“BTW, do you say “Van Wick” or “Van Wike” for the Van Wyck”
Whenever I come across it, I pronounce it ‘Van Wick’.
As far as adding “the” before freeway numbers, I guess it really is just a California thing.
Without looking at my Rand McNally, I seem to remember it being called the Theodore Roosevelt expressway. I’m fairly certain it goes over the Theodore Roosevelt bridge before ending just past the Jefferson Memorial. I DO know that the entire road is an HOV road inside the beltway, with single passanger vehicles supposed to take the GW Parkway, if I’m not mistaken.
Zuma & Kyla: I have heard both “101” and “the 101”, but I will admit 87 is usually “hwy 87”. And until those from Beirut-by-the-bay stop calling it “the City” as if it is the only one in existance, instead of a much smaller burg than SJ, well, I’ll keep up with the “frisco” or whatever I feel like. And Frisco residents never use any numbers to refer to freeways, so if you do, you must be recent immigrants.
I listen to traffic radio sometimes, and I never know what the SF radiojocks are talking about re Frisco traffic. 
The ONE freeway which nearly always has “the” in front of it down here is “the 880”- however there is always a curseword between “the” and “880”, such as “the fucking 880”. If you don’t know that, well, you haven’t driven much around here.
As for where I am from, I was born in Yakima, lived in So cal (NOT LA, mostly Gardena & Santa Monica), then Modesto, Bakersfield, and for the last 12 years- in Morgan Hill then SJ. 
Voguevixen: I think I love you!
The problem with calling the roads only by their number, or by ‘route XX’ or ‘highway xx’, is that we tend to obscure whether it is an interstate highway, US highway, or state highway. We reduce them all into routes.
For example, in the NY State Tri-area, there is a lot of talk about the “Route 1-9 intersecting with Route 95”. That is merged US Hwy’s 1 and 9 merging with Interstate 95. Also they talk about Route 3 a lot, as if it is the most important road in New Jersey after the NJ Turnpike. It is only a state road that runs along the eastern part of NJ. I guess calling it a state road diminishes its lusture.
There are cities in which numbered highway roads have different names. Interstate 95 is also named Bruncker Expressway going through The Bronx. US 1 is Boston Road in Brooklyn. I find it funny that some numbered highway roads get differeent names in the same city.
There are some freeways and highways that have no number, just the name. Grand Central Parkway after I287 becomes Brooklyn-Queens, is a good example. There are also several toll roads in Kentucky that just have names, no numbers.
You don’t think of Gardena and Santa Monica as LA? Awfully fine distinction you’re making there…
And NO Bay Area native says “The 101”…it’s either “101” or “The Bayshore”.
Only in Frisco is it the “bayshore”, down here it’s only 101, sometimes “the 101”. And if Santa Monica = LA, then Santa Cruz = San Jose, and if Gardena = LA, then San Mateo = SF.
You gotta be fucking kidding me. Gardena and LA are ACROSS THE STREET from one another - Vermont Avenue divides Gardena and LA. And the only thing separating Santa Monica from LA is…you guessed it…streets! Chiefly, it’s Centinela Avenue and Santa Monica Avenue.
In Philly we have a peculiar anomoly with the name of I-476.
It was proposed in the early 70s to connect I-95 and I-76/PA Turnpike through Philly’s western suburbs. Four routes were proposed tentatively identified as: yellow, red, blue and green – the color they were drawn in on the proposal map.
As local governments dickered and bitched and moaned about the various benefits, these colors became ingrained onto the collective consciousness of the local populace – the yellow route benefited Swarthmore, Upper Darby didn’t like the green route, but supported the blue route, etc.
The blue route eventually won out and construction begun. Opening about a decade ago, it has earned capitilization status as the Blue Route.
Almost no one from Philly calls it I-476.
Here’s my take on it. When we say “the”, we’re saying “Take the interstate 10 freeway…” Since this is a bit long (and even redundant), we just say “the 10”. It’s quicker and easier.
Also, freeways change their names. Interstate 10, “the 10”, is the Christopher Columbus Transcontinental Freeway (and it starts in Santa Monica, not Florida! ;)). West of the 405 it’s the Santa Monica Freeway. Somewhere it changes to the San Bernardino Freeway. As mentioned before, the 405 is the San Diego Freeway… but it doesn’t go to San Diego! (By federal naming convention, “405” means that the freeway diverges from the 5 and rejoins it at another place.)
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.
Generally, around here they’re all “freeways”. State Highway 101 and the 110 look the same as Interstate 5 and Interstate 405. And since the 405 “San Diego Freeway” doesn’t even go to San Diego, let alone to another state, calling it an interstate is just a quirk of the naming convention. Although I’ve heard “Route 2”, most people use “PCH” (Pacific Coast Highway) instead of “Route 1”, and “Santa Monica Blvd.” instead of “Route 2” (on the West Side). Most people refer to SR170 as “the 170” or “the Hollywood Freeway” (not to be confused with the 101).
