I’m loath to continue the hijack – after all, the OP’s point was that WH made him/her think of Waffle House’s hashbrowns, not to rail against all abbreviations containing the letter W – but it’s not I-35 west. I realize that the “W” comes from “west”, but the highway is named “I-35W”.
To address the point of the OP: FWIW, ISTM that abbreviations are OK in a message board post, but IMHO, any news article – or even a blog entry for the general public – shouldn’t use abbreviations where the meaning would be clearer if the words were spelled out.
YMMV.