Kentucky has a network of limited, and some non-limited, Parkways throughout the state. I've driven the Bluegrass, parts of the Western Kentucky Parkway, and the Mountain Parkway from beginning to end. They go through some of the beautiful areas of the state.
I live in Wisconsin, and I'm always traveling the southeastern roads-Hwy C, KR, KD, EA, 894 bypass, 794 Lake. There isn't a road I haven't traveled in the Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee areas. LOL! I always find simple little journeys up and down these roads fun.
Speaking as someone who grew up in the era of family road trips, and spent nearly 15 years as a professional OTR driver, there are actually three different criteria at work here: 1 ) Operational Authority 2 ) Access & Separation (ie Junctions, Tolls, etc) 3 ) Routes & Destinations ~ Operational Authority ~ Owing to the United States being a Dual-Federal Republic, *any* public roadway under the Operational Authority of the United States Department of Transportation or an individual State Department of Transportation is automatically a "Highway". Historically, the "high" portion is both authoritative and literal; the roadway itself was commissioned by the highest regional authority and was/is elevated so as to remain operational during adverse weather conditions. County and Local routes (as might be deduced) operate under their respective Department(s) of Transportation. Rural routes which cover longer distances are typically also designated as Highways. "Parkways" traditionally fall under an Operational Authority other than an applicable Department of Transportation - either the National Park Service, a State Park Service, or other local/regional civic authority. As such, they are not required to conform with DOT specifications as to clearances, load capacities, and such. Some Parkways have rather infamous histories as they use numerous low-clearance overpasses to prevent the passage of commercial vehicles such as buses; thereby preventing 'undesirable classes of persons' from utilizing them. ~ Access & Separation ~ Freeways and Expressways are characterized by their (largely) free-flowing nature, with relatively few points of access. The primary distinction between the two is that Expressways allow for at-grade junctions with other roadways while Freeways do not; both primarily rely upon onramps/offramps for access, though Freeways do so exclusively. While a number of Expressways have since eliminated at-grade junctions along their routes, most have retained their designation as Expressways due to the next criterium. Toll Roads, Turnpikes, and similar designations are exclusive to the (archaic) practice of collecting funds directly from those using them. Most are Freeways (where toll facilities are separated from the travel lanes), though some are Expressways (where toll facilities occupy the travel lanes themselves). ~ Routes & Destinations ~ Regardless of other factors, many routes are designated so as to reflect their purpose for existing: ~ Beltways, Loops, and similar designations indicate that they provide (or initially provided) less-traveled routes circumventing areas of high traffic volumes ~ Expressways are so named to indicate that they bypass a specific area or provide less-restrictive access to/from a specific destination ~ Parkways are so named to indicate they were intended to provide a bucolic rural route (though some retain the designation despite no longer being rural) Interstates are always Highways (in both senses) and, with rare exceptions, always Freeways.
Buffalo, NY also does “the 190”, “the 990”, etc! Many people in Buffalo also use “thruway” as a general term for a limited access highway, which probably derives from the New York State Thruway
My understanding with Missouri is that the letter routes (H, AA, etc.) is a secondary state route, similar to Texas' Farm-to-Market or Ranch-to-Market routes.
Yep, they are state maintained roads, officially called supplemental state routes (SSRs), some can go through multiple counties while others are only a couple miles long and can have 2 completely separate and unrelated SSRs of the same letter in 2 neighboring counties, hence why a lot of people commonly believe they are county roads
There are parkways and expressways as well - and if I remember correctly, the first American limited-access road (Long Island Motor Parkway, 1908) was called a parkway. Thinking outside of the US, there's the UK where you can drive on a motorway or dual-carriage way. :)
Not true. FM and RM (Ranch to Market Road) are state highways that serve farms and ranches so that their goods can be brought to market. The only requirement for them is to be paved. Another class with similar signs but brown in color are RE (Recreational roads, marked R Road) that are recreational in nature but otherwise similar to FMs and RMs.
@@clayton97330 I looked at the Wikipedia articles on Farm-to-Market Roads and List of state highways in Texas. The difference is in designation. There have been many instances in the past where highways have switched designations in both directions. I suppose that one needs a scorecard much like one used on soap operas.
@@clayton97330Beaver actually did a video on FM roads, it’s explains it pretty simply. They’re basically just state highways but for rural areas. Or former rural areas rather, 1960 and 1093 (westheimer) in Houston are massive lol
The reason Southern Californians say "the freeway" is because before these freeways were numbered, people referred to them by their names, like "the Ventura Freeway" or "the Santa Ana Freeway". When the freeways received numbers, people found it easier to say the number than say the name.
You took the words right out of my mouth. I’ve found that non-LA residents are usually more confused by names rather than the use of “the” since they have different names based on the destination. “Wait, I took the Santa Monica freeway to go (blank) but I’m taking the San Bernadino freeway back?” They get it after you explain it but then say “That’s crazy”. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard that…
Just to add my two cents ; In the Baltimore area .. just saying the term "Highway" refers to the interstate, and if we're referring specifically to an interstate, we'd say i-95 ... albiet, we often just say "83" or 696" instead of saying "i". If we're talking small roads, you'd put the name before it, like Pulaski Highway, which is a state highway, but I find myself just calling it by it's number as well... or even dropping "highway" from it and saying "Pulaski". Never use Freeway or Expressway, although there are a few highways called an "Expressway", lol I've never said , "imma get on the expressway". Oh, and then Turnpikes are specific roads like the NJ turnpike & PA turnpike.
I would love to see a video like this on names for different municipalities. Both the different levels and regional variants such as parishes, burrows, hundreds, etc.
Very nice information and very nice pictures as references. However I had huge trouble mashing all the info together. A flipchart listing points would probably help with this. Sort of like a power point slide. I have subscribed and I am interested to see what you make in the future. Greetings from Germany
In Western New York, we also put "the" in front of the expressway, The 90 or Thruway, The 33 (state route) or Kensington, etc. We also have state routes that go from a 2 lane road to a 6 lane expressway like the 33 that I have mentioned before, and in Rochester, we have interstates like the I-490 and I-590 that both turn into state routes NY 490 and NY 590 while still being an expressway.
In Louisiana, we'll only either say "The Interstate" for interstates and "The Highway" for highways no matter what unless someone asks for specific answer then we'll say "I-10, I-12, I-20, I-49, I-55, I-59" or LA -1 and for the three-digits we'll just say the number without the "I" in front like "210, 220, 110, 310".
