Highway" in the metro area proper.

[countysigns]

Some examples from the Toledo area:

I-75 = "eye seventy-five"
I-280 = "eye two eighty"
I-475 = "eye four seventy-five"
I-475/US-23 = "eye four seventy-five" 
US-23 by itself = "twenty-three"
I-80/I-90 = "the turnpike"
OH-2 = "route two"
OH-25 = "the trail (Anthony Wayne Trail)" or "the Parkway (Greenbelt Parkway)"

Other numbered routes don't get mentioned - 99% of the time we use the street name.

[A.J. Bertin]

Someone alluded to this earlier, but what about the pronounciation of the word "route"? What I generally do is pronounce it like [ROUT] when I'm describing the specific directions/roads I take to a destination. If I'm talking about a specific road like Route 66, I'll pronounce it [ROOT].

I live in Michigan where we pronounce our state highways [EM-{number}]. If I am referring to another state's state highways, I generally just say "Ohio 15" or "Indiana 9" or whatever it is. Even if it's a state like Illinois or New York where I know they'll say [ROOT] whatever, I still just say the state name plus the number - no "route" or "highway".

What do other people do when referring to state highways that are not in your own state? Do you adopt that state's wording or just use what you prefer?

[Takumi]

When the route number for a primary or US route is one or two syllables (e.g. VA 10, US 1) I refer to it as "route X", pronouncing it "rout". I also say "I-X" for all 2dis. For 3dis and non-interstates with three or more syllables (US 460, VA 156) I just say the number.