# What do you call your freeway? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 25, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765 "2010-03-25T16:47:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/1 "2010-03-25T16:47:21Z")
I’m on the road, in NJ, and I was thinking about East coast vs West coast nomenclature. Californians call their freeways “the” N (e.g. The 5), while people elsewhere would just call it “5”. How about you? ---
**Author:** ![picunurse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@picunurse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picunurse)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/2 "2010-03-25T16:52:21Z")
Westy here, (Seattle) we call I-5, I-5, no “the.” A couple newspeople, who are obviously from other parts of the country add the “the”, but they can’t pronounce Yakima or Hoquiam either. ---
**Author:** ![phreesh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@phreesh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phreesh)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/3 "2010-03-25T16:54:37Z")
Up in here in Calgary, I think we’re pretty unique in calling our main roads ‘Trail’. The biggest road in town (8 lanes) is Deerfoot Trail. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/4 "2010-03-25T16:56:29Z")
Tennessee: I-40, I-65, I-24 would cover probably 60-70% of the ways they’re said. Dropping the I- would get another 20-25%. The remainder would be from out of state and used to some other way. One of the quickest ways to spot a phony regionalism in a movie or TV show is to refer to an interstate as “The whatever.” By no means the norm. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/5 "2010-03-25T16:57:29Z")
Here in Cleveland you either hear “I-271” or just “271” - mostly the latter. Same for routes…“Route 14” or “14” or “Broadway” (or any of the myriad of other names for 14 as it goes from city to city). ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/6 "2010-03-25T17:02:30Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > I’m on the road, in NJ, and I was thinking about East coast vs West coast nomenclature. Californians call their freeways “the” N (e.g. The 5), while people elsewhere would just call it “5”. How about you? _Southern_ Californians refer to freeways that way. The rest of us are normal, just like you. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/7 "2010-03-25T17:03:06Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > …Californians call their freeways “the” N (e.g. The 5), while people elsewhere would just call it “5”… No, only _southern_ Californians do this, primarily in the L.A. basin, but I believe they do it in San Diego, too. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/8 "2010-03-25T17:04:04Z")
Here it’s “two seventy” or “three fifteen” (the latter being an Ohio route number). When I first moved here, I referred to OH-315 as “three one five”, but was told by a native that sounded very odd. ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/9 "2010-03-25T17:07:27Z")
For my local highway, I say 101. As in “I’d take 101 to get downtown instead, it’ll be faster” But if I’m driving down to LA I’d say “I’m taking the 5.” ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/10 "2010-03-25T17:10:13Z")
Another component of the OP’s question is the use of the term “freeway” regionally. Other ways I’ve heard it (besides Interstate) would include – Toll Road – Turnpike – Expressway – Superslab (in songs and jokes) – Throughway Toll roads are not abundant around here, and besides which they’re not really “freeways” are they? Personally I like to call them Intercourses. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/11 "2010-03-25T17:15:21Z")
> [@phreesh](#): > > Up in here in Calgary, I think we’re pretty unique in calling our main roads ‘Trail’. > > The biggest road in town (8 lanes) is Deerfoot Trail. I call it the QE2, but I’m not sure if it’s generally only called that outside of the city. I also use highway. Not so much freeway. ---
**Author:** ![psycat90](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@psycat90](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psycat90)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/12 "2010-03-25T17:17:26Z")
From NJ, live in Northern California. I would say the turnpike, and the parkway, route 1, route 9, route 18, etc. I don’t say the 5 or the 101, just 5 and 101, or occasionally highway 101. ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/13 "2010-03-25T17:21:30Z")
It was odd to me moving from WA where we called our freeways “I-whatever” (I-5, I-90, etc) to Chicago where all of the expressways (not freeways, had to get used to that too) have their own names (Dan Ryan, Edens, Bishop Ford, Eisenhower.) Sometimes people call them by number but usually not. ---
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/14 "2010-03-25T17:23:03Z")
I refer to freeways here in AZ as “the \_\_\_”; the 60, the 202, the 10, the 17. Back in MI, it was just 94, 75, 69, 96, and 696 (six-ninety-six). Weird. I just noticed that I’ve added “the” since moving to AZ. ---
**Author:** ![StarsApart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecc23a/32.png) [@StarsApart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarsApart)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/15 "2010-03-25T17:24:42Z")
Here in Arizona it is the 60, the 101, the I-10, etc. Edit: Simulpost 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/16 "2010-03-25T17:25:52Z")
> [@HelloNinja](#): > > It was odd to me moving from WA where we called our freeways “I-whatever” (I-5, I-90, etc) to Chicago where all of the expressways (not freeways, had to get used to that too) have their own names (Dan Ryan, Edens, Bishop Ford, Eisenhower.) Sometimes people call them by number but usually not. I’m one of the ones that calls them by number, myself. It’s always 290, 88, 55, 90/94 … I have to pay close attention when I watch the television news traffic reports. ---
**Author:** ![YamatoTwinkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/cc9497/32.png) [@YamatoTwinkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YamatoTwinkie)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/17 "2010-03-25T17:26:17Z")
> [@Hedda\_Rosa](#): > > For my local highway, I say 101. As in “I’d take 101 to get downtown instead, it’ll be faster” > > But if I’m driving down to LA I’d say “I’m taking the 5.” I grew up in Northern California but married someone from Southern California, thus all of “my” highways are plain, but I put a “the” in front of all of my spouse’s highways. ---
**Author:** ![Ann\_Onimous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@Ann\_Onimous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ann_Onimous)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/18 "2010-03-25T17:31:02Z")
Just numbers: for example, “We’re taking 220 to 55.” ---
**Author:** ![Perciful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b38774/32.png) [@Perciful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Perciful)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/19 "2010-03-25T17:32:41Z")
Spaulding Turnpike ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2010, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765/20 "2010-03-25T17:37:15Z")
Two sides of Missouri seem seem to be different. When I lived in St. Louis we referred to the highways as I-70 or Highway 55. Here in the Kansas City area people talk about driving on 50 Highway or 40 Highway. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-call-your-freeway/533765.md?page=2)