I was interested enough in this topic to click the link. When I heard you were from WI, I knew I had to sub. My husband was born, and raised in MN. So was I. I have lived most of my life in WI. I have come to understand the system in WI much better, but his family still lives in MN so I get so many questions.
Great video! Here in SE WI in the Milwaukee area we use a whole bunch of different terms for the freeways. A lot of people call the freeways "highways." What ive noticed is that a lot of people just say "the highway", even though there are a whole lot of different freeways. A lot of the shorter length freeways are just known by their names such as the lake fwy, stadium fwy, and fond du lac fwy. Some people say the numbers like 794, 175, 145, etc. A lot of people also call 894 "the bypass" because its the only bypass around here. Same with the airport spur (119) where people just say the spur. The mainlines are really just known by their numbers and some people say it with the I or without it.
In Nebraska, (by the DOT itself) an expressway is referred to 4 lane divided highways, running from one city to another. Here’s how the DOT labels the rest Street: street, avenue, road, drive, anything maintained by the city County road: Roads maintained by the county, typically gravel grid roads or blacktops County Spurs/Links: paved roads maintained by the county that connect one highway to another or a highway to a municipality Highway: a road used to connect distances, usually a state or US highway and 2 lanes Expressway: stated above Freeway: A 4+ lane divided highway with controlled access, used to connect areas quickly Interstate: a controlled access freeway part of the federal program
Weirdly, outside of socal, the other place where people refer to expressways with "The" is.... Buffalo, NY. We have a bunch of named routes (and the Thruway, which in WNY is the 90), and it came about for the same reason.
They’re state highways. Beaver actually did a whole video specifically on FM’s. TX state highways can fit in any category, really. 288 and 225 are freeways in Houston, 36 is Highway out of Houston because it has lights.
US Highways are actually not "upkept by the country." US Highways are just state highways that are numbered using a coordinated national numbering system. They're built and maintained by the states. They do get federal funding, but it's the same federal funding available to all state highways. I believe the "the" used by Californians actually comes from them originally saying "the 405 freeway". Over time, "freeway" was dropped and it just became "the 405."
Lettered highways in Missouri are not county roads but parts of the state highway system. They are a state secondary system, not unlike the FM and RM roads here in Texas. Another regional oddity is that in the Kansas City area, they turn things around to say things like "50 Highway" instead of "Highway 50." US 11 through some of the southwestern suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama, is called the "Bessemer Super Highway." It's four-lane divided with intersections and crossovers.
My mom lived on the East Coast for a few years in her 20s and has always remarked how much easier it is to navigate out West. Partially because there is more land and fewer cities to work with, but mainly because of the classification systems you’ve pointed out here. We live in a rural area in WA, so the options are paved city road, dirt county road, little state highways, or the big freeways. Predictably, the closer you get to the metropolitan areas, the more congested it gets and the more linked roads there are, but out in the rural areas, it’s much more straightforward.
Grew up in northern IL, and I specifically remember a regional map that differentiated tollways (toll booths) and freeways (no toll booths). I-90 is a tollway, and I-39 is a freeway, and they're both highways
Overall a great video, but the short descriptions of the Interstates and the US highways missed the goal posts by a wide margin. Military transportation and logistics are interesting, but are not even the primary justification of the IHS. The Interstates bolster(ed) national defense in a very indirect way. They were designed for civilian transportation and for commerce. Full stop. US Highways are also not nationally funded or maintained. Like all highways they are maintained by the states. In terms of actual strategic defense networks there is the National Highway System, a part of National Intermodal Transportation System, which is the infrastructural component of domestic military transportation. Actual military transportation operations use sea, air, and rail components domestically for most heavy equipment movement because *the Interstates are not designed for the transportation of heavy military hardware.*
In South Florida we use numbers for interstates and names for expressways. "Take 95 to Golden Glades and take the Palmetto South and take that to the Gratigny. For tourists I'll try to use numbers or signage."take 95 North to 836 West and follow the airport signs". US highways I'll eother use local strret nanes since Florida can be horrible numbering stuff. "Make a left on 5th Avenue North" instead of "make a left on alternate 19" In an area where I don't know the local street name or If it has none "Make a right on US 27". Some numbers or names I will use the word "the" like "take the 112".
Partly as a result of the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster I've waded into the world of U.S. road trip videos, mostly around Baltimore and, as a Brit, it's been very interesting looking at the different classes of road travelled upon and trying to compare them to our roads, with the aid of a Swiss Kümmerly + Frey Washington - Philadelphia road map, at 1:350,000 scale. I think I'd probably make the following parallels - Interstate/Motorway, U.S. Highway/Trunk A Road, State Highway/Regular A Road and County Highway/B Road. Thanks for spelling out the historical background, B.G.
Every Interstate is a freeway, but not every freeway is an Interstate. Every freeway is a highway, but not every highway is a freeway. Expressway is used almost interchangeably with freeway
In MA, some highways that seem to be arterial highways are actually expressways according to MassDOT. Two examples are US Route 44 in Middleboro and Carver, and MA Route 88 in Westport. What you may call those two stretches of highways is up to you.
Where I live in Alexandria Louisiana, we have the Pineville Expressway across the river in Pineville. It serves to connect all the different highway in Pineville on one road, to Alexandria.
Well, even county roads can be fully-fledged freeways...at least in the case of Clark County, NV. "FREE" in "Freeway" implies traffic that is FREE-flowing when transitioning from one such highway to another with separated grades. It has nil to do with tolls.
In Southern and Central California we say “the” before the number, like “The 405.” But in the Bay Area and Northern California people drop “the” before the number, and just say the number, like “5.”
@@catman422 In Northern California we use "Highway" before the freeway number. Like Highway 280, Highway 680, Highway 80. Highway 101, Highway 880, Highway 580. Yes these are San Francisco Bay Area examples.
Bit of background on the "the" before freeway names in LA. When they were originally built, they were named after key areas that the freeway passed through, such as I-210 being named "the Foothill Freeway". Eventually, so many more were built that the numbers became the colloquial names, although the official titles remain today. So, we dropped the wordy name but kept the "the".
