Nicknames and local terms

[kphoger]

Wichitans call I-135 "I-35". 

This isn't limited to Wichita. When I worked at a AAA office in Williamsport, PA, I had a very frustrating time with an elderly woman trying to explain the difference between I-80 and I-180.

The 1s seem to be the ugly stepchildren 3DIs. Is it just my imagination—it seems there are a lot of 1XXs that dead-end at airports (190 at O'Hare, 195 at BWI, 105 at LAX). And people tend to think of them as the "road to the airport". Or they lead to godforsaken destinations like Hennepin, Salina, or Reading. Or Williamsport.

People in Williamsport refer to I-180 as "The Beltway" as the entire Lock Haven to Milton 80-to-80 loop was originally promoted as the Susquehanna Beltway. For many of the parochial people of the area, "beltway" has become a generic term for freeway.

The more I go along, the less I like parent/child route numbers.  I'd rather have random numbers than regions where five highways all share the last two digits.

[Alps]

(I sense a thread of names few people use anymore...).

Just take Route 6 to the George Washington Bridge or Route S-3 to the Lincoln Tunnel.

[kphoger]

Access roads,
Frontage roads,
Service roads,
Feeder roads,
Carriles laterales... 

Are there other names for these things?

[Alps]

Access roads,
Frontage roads,
Service roads,
Feeder roads,
Carriles laterales... 

Are there other names for these things?

On Route 3 they're called the Local Lanes.

[Billy F 1988]

"The 93 Strip" - refers to businesses along US 93 in Missoula.

"Deadman's Corner" - just a phrase I coined up upon slipping off a corner departing a railroad crossing on Beckwith Street in Frenchtown proper. People tend to brake within at least less than 100 feet from the 90 degree corner and end up there. Some just plow past the corner and slam into the guardrail that is supposed to act as a barrier in front of the Montana Rail Link utility shed.

"Old Highway 10" - the remnances of what was US 10 in Missoula before being culled (or pushed back) to Fargo, ND in 1986. (Well, until the goats from Alanland ate up the remnances of US 10 anyways!)

[hbelkins]

Access roads,
Frontage roads,
Service roads,
Feeder roads,
Carriles laterales... 

Are there other names for these things?

My wife has a few names for them, based on her travels in Texas. None are suitable for a family-friendly Web site. 

[Pete from Boston]

Access roads,
Frontage roads,
Service roads,
Feeder roads,
Carriles laterales... 

Are there other names for these things?

On Route 3 they're called the Local Lanes.

Collector/distributor roads.
Marginal roads.

[kendancy66]

If this topic is what I think then you cannot rule out the Garden State Parkway as being called "The Parkway."

"The Parkway" is actually a street name in Alexandria ,VA .  It runs between Telegraph Rd and S Kings Hwy.

[Kacie Jane]

Access roads,
Frontage roads,
Service roads,
Feeder roads,
Carriles laterales... 

Are there other names for these things?

On Route 3 they're called the Local Lanes.

Collector/distributor roads.
Marginal roads.

Collector/distributor roads at least are something different to me.  They're the lanes on either side of I-5 here separating the cloverleaf from the mainline to minimize weaving.  But they're still part of the limited-access portion of the freeway, whereas a frontage road typically has no shortage of businesses and private driveways.

[1995hoo]

Access roads,
Frontage roads,
Service roads,
Feeder roads,
Carriles laterales... 

Are there other names for these things?

I've heard them called "side streets."

If this topic is what I think then you cannot rule out the Garden State Parkway as being called "The Parkway."

"The Parkway" is actually a street name in Alexandria ,VA .  It runs between Telegraph Rd and S Kings Hwy.

I live not far from there. My sat-nav shows it as a street called simply "The" (i.e., Telegraph Road is shown as "Telegraph" and so "The Parkway" is shown as "The").

[txstateends]

Access roads,
Frontage roads,
Service roads,
Feeder roads,
Carriles laterales... 

Are there other names for these things?

On Route 3 they're called the Local Lanes.

Collector/distributor roads.
Marginal roads.

In MO, most if not all are called 'outer roads'.

[Pete from Boston]

Access roads,
Frontage roads,
Service roads,
Feeder roads,
Carriles laterales... 

Are there other names for these things?

On Route 3 they're called the Local Lanes.

Collector/distributor roads.
Marginal roads.

In MO, most if not all are called 'outer roads'.

I've heard both "outer lanes" and "outer roadway" in traffic reports.

[NE2]

Backage roads are cooler.

