# I thought everyone referred to their freeways by their number... **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 30, 2000, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197 "2000-06-30T19:22:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Fillet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/2acd7d/32.png) [@Fillet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fillet)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2000, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197/61 "2000-07-05T18:31:08Z")
Jman, you threw me for a minute… till I noticed from your profile that you’re north of Albany, where the Thruway IS “90” rather than “87.” But I usually just call it “the Thruway” myself. 🙂 Montfort, I don’t know why the plethora of Route 7s, but it seems to be a fairly common phenomenon. There’s also Route 17 (N&S), 17A, 17K, and 17M… ---
**Author:** ![Montfort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Montfort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montfort)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2000, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197/62 "2000-07-07T19:37:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fillet \* > \*\*Montfort, I don’t know why the plethora of Route 7s, but it seems to be a fairly common phenomenon. There’s also Route 17 (N&S), 17A, 17K, and 17M… \*\* Actually, it may have been 17, not 7, that has the plethora (love that word) of roads. I encountered it along the Thruway in Poughkeepsie/New Paltz, as well as up along the Northway in Saratoga. ---
**Author:** ![yosemite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/3ab097/32.png) [@yosemite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yosemite)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2000, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197/63 "2000-07-08T04:31:40Z")
As I mentioned in that other thread about the “the” in front of freeway numbers - I’m sorry, but “the” is here to stay with me. I grew up saying it, and I didn’t even _notice_ or _know_ that anyone said it any different until a relatively short time ago. I’ve recently moved out of state, and someone pointed it out to me. Until then, I didn’t even notice, or care. As long as I knew what freeway to go to… I am a native Angeleno, and I guess I have the LA “accent” and use all the terminology, and I always will. That’s the way it is. If I were from England, or South Carolina, or Boston, and I moved somewhere else, would anyone expect me to obliterate my accent because I wasn’t in my hometown anymore? As long as you can still be understood…who fricking cares? I know this is all tongue-in-cheek, of course. 😉 Oh, I asked this in the other thread, and I’ll ask it again here. Does anyone outside of S. Cal. say “surface streets” to describe residential, or non-freeway streets? It’s a common term in LA. As in, “I got off the 210 at Ocean View Blvd. and took surface streets the rest of the way home.” ---
**Author:** ![Cumulus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6bbea6/32.png) [@Cumulus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumulus)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2000, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197/64 "2000-07-08T16:04:54Z")
In the Houston metropolitan area, we have the following: **Interstate Highway 10:** I-10 (never “the I-10” but sometimes “10”) Katy Freeway (I-10 West) (sometimes “the Katy”) Baytown East Freeway (I-10 East) (formerly East Freeway) (never “the Baytown East” or “the East”) **Interstate Highway 45:** I-45 (never “the I-45” but sometimes “45”) North Freeway (I-45 North) (never “the North”) Gulf Freeway (I-45 South) (never “the Gulf”) **U.S. Highway 59:** U.S. 59 (never “the U.S. 59” but sometimes “59”) Eastex Freeway (U.S. 59 North) (sometimes “the Eastex”) Southwest Freeway (U.S. 59 South) (never “the Southwest”) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2000, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197/65 "2000-07-08T16:33:16Z")
> [@](#): > > I-10 (never “the I-10” but sometimes “10”) We say “the 10”, but never “the I-10”. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2000, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197/66 "2000-07-08T17:20:47Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by yosemitebabe \* > Oh, I asked this in the other thread, and I’ll ask it again here. Does anyone outside of S. Cal. say “surface streets” to describe residential, or non-freeway streets? It’s a common term in LA. As in, “I got off the 210 at Ocean View Blvd. and took surface streets the rest of the way home.” Another native-born (Whittier) and user of surface streets. The only other person I’ve heard use the term here in NJ is a recently-moved Californian. I think this relates to having fewer freeways or perhaps a greater reliance on surface streets here. Many of these streets are numbered highways and are referred to by number. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2000, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197/67 "2000-07-08T22:03:08Z")