Two things, The lettered roads in Missouri are state, not county routes. There are county routes, but they are usually given quadruple numbers and are usually unpaved. In North Carolina, there are no county maintained roads. They're all maintained by the state, and are divided up into two categories, PR (primary route) and SR (secondary). All roads have numbers, PR roads have numbers 999 or less and are usually known by their number. SR routes and 1000 and higher, and usually known by their given name. SR routes do function sort of as county routes and change if they come to a county line. But, they are maintained by the state DOT.
In the Detroit, MI area, we have a lot of named freeways, (The Jeffries Freeway, Chrysler Freeway, The Lodge Freeway, etc.) but we also have at least one expressway (The Willow Run Expressway). We use 'The' when we use the names of the roads, but we never use 'The' when referring to the numbers. Also, our state roads aren't referred to "SR" or a State prefix like in a lot of states, but just with an 'M', so it's not SR 10, or MI 10, just M 10.
My parents called freeways "expressways" and we're from Michigan. In my way of thinking, an "expressway" is technically like a freeway (or a long, somewhat wide highway), but with a number of surface intersections. US-60 once it leaves Phoenix going east becomes an "expressway" with notations that the "freeway ends" and "divided highway continues". US-2 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan warns drivers who start going west on it from the Mackinac Bridge that it is "NOT a freeway". Still, it does depend on where you're from. Speaking of being from Michigan, I didn't see a county road sign there until I got to Livingston County. Signed county roads kind of don't exist in SE Michigan, but they can in other bigger cities. As for a couple of reasons why in SoCal they use "the" is because in the case of the 110 and 210, they consist of I-110 and SR-110 (or C-110 as I like to call it lol) and the 210 is part I-210 and C-210. The 215 in Las Vegas is the same (or was) as the first 15 miles of it is I-215, and the rest of it was CR-215 (but is planning to become entirely I-215).
We also in Michigan have the habit of always including the designation in our discription so We always say the US, I or M and the number, while in Ohio they always say State Route sometimes even on US highways so if a wreck happend on US-20 the news story would often times refer to State Route 20. Michigan is odd also in that it has very few expressways with cross roads. The only ones that come to mind are the 20 miles of US-127 between St. Johns and Itica and US-2 between Gladstone and Escanaba, . In Lenewee county all north south county roads are called Highway and east west ones Road.
Santa Clara County in California has Expressways. They are multi lane, limited access roads but with traffic signals. There's Capitol, Central, Lawrence, Montague, and San Tomas.
I use motorways to refer to access controlled highway 4 lanes plus on the road. For two lane limited access controlled highways, 1 each direction, I refer it to a partially access highway.
This was how I always interpreted these terms. Highway: An umbrella term for any major roadway that connects 2 population centers together. Freeway: A special type of highway where crossroads are at a separate grade, and access between the highway and side roads is done with ramps instead of an intersection, and (typically) has 2 or more lanes going each way. Tollway: Similar to a freeway, except with a toll. Expressway: Also similar to a freeway, with a higher, freeway like speed limit, is divided, and (typically) has 2 ore more lanes each way, but unlike a freeway, regular intersections are allowed, even ones with stoplights. Interstate: A system of controlled access highways that spreads all across the country.
Wis Hwy 29 is a major east west four lane divided freeway/expressway from Green Bay to the Twin Cities. On rural areas along STH 29 US 10 53 151 is a expressway that has driveways low volume cross roads
You mentioned the named expressways in Chicago... where I grew up. I've got an interesting story about that as my wife is from Ohio. When traveling in the Chicago metro area, I'll turn on a news radio station to listen to the traffic reports, and she can't make heads or tails of them, whereas they make complete sense to me. It truly is almost like another language. "20 minutes outbound on the Dan Ryan" and she has to ask me what that means. LOL.
This is so interesting. I’m from Ireland & our roads are L (local), R (regional) N (national) & M (Motorway) & most of Europe follows a similar hierarchy. When doing a road trip in the US last year I was very confused because I assumed highway was like a motorway but it could be anything
Interesting topic and one I've thought about. WIth the rise of toll roads around the Dallas area where I live, the term "freeway" no longer feels accurate for a lot of roads. My husband and I tend to use the generic term "Big Road" to indicate a limited access highway whether it's free or tolled. This isn't really a regional variation though. Just our family term for the roadways with us usually indicating specific roads by name (most often using a number such as "I-35E" or "635" or in the case of most local toll roads, by a nickname such as "the Bush", "the DNT", etc.).
Omaha-Council Bluffs uses both expressway and freeway. Freeway seems to be reserved for the high-speed limited access freeways (North Fwy/US-75; Ford Fwy/I-480; Kennedy Fwy/US-75), expressway for higher capacity arterials with stoplights (Storz Expy, South Expy). Road is also used for high speed arterials and stroads in West Omaha (West Dodge Road; West Center Road/US-275/NE-92; West Maple Road/NE-64; Blair High Road/NE-133).
My view as a Mississippian: a Highway is a two lane state highway, 4 lane w center turn lane in town/city, or one of the US Route highways. A freeway/expressway is any multi lane road traversing through a city at high speeds. And the interstate is exactly was it is. Even if it runs through a city, I’ll refer to it as a freeway. And when addressing a roads’ name, I just say: • “take 55 to x” (referring to I-55) • “take 82/51 to x” (referring to US Rt 82/51) • “take 7/8 to x” (referring to MS St rt 7/8) TL:DR - I just say “take [insert number]”
Thanks. Seems you read your comments, and then take action! Yes, we have no 'freeways' in the NYC area- you pay to go everywhere. BTW, they say kids from LA are bad at arithmatic: becasue they say " the 2 plus the 4 equals the 6."
My county in inland southern California still has a few county routes. There used to be signs for it in my city but those have rotted and disappeared, but if you find the route out to the rural area you'll still see R-3 signs. Definitely antiquated, but California used to be more interesting in the old days to me.
Sometimes there will 2 lane limited access highways. They're referred to as a "Super 2" . Vermont has one. U.S. Hwy 7, or Route 7 as the locals call it.
Californians PROBABLY use "the" with numbered freeways because they all had NAMES prior to the Interstate designation. Thus, "The Pasadena Freeway" eventually became "The 110" in an organic way. The WEIRDEST roadway nomenclature I've encountered was when I was in Kansas City last summer, which uses the somewhat vague term "Trafficways" for some of their roads.
Nassau County, NY has a bunch of county roads under its jurisdiction. But when faced with the choice of changing out their orange signs for the standard blue ones, they just took down all of the old signs instead
It drives me nuts in South Africa and Australia where they call all control access highways "freeways," of which 85% have tolls. 30 years ago, I taught school in Indonesia where all such roads are called "jalan tol" (toll road), even the free ones.