[JMoses24]

"The Cut-in-the-Hill": Two separate hills get this distinction:

1) The more well known version along I-75/71 between downtown Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, from Exit 192, Fifth Street/Covington/Newport to Exit 189, KY SR 1072 aka Kyles Lane/Fort Wright/Park Hills

I still call that "Death Hill" because that's the nickname it had before it was rebuilt in the late 80s/early 90s.

I had forgotten about that. Then again, in the late 80s/early 90s I was a little kid who had no concept of interchanges, cloverleaves, lane miles or anything of that sort. Though I did know what a road sign was.

[empirestate]

"The Parkway" is actually a street name in Alexandria ,VA .  It runs between Telegraph Rd and S Kings Hwy.

I live not far from there. My sat-nav shows it as a street called simply "The" (i.e., Telegraph Road is shown as "Telegraph" and so "The Parkway" is shown as "The").

That's a humorous example of how so many of our new-fangled data systems can't correctly parse the various "parts of speech" in a road name. A more common example is abbreviating cardinal directions when they're part of the name proper, rather than being used as a modifier. "E End Ave" is a Pittsburgh street I used to live on; it's actually {East End} Ave, not the eastern component of the {End} Ave system. A more egregious example shows up in Austin, TX, where you get "Far W Blvd" instead of "Far West Blvd".

Ironically, "The" for "The Parkway" is strangely correct in a system that is expected to drop road type descriptors. "Parkway" is still being used as a descriptor here; it's just that they deciding not to identify the parkway any more specifically by giving it a proper name, so it gets the generic article "The". A workaround would be to classify {The Parkway} as the proper name, without any descriptors, but that doesn't quite reflect the function of the word "Parkway" in this construct.

I don't know why I seem to be fascinated by the grammar of street names...

[kphoger]

Access roads,
Frontage roads,
Service roads,
Feeder roads,
Carriles laterales... 

Are there other names for these things?

On Route 3 they're called the Local Lanes.

Collector/distributor roads.
Marginal roads.

In MO, most if not all are called 'outer roads'.

Oh, of course!  How did I forget that one?

Backage roads are cooler.

Pooing is coolest.

[Alps]

Backage roads are cooler.

And they totally exist.

[NE2]

Hell yeah they do. Pedestrian access from the main road, vehicle access from the backage road.

[agentsteel53]

Hell yeah they do. Pedestrian access from the main road, vehicle access from the backage road.

I don't think "large box stores with huge parking lots in front" precisely match your ideas of a pedestrian-friendly multimodal utopia.

[kphoger]

I don't know..... I've seen large trucks, passenger cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and transit buses all share those parking lots quite harmoniously. 

[agentsteel53]

I don't know..... I've seen large trucks, passenger cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and transit buses all share those parking lots quite harmoniously. 

maybe it's just California... here, people seem to devolve to a more simian form when they enter a mall parking lot.

[Brandon]

I don't know..... I've seen large trucks, passenger cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and transit buses all share those parking lots quite harmoniously. 

maybe it's just California... here, people seem to devolve to a more simian form when they enter a mall parking lot.

Then again, you have unwritten rules in some areas like Chicagoland.

Here, the rule is that he who has the biggest balls wins the right-of-way, be it pedestrian, bicycle, or automobile.  Usually eye-to-eye contact is all that is needed, and he who blinks is he who gives right-of-way.  I do it rather often while walking through a parking lot.

Of course, all that goes out the window with an eighteen wheeler or a beater.  They tend to get right-of-way regardless.

[kphoger]

I don't know..... I've seen large trucks, passenger cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and transit buses all share those parking lots quite harmoniously. 

maybe it's just California... here, people seem to devolve to a more simian form when they enter a mall parking lot.

In my universe, chaos and harmony can coexist.

[Kacie Jane]

I don't know..... I've seen large trucks, passenger cars, pedestrians, cyclists, and transit buses all share those parking lots quite harmoniously. 

maybe it's just California... here, people seem to devolve to a more simian form when they enter a mall parking lot.

Pretty much.  When you put a stop sign in a residential area, people don't necessarily obey it, but they do take it for guidance.  "Okay, I'll slow down and look both way, but now way am I going to come to a complete stop."  Do the same in a parking lot, complete with pavement markings, and it's completely ignored.

And I'd argue that typically the latter stop sign is more necessary.

[spmkam]

In the NYC area, (Westchester County, NY and CT), Route 1 is the (boston) post road even in towns/cities in which it has a different name. Also, A road is named for the town it reaches, like Tarrytown Rd, Old Stamford Rd (CT-106), Danbury Rd (US-7).