I say “surface streets”, but I think I picked that up while I was living in LA. Then again, sometimes I say “local facilities”, but I work for the highway folks, so bureaucratese creeps into my vernacular pretty easily. ---
**Author:** ![vandal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2000, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197/68 "2000-07-08T22:23:24Z")
I sometimes call them that, but for the most part, I refer to them as “the streets” or “local”. As in, “I just got off the 101, and took local the rest of the way” or “the freeway is too backed up, I’ll the streets instead.” ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2000, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197/69 "2000-07-08T22:27:25Z")
> [@](#): > > they’ve begun using vagaries “the Stevenson” to indicate one portion of the road (beginning and ending arbitrarily) and I-55 to indicate another. I’d always assumed, for no good reason, that the Stevenson started at about Kingery Highway (Rt 83) and the southern section of it from there to St. Louis (or where ever it ends) was I-55. Of course, now it makes more sense to say the Stevenson starts at the I-355 junction given the amount of traffic, but I guess there’s no rules for this sort of thing. You’re right about the traffic reports being useless though. Thank God I live and work in the suburbs and only have a five to seven minute “commute”. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197/70 "2000-07-09T01:34:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Johnny L.A. \* > **…I think the reason no one uses the word “interstate” is that most people don’t use them to go inter-state. It’s about 800 miles to the next state north. It’s a couple-hundred to the next states east. “Interstate”, while technically correct, doesn’t seem to be of much practical value here.** Actually, the identifier “Interstate” really refers to how the route was funded and whether the Federal Highway Administration has included it in their system of interstate freeways. It has nothing to do with whether it actually crosses state lines. To wit, Hawaii has Interstate routes, which you might expect would call for a REALLY long bridge… ---
**Author:** ![meara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@meara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meara)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2000, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197/71 "2000-07-09T06:01:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by ChiefScott \* > \*\*In Philly we have a peculiar anomoly with the name of I-476. > … > Opening about a decade ago, it has earned capitilization status as the Blue Route. Almost no one from Philly calls it I-476. \*\* And of course Philly traffic reports are totally mixed with numbers and names. There’s: “95”, “295”, “the Blue Route” (476), “the Northeast Extension”, “the Scuykill” or however you spell it (76), “the Turnpike” (276), “Route 1”, “the Black Horse Pike” (some NJ road), “the White Horse Pike” (some NJ road), “the Main Line” (Rt. 30), “the Vine Expressway” (676), “611”, “309” [It’s really freaky that as I type these, my mind is reciting a whole litany of frequent traffic reports including “slow-going from gladwynn to the Conshohocken curve”, “95 is jammed from Academy to Girard”, etc. No… no… make it stop!! AAAAAAaaaggghhh…] ---
**Author:** ![BrothaTJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d07c76/32.png) [@BrothaTJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrothaTJ)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197/72 "2000-07-14T06:25:07Z")
As a native, I understand the Chicago traffic reports quite easily, but I pity the out-of-towner trying to figure out what the heck the reporters are spewing over the airwaves. As far as the 355 thing, if you listen to the AM stations (670, 780, 720), they often refer to it as “355” or even worse for those unfamiliar with the area, “The North-South.” A sample traffic report could be “It’s 55 minutes on the outbound Ike from the post office to the North-South”…yeah that makes sense. Or my favorite, the Kennedy: “30 minutes on the outbound Kennedy from the circle to the split, 55 to the airport, we’ve got a disabled car at Hubbard’s Cave blocking the left lane”…they should have a traffic report handbook available or something. By the way does anyone else find it amusing that Lake Shore Drive gets shortened to LSD? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2000, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197/73 "2000-07-14T12:28:36Z")
KFWB has posted a small glossary of So. Cal. freeway terms here: [http://kfwb.com/trafques.html](http://kfwb.com/trafques.html) Is “Sig Alert” used outside of So. Cal.? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-everyone-referred-to-their-freeways-by-their-number/24197.md?page=3)