Swapping Freeway & Expressway for some names would feel wrong. "Red Mountain Freeway" would sound just wrong. Granted, growing up, I had thought expressways/freeways were limited access highways that weren't part of the interstate system.
in central ohio they’re usually the numbers. 270, 71, 315, etc. not just interstates either. though apparently other cities don’t call their outerbelts (270) the outerbelt. the freeways have names but they’re rarely used except “innerbelt”. ex: jack nicholas fwy is 270, olentangy fwy is SR 315, but most people just call them 315 or 270.
In terms of "freeway" vs "expressway," I have always seen the different to be that a "freeway" is limited/controlled access (i.e. requires an interchange to enter) and an "expressway" is a divided highway with no stop signs or stop lights, but is not limited access (i.e. any side road that encounters said highway also provides access to the highway). Examples close to where I live are the "expressway" from the East end of Duluth to Two Harbors and the expressway on US Highway 53 from just south of the junction with US Hwy 2 South of Superior, WI until just North of Rice Lake, WI where it turns into a limited access freeway until the interchange with I-94 near Eau Claire.
State route 165 in Wisconsin from Green Bay road to i-94 is called the Lakeview parkway in which trucks use to access Industrial Park located between the two highways
There is a road that heads to the Fort Wayne International Airport in Indiana that is named the “ Airport Expressway” while seinfeld and divided highway
In Michigan we all say "expressway". We never say "The Interstate". There are no toll roads in the state. We always refer to highways like Interstate 75 or I-75 or 75, US highways are US-12 or 12, state highway markers are a diamond (actually a square with the points with corners up/down) with a block letter M and the number underneath. We say M-59 or 59. If we hear someone say "route 43" or "43" or "highway 43" we know that they are from out of state. Some states like Georgia and Florida use the official designation as SR (for state road) but people there never say "Ess Are"
I’m from Michigan as well and refer to the highways by their numbers or near Detroit may call routes by their memorial name, such as M-10 being called The Lodge.
Central Michigan here, the all encompassing for a controlled access highway I hear most is Freeway. But generally we refer to Freeways by their designation and route number (I-75, US 10) we do however refer to state highways by M
in atlanta, we call our freeways similar things to Los Angeles, but just say the number. for example: “i want to take the express lanes on 75 south to 285 before getting on 400”
I live in Ohio and grew up in the Miami and NYC areas. I generally use highway for any roads that are at least 2 lanes going in opposite directions. If the highway is limited access without at grade intersections I call it either an expressway or freeway depending on whether it is tolled or not. This is without regard to whether it is an interstate highway, a U.S. Route or even a state or county road. For example I-70 and Ohio Route 8 are both freeways in my part of Ohio (at least until Route 8 has at grade crossings up in the Macedonia area when I stop calling it a freeway and just call it a highway).
In Massachusetts where I come from originally, county roads are not marked as such. Some could be numbered highways that are, in fact, maintained by the city or town. An example of that is the entirety of MA Route 36 in Halifax and Pembroke, which is entirely maintained by the two towns it goes through. Another example is MA Route 80. The first 4.1 miles are state maintained, while the upper 2.4 miles are maintained by the Town of Kingston. Both Routes 36 and the town-maintained portion of 80 are laid out by the county (Plymouth County). It's confusing, but in MA not all numbered highways are state highways, and not all state highways are numbered highways.
I’m from Michigan and I usually refer to highways within the state, whether interstate, US, or state by their number, or may use either the m prefix for state routes that also have an interstate or US route of the same number, such as M-24 and US-24, even though I refer to the latter as Telegraph Road or Dixie Highway since majority of it is on it. Same goes with M-10 and me calling it The Lodge.
The low clearance underpasses are not made to enforce the no trucks law. It's just that most of those highways are very old and so the bridges are lower.
I think that an "expressway" is best suited to urban areas where a limited access road is used to streamline traffic and serves as a way to bypass many intersections that exist in such areas. I believe that outside of the US, Highways can include many forms of unpaved roads.
I- 55 from Lake shore drive out to the 294 is called the Stevenson. 294 from 94 North side to South Side by Indiana is called the Tri State Tollway . The 355 from i-80 to 290 is called the Veterans Memorial Tollway. I-390 by Ohare airport is Elgin O hare Expressway. I-90 from Dan Ryan to Indiana is Chicago Skyway
Yup! I'm from NJ/NYC Area and its true! Trucks and commercial vehicles are not allowed on Parkways and must use Expressways or more local roads! Many of the Parkways were built in the early 1900s (1930s) and are the inspiration of the urban planner named Robert Moses. And many of these roads were not built to handle larger vehicles such as trucks and tractor trailers. A lot of these Parkways have narrower lanes, low overpasses and very sharp and twisting curves as many of them follow the routes of rivers (like Bronx River Parkway, Saw Mill Parkway etc). There are signs everywhere throughout the city that warn trucks and commercial vehicles to stay on expressways not parkways! There are certain exceptions such as the beginning (or end depending how you look at it) of the Grand Central Parkway immediately after the RFK Bridge. Trucks entering into Queens from the RFK bridge are allowed to stay on the GCP until the exit for I-278 West (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) where they must exit!
As a Californian, I can attest to the usage of "the" before the highway number. My native Portlander partner and friends make fun of me for it all the time
Expressway is NOT used universally in the Boston area. Some stretches of I-93 are referred to as expressways, like the southeast expressway, but more often than not, other stretches of interstate are more commonly referred to as highways, or just by their number- and sometimes the wrong one :) Large stretches of I-95 are still called 128 by locals. All other numbered roads are called Route ##- whether it is a state route or US highway. No such thing as country roads.
Remember, freeway originally meant “free flow” not necessarily “free to drive”. Freeways *can be* and often are free, but toll roads can also be considered a freeway as long as they are built to free-flowing, limited access standards.
