In this thread over in MPSIMS, Johnny L.A. got me to thinking about this phenomenon – calling freeways by their corresponding number. I have always done this. Everyone I know does this as well. What I’m wondering is, is it really just a California thing?
Take for instance the 10 freeway. For every doper who lives along the Southern region of the U.S., it passes through your state, since it stretches from L.A. to somewhere in Florida. What would you call this freeway? I think the name here is “The Pomona Freeway”. Of course, I never call it that. I refer to it as “The 10”.
Interstate 10 starts in Jacksonville, FL, at the junction of Interstate 95 (which goes from “Maine to Miami”). Anyway, I drove nearly all the way across 10 last January, while helping my brother move from Ft. Lauderdale to LA (if anyone cares, we got on 10 from I-75, 100 or so miles from Jacksonville).
Anyway, when we got to LA, I told my brother that all the freeways are called “the ###” instead of “I-###” or, just “###”. I don’t know why. I never lived in LA, but spent a bit of time there to realise that “the 10” was I-10. It’s a cute LA-thing, I guess.
I don’t know what it is, but my dad always calls Montreal highways by their number, and I use their names. This leads to confusion when we temporarily forget that the Ville Marie and the 20 are the same thing.
I think most refer to the freeways by number. I’ll tell you the most obnoxious thing though. Up here in Northern California we don’t add the “the”. It’s take 80 to 580. Not take the 80 to the 580. I hate it when SoCal people come up here and add “the” to freeway numbers. It’s even happened on some ads up here. arrrrgh.
I’ve never heard freeways referred to by their numbers alone, anywhere that I’ve lived. Of course, I never lived in Southern California, but I’ve never heard that when I visited there, either.
Much more often I hear people refer to the local interstate simply as “the expressway”. This can be aggravating if youre an out-of-towner asking directions. “Which expressway?” you want to yell.
My dad’s the same way. I don’t know if it’s a generational thing or if it’s a guy/gal thing but he’d always be giving me directions somewhere by saying:
“Ok, go north on SR33…”
“Uh, Lincoln Way street towards town, right?”
“Yeah, then go east on 20…”
“Um, turn left onto Nappanee road, right?”
etc. This is for local streets though. I prefer to call highways by number, especially since most of the names are so cheezy. (Mark McGuire freeway? No thanks, I70 will be fine!)
Calling them by number isn’t a California thing- in Houston & here in Dallas we do that, but we don’t put the “the” in front of it. It’s 45 or I-45, etc…
What’s particularly peculiar about DFW is that people tend to use the freeway names rather than the numbers. In Houston it was the other way around.
Took me a while to realize that “Take Stemmons to LBJ, then right on Central” was actually “Take I-35 to 635 West, then south on US-75”. I always thought that they were streets, not freeways.
In Chicago, few freeways are referred to by their number. Rarely if ever do you hear people call I-55 “I-55”. It’s always “The Stevensen,”
Chicago expressways:
The Kennedy: I-90/I-94 north from the circle interchange (I-290) to "the split, and I-90 from there until O’hare Airport
The Eisenhower: I-290
The Edens: I-94 from “The Split” to the Tristate Tollway.
The Dan Ryan: I-90/94 south from the circle interchange to I-94 after the southern “split” to I-57.
The Bishop Ford: I-94 south of I-57 to I-80, then IL-394 to end.
The Stevensen: I-55
A minor annoyance is that in Chicago, I-94 is signed east-west but runs almost DUE north/south from the Indiana border until Milwaukee. Thus I-94 East is really the Edens (or Tristate or Kennedy or Bishop Ford)South.
You never hear these called by number in local traffic reports.
In New England, there are a few highway quirks. The inner beltway around Boston is ONLY and EXCLUSIVELY referred to as 128 (pronounced “wun-twenny-ate”). Though officially I-95 for part of the way around the city, one should never call any part of 128 “I-95.” For all intents and purposes, I-95 ends before joining 128 and starts again south of the city. Also, I-90 in Massachusetts is only called “The Mass Pike,” no one ever really calls it “I-90”. Other than that, most highways are just referred to by their numbers (the word “Route” procedes all non-interstate roads, “I” preding all interstate roads). The NH-101 highway used to be referred to locally as “The Highway of Death”, but when it widened to 4 lanes, the name no longer applies (this was the main drag to the beach, and someone died on it every few weeks during the summer).
Very good Jayron, but what about 355? You know that tiny toll road from I-55 to about 290? Don’t the traffic reporters refer to it as 355? Granted, they probably don’t talk about it too often, but is there another name for it?
Not only is LA the only place where they call say “the [number]”, but sometimes they also use the name. What’s wrong with that, you ask? Well, if somebody tells you to take the Hollywood Freeway, they probably mean State Route 101. Unless they mean State Route 170. And where do you suppose the San Diego Freeway goes? Well, it starts in San Fernando, and ends in…San Diego? Nope…from the end of the San Diego Freeway you’ve got another 90 miles to go on the GOLDEN STATE FREEWAY to get to San Diego. Sometimes I think we Californians are stupid. Then again, we’re smart enough to live in Paradise on Earth.
Having lived in both Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, I beg to differ. Houstonians definitely refer to their highways by name more often than number.
Houston freeway nomenclature:
I-45 north of downtown = the North Freeway
I-45 south of downtown = the Gulf Freeway
I-10 west of downtown = the Katy Freeway
I-10 east of downtown = the Baytown Freeway
I-610 = the Loop (with a directional designation based on which side of town you’re on, i.e., the West Loop on the west side of town)
US 59 southwest of downtown = the Southwest Freeway
Beltway 8 = the Belt or Sam Houston Parkway
Dallas freeway nomenclature:
I-35E north of downtown = Stemmons Freeway
I-35E south of downtown = South R.L. Thornton Freeway
I-30 east of downtown = East R.L. Thornton Freeway
I-30 west of downtown = the Old DFW Turnpike
I-635 = LBJ Freeway
US 75 north of downtown = Central Expressway
Texas 183 from I-35E to Texas Stadium and the Texas 114 split = John Carpenter Freeway
Texas 183 beyond Texas Stadium = Airport Freeway
Texas 114 beyond Texas Stadium = John Carpenter Freeway
US 175 southeast of downtown = Hawn Freeway
Fort Worth freeway nomenclature:
I-35W north of downtown = the North Freeway
I-35W south of downtown = the South Freeway
I-30 west of downtown = the West Freeway
I-30 east of downtown = the Old DFW Turnpike
Texas 121 northeast of downtown = Airport Freeway
Texas 199 northwest of downtown = Jacksboro Highway