What do you call your freeway or highway?

“The†is LA speak.

Here in Sacramento it is either “I-5†~ “Highway 50†~ “Interstate 80â€or any combination therein . . . but never “Theâ€.
Several years ago, a new transplant TV traffic reporter made the mistake of saying “The 5†- “The 80†- etc. The station got a rash of angry phone calls. People said she would never be accepted as a local if she continued to say “theâ€. We just don't have that many freeways that we have to resort to shorthand.

Anyone outside of Southern California who says “The (number)†is just being a wannabe, and is probably simultaneously choking on their Starbucks no-room double-chai half-soy half-decaf iced venti Cappuchino. :lol:

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mssmith95 @ Jul 12 2006, 11:57 PM) [snapback]285463[/snapback]</div>

In the UK it's a motorway with a number such as "M4" "M25" etc. The older cross-country roads are called "A" roads with numbers such as "A4" "A326" etc. The definite article ("The") is usually used in sentences like "Take the M4 out of London to get to Bristol". Or "I'm on the M3". Same with "A" roads. "Take the A1 to go north from London"

Does the "Free" in freeway indicate that it is toll free? Almost all the UK motorways are toll-free. In France similar roads are called "Autoroutes" and a toll is paid so a fast road journey from the north to south of France can cost quite a bit in tolls.

 

I also leave out the "the," with a few exceptions. Well, only one exception comes to mind at the moment - the Beltway (in DC).

 

"The" is ABSOLUTELY LA-speak. I live near San Francisco, my sisters live in LA. None of us is from California, but enough years have passed...They say "The" 101, I just say 101. Somehow, having lived in New York, New England, Montreal, London, Northern Virginia and now NoCal, I tend to notice linguistic differences. A couple of years ago, DH & I were watching an episode of The West Wing, one where Rob Lowe had only sort of left so far. He was being a campaign manager or something for someone or other (clear?) and was visiting LA from DC. He referred to going somewhere on "The" 405. I paused, thought, and informed DH (who, though born & raised in NY, has now lived more than 1/2 his life in CA--most of it Northern, but a couple of years of grad school in/around LA) that some scriptwriter screwed up...HAHAHA, I thought, those insular Hollywoodians...A few minutes later, Rob Lowe mentions in conversation that he had grown up in them thar parts...The insular Hollywoodians sure got me that time! But it is DEFINITELY a SoCal thing--I've never heard it anywhere else I've lived. Funnily enough, some of the language things travel fast. A few years ago I was, naughty me, in traffic school here in Sonoma County and I referred to the HOV lanes and was looked at like I was an alien--What? The HIV lanes? What are you talking about? I had first heard/used the term when I lived in the DC area in the mid-80s. Apparently, they were just called carpool lanes around here until we Prions and our ilk started our stealthy takeover of the world. Kinda funny, really.

Oh, and freeway is way more of a CA thing in itself--we (mostly) don't have toll roads/turnpikes. Again, I never heard freeway anywhere but CA where I have lived or travelled extensively. Do other states have freeways or just highways, turnpikes, expressways and the like?

(Well, yes, there are exceptions all around like "The" Beltway...but it's also the Mass 'Pike, The NJ ThrUway, and like that, so I don't think NAMED ones count--just numbered!)

 

in the midwest its I-69 or I-65 or I75 or just interstate #...no freeway stuff...or if its a state road its state road 1 or 14 or whatever the number is...to say the 69 for the interstate is nuts...

 

Depends on if it's an Interstate, State Route, Parkway, Highway, Pike, or Named Road I suppose. Of couse we have Boulevards and Avenues also along with the Roads, Streets, Courts etc etc, but the major cross country roads would be referred to thusly:

Route 1, Route 50, Route 7

I95, I495, I270, I66

The GW Parkway, The Clara Barton Parkway, The Rock Creek Parkway

Kings Highway

Leesburg Pike, Rockville Pike, Columbia Pike

The Beltway, The Dulles Toll Road, The Greenway, The Inter County Connector (The ICC)

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Oxo @ Jul 13 2006, 03:40 AM) [snapback]285524[/snapback]</div>

So LA'ers are just trying to be EURO! LOL B)

 

In Colorado: "Take the 119 to 36 to I-25." The 119 is a CO-119, state highway. 36 is US-36. I-25 is I-25.

Hey, what's the difference between "I" and "US" anyway? "I" always gets the Blue and Red badge, but "US" gets gets the Black and White Badge with a few more curves?

Nate

 

And why DOES Hawaii have Interstates?