I'm from Maine. Highway = any large road that generally has a higher speed limit and turnpike = anything on the scale of an interstate highways, since the Maine Turnpike (I-95) is the only major limited access highway (US-1 and US-2 also function as "Main Street" for most of the cities and towns they go through). But all the state, US, and interstate routes get called by their number (with or without the word "route," like "drive up 35 and turn on to 117" or "I live right off Route 1"). The again, we only have I-95 (Kittery to Houlton) and its bypass I-295 from Scarborough to Gardiner (195 and 395 are glorified offramps), and US routes 1 (Kittery to Fort Kent), 2 (Houlton to Gilead), 201 (Brunswick to Seboomook), 202 (Lebanon to Bangor), and 302 (Fryeburg to Portland). Some of our state routes are MASSIVE, like ME-11 going from Lebanon to Fort Kent or ME-9 going from Berwick to Baileyville, even though they're rarely the most direct point from Point A to Point B.
Confusing the matter further is the US highways that run through my area: US 31 and 131, function almost exactly like interstate highways. 75mph speed limit, on-ramps, exits, etc. The only difference I can tell is 1) it wasn't always like this since we have the old US 31, too, and yeah, that's more like a state road. It didn't become an expressway until later. 2) In a few stretches, like through Grand Haven and Holland, it slows down and becomes more like a regular city road with normal intersections and traffic lights and everything. Whereas interstates are only high speed expressways and that's all they've ever been.
Do what truckers do. We call the interstates the the big road. Sometimes you’ll hear them called superslabs. Everything else is cutting through the woods.
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I always assumed a “freeway” was “free” of stops whereas a highway can have occasional stop signs or stop lights.
I still believe this myself. Even if it’s a toll road I’m calling it a freeway. 😂😂
That’s how I always understood it as well
I'm from L.A. I'm stopping all the time on the freeway! 😂😢
@@harpermonohanIn Houston people would just assume you’re a few eggs short a dozen 😅 a tollway is a tollway.
@@PatricenotPatrick 😭😭
Kentucky has a network of limited, and some non-limited, Parkways throughout the state. I've driven the Bluegrass, parts of the Western Kentucky Parkway, and the Mountain Parkway from beginning to end. They go through some of the beautiful areas of the state.
And, they used to all be toll parkways.
I live in Wisconsin, and I'm always traveling the southeastern roads-Hwy C, KR, KD, EA, 894 bypass, 794 Lake. There isn't a road I haven't traveled in the Kenosha, Racine, and Milwaukee areas. LOL! I always find simple little journeys up and down these roads fun.
Trafficway in Kansas and Missouri, specifically in the Topeka and Kansas City metros, is another hyper-regional naming convention.
Speaking as someone who grew up in the era of family road trips, and spent nearly 15 years as a professional OTR driver, there are actually three different criteria at work here:
1 ) Operational Authority
2 ) Access & Separation (ie Junctions, Tolls, etc)
3 ) Routes & Destinations
~ Operational Authority ~
Owing to the United States being a Dual-Federal Republic, *any* public roadway under the Operational Authority of the United States Department of Transportation or an individual State Department of Transportation is automatically a "Highway". Historically, the "high" portion is both authoritative and literal; the roadway itself was commissioned by the highest regional authority and was/is elevated so as to remain operational during adverse weather conditions.
County and Local routes (as might be deduced) operate under their respective Department(s) of Transportation. Rural routes which cover longer distances are typically also designated as Highways.
"Parkways" traditionally fall under an Operational Authority other than an applicable Department of Transportation - either the National Park Service, a State Park Service, or other local/regional civic authority. As such, they are not required to conform with DOT specifications as to clearances, load capacities, and such. Some Parkways have rather infamous histories as they use numerous low-clearance overpasses to prevent the passage of commercial vehicles such as buses; thereby preventing 'undesirable classes of persons' from utilizing them.
~ Access & Separation ~
Freeways and Expressways are characterized by their (largely) free-flowing nature, with relatively few points of access. The primary distinction between the two is that Expressways allow for at-grade junctions with other roadways while Freeways do not; both primarily rely upon onramps/offramps for access, though Freeways do so exclusively. While a number of Expressways have since eliminated at-grade junctions along their routes, most have retained their designation as Expressways due to the next criterium.
Toll Roads, Turnpikes, and similar designations are exclusive to the (archaic) practice of collecting funds directly from those using them. Most are Freeways (where toll facilities are separated from the travel lanes), though some are Expressways (where toll facilities occupy the travel lanes themselves).
~ Routes & Destinations ~
Regardless of other factors, many routes are designated so as to reflect their purpose for existing:
~ Beltways, Loops, and similar designations indicate that they provide (or initially provided) less-traveled routes circumventing areas of high traffic volumes
~ Expressways are so named to indicate that they bypass a specific area or provide less-restrictive access to/from a specific destination
~ Parkways are so named to indicate they were intended to provide a bucolic rural route (though some retain the designation despite no longer being rural)
Interstates are always Highways (in both senses) and, with rare exceptions, always Freeways.
Buffalo, NY also does “the 190”, “the 990”, etc! Many people in Buffalo also use “thruway” as a general term for a limited access highway, which probably derives from the New York State Thruway
So does Ontario - e.g., "The 401", etc.
Yet Rochester does not say "the 90". Always found that slight regional difference interesting.
That's Canada leaking.
i find i always use highway! (buffalonian)
My understanding with Missouri is that the letter routes (H, AA, etc.) is a secondary state route, similar to Texas' Farm-to-Market or Ranch-to-Market routes.
Yep, they are state maintained roads, officially called supplemental state routes (SSRs), some can go through multiple counties while others are only a couple miles long and can have 2 completely separate and unrelated SSRs of the same letter in 2 neighboring counties, hence why a lot of people commonly believe they are county roads
There are parkways and expressways as well - and if I remember correctly, the first American limited-access road (Long Island Motor Parkway, 1908) was called a parkway. Thinking outside of the US, there's the UK where you can drive on a motorway or dual-carriage way. :)
Texas has another road system, the FM (Farm to Market) roads that are more like a county road system.
Not true. FM and RM (Ranch to Market Road) are state highways that serve farms and ranches so that their goods can be brought to market. The only requirement for them is to be paved. Another class with similar signs but brown in color are RE (Recreational roads, marked R Road) that are recreational in nature but otherwise similar to FMs and RMs.
@@edwardrasmussen3465 thanks for the info... so administratively what's the difference between FM, RM and regular State Highways?
@@clayton97330 I looked at the Wikipedia articles on Farm-to-Market Roads and List of state highways in Texas. The difference is in designation. There have been many instances in the past where highways have switched designations in both directions. I suppose that one needs a scorecard much like one used on soap operas.
@@clayton97330 Administratively there's no real difference.