In any case, there are gobs of freeways here, and getting people to remember which is an interstate, a state highway, or a state route would be a pain; so we just use the number most of the time. (Parse that out. Wouldn’t it sound funny if I’d written “we just use number most of the time”? That’s why we use “the”!)
I’ve heard people from other states complain that our exits aren’t numbered. They’re used to hearing, “Take exit 39 and turn left.” Our exits just have street names. No numbers, just “Washington Blvd./Venice Blvd.” or whatever. It works pretty well, but unless you know where you’re going the exits may pop up when you’re not expecting them. Ya gotsta read the signs. (BTW: The Washington/Venice exit from the 405 North doesn’t actually go to either. It lets you out on Sepulveda and you have to turn left for one, right for the other.)
This is too much typing before coffee…
I meant that US 1 goes through The Bronx not Brooklyn.
Moreover, Santa Monica is part of LA because it’s IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY. Santa Cruz is in Santa Cruz County, whereas San Jose is in Santa Clara County. San Mateo is in San Mateo County, and San Francisco is in San Francisco County. In my mind, this is the difference. Additionally, Santa Monica is part of the LA Metropolitan Area, while Santa Cruz isn’t even in the Bay Area, let alone the San Jose area.
Right, and only someone from Frisco would say that two cities are the same as they are in the same county. Like Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Cupertino, Milpitas, Mt. View,Saratoga, Los Gatos, Palo Alto and others are all part of San Jose. And there is nothing LA-like about Santa Monica, or Malibu, or many other cities in that County.
I don’t live in Orlando or Tampa, but somewhere in between. We generally refer to ALL of the interstates as I-whatever. It avoids confusion with state and local roads that may have the same number. But sometimes, I admit, if we’re talking to someone who knows the area, we will be sloppy and say 275, 75, 95, or even 4 (tho not 4 as often as the others.)
Of course the Chicago dilemma has been covered, and more often than not I-88 and I-355 are refered to as the East-West and North-South tollways, but once in a while they are called by their number. The Ike on the other hand is NEVER called I-290. Chicago traffic reports, unlike any others I’ve heard, are completely indecipherable. The use of names instead of more obvious numbers on a map are only the beginning. Many of the expressways carry the same number, but a variety of names. The landmarks are cryptic, “the circle interchange” (which refers to the UIC circle campus, not the shape of the roads), “the split” and “the merge”, “the library”, “the post office” and “the skyway”. Not only are they vague, you’ll never hear them explained by anyone. Throw in the fact that these days traffic reports have come to include much broader areas, they’ve begun using vagaries “the Stevenson” to indicate one portion of the road (beginning and ending arbitrarily) and I-55 to indicate another. Its a mess, but we can rest assured that the travel times reported mean absolutely nothing so your not missing anything.
Quote>>>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”. <<<<<<<
Actually, the Pomona Freeway is the 60. AFAIK, the 10 doesn’t have a nickname. Which is just as well, because the names get too confusing here in SOCAL, as has been pointed out.
The Hollywood Freeway: both the 101 and 170
The Ventura Freeway: both the 101 and 134
The Simi Valley Freeway (118) is now the Ronald Reagan Expressway
Everyone I know in L.A. just uses the numbers because it avoids further questions. The names change but the numbers do not.
In the Baltimore area, most interstate and U.S. highways are referred to solely by their number. The principal exception is I-83 inside I-695 (the Baltimore Beltway), which is called the JFX or Jones Falls Expressway, since it was constructed over the Jones Falls river.
Here in Los Hideous, the 10 is the “Santa Monica Freeway” or the “San Bernardino Freeway”.
Now I know you’re kidding me. Santa Monica and Malibu are about as LA as LA gets.
Actually, the Thruway gets called “90” equally. 
Naw…mostly, I just call it “The Thruway.” BTW, I call almost ALL roads by number, with the I for interstate, US for US hiways, usually the state name for state roads. If I’m giving directions to people for state roads close to home, I’ll use just the number.
For example, giving directions here, I’d say, take I-90 East to I-86 east, then north on NY-13. But if I were giving directions out of town, I’d say, take 13 south (skipping the NY), to NY-17 (which is I-86), etc…
Jman
What’s the deal with all of the Rt 7 roads? There’s 7M, 7K, and even 7S (I once was told to go north on 7S, yes, it’s confusing).
And, thanks to whomever that explained the origin of the “Blue Route” name for I-476 in PA (which, of course, does double-duty as the Northeast Extension of the PA Turnpike). I’ve been calling it the Blue Route since it opened and never knew why!