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(naterprius @ Jul 13 2006, 11:02 AM) [snapback]285651[/snapback]</div>

I is interstate, comes from a different pool of funds and different set of requirements. US is a US highway, can be built at interstate levels (then technically a "limited-access highway", usually called a freeway, or in NY area, may be a parkway - hence the conundrum, you drive on a parkway and park on a driveway. But in England they drive on the sidewalk, from my understanding. Or do they walk on the pavement - sth backward, help me out).

Back home (northern MN, way out in the sticks) a highway is anything paved between towns, usually two lanes (total). If it's in a town, then it's a street. An interstate or freeway was anything with multi-lanes. In the Chicago area, a highway is only an interstate/freeway/tollway thing - any limited-access highway. Other roads are "surface streets" (I guess because the highways are often higher than the general surrounding elevation). Named roads have the name road, if you refer to it by number, then it's often a route (Route 12 is also called Rand Road). Then you have the whole rout/root pronounciation issue.

My relatives in MN/ND have an issue with the tollways here, because tollways don't exist west of Chicago (other than CA, I assume) and they're not used to stopping and paying ("is this legal?").

When I lived in Texas, paved roads (blacktops) are sometimes called "oil roads". I had a hard time once getting directions from someone with a particularly good accent before I realized what an "aisle rahd" was.

Personally I like the pink roads around Sioux Falls,SD - that pink quartz used in the pavement gives a nice soothing look. Better than the red scorio used for gravel roads around the badlands of North Dakota.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Sufferin' Prius Envy @ Jul 13 2006, 01:32 AM) [snapback]285522[/snapback]</div>

So that's where I picked that up! When I lived there I didn't even use the numbers, i.e. "take the Santa Monica" or "go north on the Pacific Coast Highway..." Some people called it the PCH, but NOBODY called Orange County 'the OC' <_<

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Rufaro @ Jul 13 2006, 11:19 AM) [snapback]285664[/snapback]</div>

I was told it was to connect military bases with high capacity (federally funded) roads.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(mssmith95 @ Jul 12 2006, 11:57 PM) [snapback]285463[/snapback]</div>

Not to change the subject but why do people drive on parkways and park on driveways.....? hmmmmm

 

It really depends. When directing people I may say, "First you have to get on Highway 15 going North," but at the Del Mar Fair I told a Caltrans Rep I take 15 when she asked my commute.

 

As far as Central Florida goes it's a combination of everything. For major interstates we say "Take I-4 east to I-95." For toll roads we say "Take the 417 up to the 528." And for other roads it's "Just take 192 east to OBT, then go up to Sand Lake."

I guess it's just our little way of confusing tourists even more and getting them to buy roadmaps at every gas station they go to.

 

I think "The" shows up a lot in New York City because many of the highways are refered to by names instead of interstate numbers. No one takes I278 through Brooklyn and Queens. They take "The Brooklyn Queens Expressway" or simple "The BQE". No one takes I495 through Long Island... it's "The Long Island Expressway" or simply "The L.I.E."

Forget about route numbers. Everything is known by a street name in unless it turns into a highway and then the "The" shows up again. Route 27 in Brooklyn is Linden Blvd until you hit the highway and then its "The Prospect Park Expressway.

I remember being amazaed the first time I looked at a road atlas and discovered that there was wome logic behind the interstate numbers.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Trevor @ Jul 13 2006, 09:28 PM) [snapback]286076[/snapback]</div>

My inner geek drove me to expand on this statement and actually explain the logic (as far as I understand it):

East-West Interstates are numbered by "tens," starting with I-10 in the south & ending with I-90 in the north.

North-South Interstates are numbered by "fives," starting with I-5 in the west & ending with I-95 in the east.

Branch extensions to an Interstate are numbered by adding even hundreds 200 thru 900 (usually in order of funds commitment if not actual construction) to the idenitifier (e.g. I-280 is the branch extension of I-80 that carries I-80's terminus in San Francisco down to San Jose; I-205 is a branch extension of I-5, etc.).

I believe branch extension numbering is local: I-280 in California is obviously not the same roadway as I-280 in, say, Chicago; but both are extensions of the same I-80.

I don't know what happens when the number of local branch extensions exceeds 8 - a situation already reached here in the Bay Area, where we've got 280, 380, 480, 580, 780, 880 and 980 already constructed. (I-380 might qualify as the shortest Interstate with its own identifier: at less than a mile it might be more properly regarded as the widest multilane on-off-ramp on record. And I-980 isn't much longer).

Why 100 isn't used I don't know.

 

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(airportkid @ Jul 14 2006, 11:27 AM) [snapback]286316[/snapback]</div>

Right, as I understand it, branch extentions are Intrastate (like the 805 in San Diego county), while the smaller numbers are Interstate (like I-5).