@@clayton97330Beaver actually did a video on FM roads, it’s explains it pretty simply. They’re basically just state highways but for rural areas. Or former rural areas rather, 1960 and 1093 (westheimer) in Houston are massive lol
The reason Southern Californians say "the freeway" is because before these freeways were numbered, people referred to them by their names, like "the Ventura Freeway" or "the Santa Ana Freeway". When the freeways received numbers, people found it easier to say the number than say the name.
I second this...
You took the words right out of my mouth. I’ve found that non-LA residents are usually more confused by names rather than the use of “the” since they have different names based on the destination. “Wait, I took the Santa Monica freeway to go (blank) but I’m taking the San Bernadino freeway back?” They get it after you explain it but then say “That’s crazy”. If I had a nickel for every time I’ve heard that…
💯
Yep
I was just about to add this myself until I saw this comment.
Just to add my two cents ;
In the Baltimore area .. just saying the term "Highway" refers to the interstate, and if we're referring specifically to an interstate, we'd say i-95 ... albiet, we often just say "83" or 696" instead of saying "i". If we're talking small roads, you'd put the name before it, like Pulaski Highway, which is a state highway, but I find myself just calling it by it's number as well... or even dropping "highway" from it and saying "Pulaski". Never use Freeway or Expressway, although there are a few highways called an "Expressway", lol I've never said , "imma get on the expressway". Oh, and then Turnpikes are specific roads like the NJ turnpike & PA turnpike.
I would love to see a video like this on names for different municipalities. Both the different levels and regional variants such as parishes, burrows, hundreds, etc.
Very nice information and very nice pictures as references. However I had huge trouble mashing all the info together. A flipchart listing points would probably help with this. Sort of like a power point slide.
I have subscribed and I am interested to see what you make in the future.
Greetings from Germany
In Western New York, we also put "the" in front of the expressway, The 90 or Thruway, The 33 (state route) or Kensington, etc. We also have state routes that go from a 2 lane road to a 6 lane expressway like the 33 that I have mentioned before, and in Rochester, we have interstates like the I-490 and I-590 that both turn into state routes NY 490 and NY 590 while still being an expressway.
In Louisiana, we'll only either say "The Interstate" for interstates and "The Highway" for highways no matter what unless someone asks for specific answer then we'll say "I-10, I-12, I-20, I-49, I-55, I-59" or LA -1 and for the three-digits we'll just say the number without the "I" in front like "210, 220, 110, 310".
As a fan of geography, I really enjoy your videos.
Thank you!
I didn't know you grew up here in Wisconsin. I'm from West Allis and love your channel and content. Keep it up.
I was interested enough in this topic to click the link. When I heard you were from WI, I knew I had to sub. My husband was born, and raised in MN. So was I. I have lived most of my life in WI. I have come to understand the system in WI much better, but his family still lives in MN so I get so many questions.
Nice video! Going to do one on the Baltimore bridge?
Great video! Here in SE WI in the Milwaukee area we use a whole bunch of different terms for the freeways. A lot of people call the freeways "highways." What ive noticed is that a lot of people just say "the highway", even though there are a whole lot of different freeways. A lot of the shorter length freeways are just known by their names such as the lake fwy, stadium fwy, and fond du lac fwy. Some people say the numbers like 794, 175, 145, etc. A lot of people also call 894 "the bypass" because its the only bypass around here. Same with the airport spur (119) where people just say the spur. The mainlines are really just known by their numbers and some people say it with the I or without it.
In Nebraska, (by the DOT itself) an expressway is referred to 4 lane divided highways, running from one city to another. Here’s how the DOT labels the rest
Street: street, avenue, road, drive, anything maintained by the city
County road: Roads maintained by the county, typically gravel grid roads or blacktops
County Spurs/Links: paved roads maintained by the county that connect one highway to another or a highway to a municipality
Highway: a road used to connect distances, usually a state or US highway and 2 lanes
Expressway: stated above
Freeway: A 4+ lane divided highway with controlled access, used to connect areas quickly
Interstate: a controlled access freeway part of the federal program
Nebraska is correct
Weirdly, outside of socal, the other place where people refer to expressways with "The" is.... Buffalo, NY. We have a bunch of named routes (and the Thruway, which in WNY is the 90), and it came about for the same reason.
Texas has FM (Farm to Market) and RR (Ranch Roads) that you did not discuss where they fit in. Texas also has state highways TX 36, for example.
I think those would be considered a secondary state route system. That’d be a whole other category besides state highways and county roads.
They’re state highways. Beaver actually did a whole video specifically on FM’s. TX state highways can fit in any category, really. 288 and 225 are freeways in Houston, 36 is Highway out of Houston because it has lights.
US Highways are actually not "upkept by the country." US Highways are just state highways that are numbered using a coordinated national numbering system. They're built and maintained by the states. They do get federal funding, but it's the same federal funding available to all state highways.
I believe the "the" used by Californians actually comes from them originally saying "the 405 freeway". Over time, "freeway" was dropped and it just became "the 405."
The articles stem from the formal names that the freeways have, not necessarily the route numbers they carry.
Lettered highways in Missouri are not county roads but parts of the state highway system. They are a state secondary system, not unlike the FM and RM roads here in Texas. Another regional oddity is that in the Kansas City area, they turn things around to say things like "50 Highway" instead of "Highway 50." US 11 through some of the southwestern suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama, is called the "Bessemer Super Highway." It's four-lane divided with intersections and crossovers.
My mom lived on the East Coast for a few years in her 20s and has always remarked how much easier it is to navigate out West. Partially because there is more land and fewer cities to work with, but mainly because of the classification systems you’ve pointed out here.
We live in a rural area in WA, so the options are paved city road, dirt county road, little state highways, or the big freeways. Predictably, the closer you get to the metropolitan areas, the more congested it gets and the more linked roads there are, but out in the rural areas, it’s much more straightforward.
Fun fact: the opening still shows one of the most accident plagued, yet ignored, areas of i5 in Washington State.
We have a few Expressways in Dallas as well, but generally "highway" or "freeway" for most.
Grew up in northern IL, and I specifically remember a regional map that differentiated tollways (toll booths) and freeways (no toll booths). I-90 is a tollway, and I-39 is a freeway, and they're both highways
Overall a great video, but the short descriptions of the Interstates and the US highways missed the goal posts by a wide margin.
Military transportation and logistics are interesting, but are not even the primary justification of the IHS. The Interstates bolster(ed) national defense in a very indirect way. They were designed for civilian transportation and for commerce. Full stop.
US Highways are also not nationally funded or maintained. Like all highways they are maintained by the states.
In terms of actual strategic defense networks there is the National Highway System, a part of National Intermodal Transportation System, which is the infrastructural component of domestic military transportation. Actual military transportation operations use sea, air, and rail components domestically for most heavy equipment movement because *the Interstates are not designed for the transportation of heavy military hardware.*
In South Florida we use numbers for interstates and names for expressways. "Take 95 to Golden Glades and take the Palmetto South and take that to the Gratigny.
For tourists I'll try to use numbers or signage."take 95 North to 836 West and follow the airport signs".
US highways I'll eother use local strret nanes since Florida can be horrible numbering stuff. "Make a left on 5th Avenue North" instead of "make a left on alternate 19" In an area where I don't know the local street name or If it has none "Make a right on US 27".
Some numbers or names I will use the word "the" like "take the 112".
That's a US thing, not a Florida thing.
Partly as a result of the Francis Scott Key Bridge disaster I've waded into the world of U.S. road trip videos, mostly around Baltimore and, as a Brit, it's been very interesting looking at the different classes of road travelled upon and trying to compare them to our roads, with the aid of a Swiss Kümmerly + Frey Washington - Philadelphia road map, at 1:350,000 scale. I think I'd probably make the following parallels - Interstate/Motorway, U.S. Highway/Trunk A Road, State Highway/Regular A Road and County Highway/B Road. Thanks for spelling out the historical background, B.G.
Every Interstate is a freeway, but not every freeway is an Interstate. Every freeway is a highway, but not every highway is a freeway. Expressway is used almost interchangeably with freeway
Except in California where an expressway is a limited access but not grade separated route.
In MA, some highways that seem to be arterial highways are actually expressways according to MassDOT. Two examples are US Route 44 in Middleboro and Carver, and MA Route 88 in Westport. What you may call those two stretches of highways is up to you.
@@edwardrasmussen3465I believe MA-2 is also an arterial highway
@@truckercowboyed2638 Only in certain places. It's an expressway in others. See the Wikipedia article on MA 2 for details.
I believe there are some interstate tollways near chicago
I grow up in Racine in SE WI. I remember that they were called County Trunks.
Where I live in Alexandria Louisiana, we have the Pineville Expressway across the river in Pineville. It serves to connect all the different highway in Pineville on one road, to Alexandria.
Well, even county roads can be fully-fledged freeways...at least in the case of Clark County, NV.
"FREE" in "Freeway" implies traffic that is FREE-flowing when transitioning from one such highway to another with separated grades.
It has nil to do with tolls.
That's exactly how Wikipedia defines freeway.
The definition of "freeway" from Merriam-Webster:
1: an expressway with fully controlled access
2: a highway without toll fee
In Southern and Central California we say “the” before the number, like “The 405.” But in the Bay Area and Northern California people drop “the” before the number, and just say the number, like “5.”
Some younger Northern Californians say “the” before the freeway number. It’s usually because their parents do.
@@catman422 In Northern California we use "Highway" before the freeway number. Like Highway 280, Highway 680, Highway 80. Highway 101, Highway 880, Highway 580. Yes these are San Francisco Bay Area examples.
Bit of background on the "the" before freeway names in LA. When they were originally built, they were named after key areas that the freeway passed through, such as I-210 being named "the Foothill Freeway". Eventually, so many more were built that the numbers became the colloquial names, although the official titles remain today. So, we dropped the wordy name but kept the "the".
Two things, The lettered roads in Missouri are state, not county routes. There are county routes, but they are usually given quadruple numbers and are usually unpaved.
In North Carolina, there are no county maintained roads. They're all maintained by the state, and are divided up into two categories, PR (primary route) and SR (secondary). All roads have numbers, PR roads have numbers 999 or less and are usually known by their number. SR routes and 1000 and higher, and usually known by their given name. SR routes do function sort of as county routes and change if they come to a county line. But, they are maintained by the state DOT.
In the Detroit, MI area, we have a lot of named freeways, (The Jeffries Freeway, Chrysler Freeway, The Lodge Freeway, etc.) but we also have at least one expressway (The Willow Run Expressway). We use 'The' when we use the names of the roads, but we never use 'The' when referring to the numbers.
Also, our state roads aren't referred to "SR" or a State prefix like in a lot of states, but just with an 'M', so it's not SR 10, or MI 10, just M 10.
In Detroit 94 and 96 aren't route numbers, they're the suggested minimum speed
I’m from Milwaukee sometimes it’s called a breeze way too 😊👍 love Wisconsin to easy to get around the state
Great video! What part of Wisconsin did you leave. I leave in SE Wisconsin...
My parents called freeways "expressways" and we're from Michigan. In my way of thinking, an "expressway" is technically like a freeway (or a long, somewhat wide highway), but with a number of surface intersections. US-60 once it leaves Phoenix going east becomes an "expressway" with notations that the "freeway ends" and "divided highway continues". US-2 in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan warns drivers who start going west on it from the Mackinac Bridge that it is "NOT a freeway". Still, it does depend on where you're from.
Speaking of being from Michigan, I didn't see a county road sign there until I got to Livingston County. Signed county roads kind of don't exist in SE Michigan, but they can in other bigger cities.
As for a couple of reasons why in SoCal they use "the" is because in the case of the 110 and 210, they consist of I-110 and SR-110 (or C-110 as I like to call it lol) and the 210 is part I-210 and C-210. The 215 in Las Vegas is the same (or was) as the first 15 miles of it is I-215, and the rest of it was CR-215 (but is planning to become entirely I-215).
We also in Michigan have the habit of always including the designation in our discription so We always say the US, I or M and the number, while in Ohio they always say State Route sometimes even on US highways so if a wreck happend on US-20 the news story would often times refer to State Route 20. Michigan is odd also in that it has very few expressways with cross roads. The only ones that come to mind are the 20 miles of US-127 between St. Johns and Itica and US-2 between Gladstone and Escanaba, . In Lenewee county all north south county roads are called Highway and east west ones Road.
Even in Toronto, Canada, we use “The” to refer to divided limited-access highways eg: The 401, The 407, and the 403.
Santa Clara County in California has Expressways. They are multi lane, limited access roads but with traffic signals. There's Capitol, Central, Lawrence, Montague, and San Tomas.
I use motorways to refer to access controlled highway 4 lanes plus on the road. For two lane limited access controlled highways, 1 each direction, I refer it to a partially access highway.
I've only heard the term motorways used in the British Isles, never in the USA.
Quick thing about the county roads in Missouri - they're actually state "supplemental" highways, but they're named by county.
The definition of "freeway" from Merriam-Webster:
1: an expressway with fully controlled access
2: a highway without toll fee
This was how I always interpreted these terms.
Highway: An umbrella term for any major roadway that connects 2 population centers together.
Freeway: A special type of highway where crossroads are at a separate grade, and access between the highway and side roads is done with ramps instead of an intersection, and (typically) has 2 or more lanes going each way.
Tollway: Similar to a freeway, except with a toll.
Expressway: Also similar to a freeway, with a higher, freeway like speed limit, is divided, and (typically) has 2 ore more lanes each way, but unlike a freeway, regular intersections are allowed, even ones with stoplights.
Interstate: A system of controlled access highways that spreads all across the country.
Heya from Madison, WI!
Wis Hwy 29 is a major east west four lane divided freeway/expressway from Green Bay to the Twin Cities. On rural areas along STH 29 US 10 53 151 is a expressway that has driveways low volume cross roads
In Louisville KY, I-264 is known and signed locally as "Watterson Expressway" and I-265 is known and signed locally as the "Snyder Freeway"
My hometown exit...Nutley Street off I-66 to Fairfax,VA.
You mentioned the named expressways in Chicago... where I grew up. I've got an interesting story about that as my wife is from Ohio. When traveling in the Chicago metro area, I'll turn on a news radio station to listen to the traffic reports, and she can't make heads or tails of them, whereas they make complete sense to me. It truly is almost like another language. "20 minutes outbound on the Dan Ryan" and she has to ask me what that means. LOL.
A turnpike, here on Long Island, are more like what you called county roads. Interesting
This is so interesting. I’m from Ireland & our roads are L (local), R (regional) N (national) & M (Motorway) & most of Europe follows a similar hierarchy. When doing a road trip in the US last year I was very confused because I assumed highway was like a motorway but it could be anything
Interesting topic and one I've thought about. WIth the rise of toll roads around the Dallas area where I live, the term "freeway" no longer feels accurate for a lot of roads. My husband and I tend to use the generic term "Big Road" to indicate a limited access highway whether it's free or tolled. This isn't really a regional variation though. Just our family term for the roadways with us usually indicating specific roads by name (most often using a number such as "I-35E" or "635" or in the case of most local toll roads, by a nickname such as "the Bush", "the DNT", etc.).
Omaha-Council Bluffs uses both expressway and freeway. Freeway seems to be reserved for the high-speed limited access freeways (North Fwy/US-75; Ford Fwy/I-480; Kennedy Fwy/US-75), expressway for higher capacity arterials with stoplights (Storz Expy, South Expy). Road is also used for high speed arterials and stroads in West Omaha (West Dodge Road; West Center Road/US-275/NE-92; West Maple Road/NE-64; Blair High Road/NE-133).
My view as a Mississippian: a Highway is a two lane state highway, 4 lane w center turn lane in town/city, or one of the US Route highways.
A freeway/expressway is any multi lane road traversing through a city at high speeds.
And the interstate is exactly was it is. Even if it runs through a city, I’ll refer to it as a freeway.
And when addressing a roads’ name, I just say:
• “take 55 to x” (referring to I-55)
• “take 82/51 to x” (referring to US Rt 82/51)
• “take 7/8 to x” (referring to MS St rt 7/8)
TL:DR - I just say “take [insert number]”
Thanks. Seems you read your comments, and then take action! Yes, we have no 'freeways' in the NYC area- you pay to go everywhere. BTW, they say kids from LA are bad at arithmatic: becasue they say " the 2 plus the 4 equals the 6."
Remember:
You can get high on the freeway but not free on the highway and you can drive on the parkway but can't drive on the driveway 😂
My county in inland southern California still has a few county routes. There used to be signs for it in my city but those have rotted and disappeared, but if you find the route out to the rural area you'll still see R-3 signs. Definitely antiquated, but California used to be more interesting in the old days to me.
Sometimes there will 2 lane limited access highways. They're referred to as a "Super 2" . Vermont has one. U.S. Hwy 7, or Route 7 as the locals call it.
Californians PROBABLY use "the" with numbered freeways because they all had NAMES prior to the Interstate designation. Thus, "The Pasadena Freeway" eventually became "The 110" in an organic way. The WEIRDEST roadway nomenclature I've encountered was when I was in Kansas City last summer, which uses the somewhat vague term "Trafficways" for some of their roads.
Nassau County, NY has a bunch of county roads under its jurisdiction. But when faced with the choice of changing out their orange signs for the standard blue ones, they just took down all of the old signs instead
As far east as Durham NC, there's the Durham Freeway which connects I-85 with I-40.
It drives me nuts in South Africa and Australia where they call all control access highways "freeways," of which 85% have tolls. 30 years ago, I taught school in Indonesia where all such roads are called "jalan tol" (toll road), even the free ones.
Swapping Freeway & Expressway for some names would feel wrong. "Red Mountain Freeway" would sound just wrong. Granted, growing up, I had thought expressways/freeways were limited access highways that weren't part of the interstate system.
in central ohio they’re usually the numbers. 270, 71, 315, etc. not just interstates either. though apparently other cities don’t call their outerbelts (270) the outerbelt.
the freeways have names but they’re rarely used except “innerbelt”. ex: jack nicholas fwy is 270, olentangy fwy is SR 315, but most people just call them 315 or 270.
In terms of "freeway" vs "expressway," I have always seen the different to be that a "freeway" is limited/controlled access (i.e. requires an interchange to enter) and an "expressway" is a divided highway with no stop signs or stop lights, but is not limited access (i.e. any side road that encounters said highway also provides access to the highway). Examples close to where I live are the "expressway" from the East end of Duluth to Two Harbors and the expressway on US Highway 53 from just south of the junction with US Hwy 2 South of Superior, WI until just North of Rice Lake, WI where it turns into a limited access freeway until the interchange with I-94 near Eau Claire.
Hey beav dont forget to include this UA-cam channel in your scholarship application.
State route 165 in Wisconsin from Green Bay road to i-94 is called the Lakeview parkway in which trucks use to access Industrial Park located between the two highways
There is a road that heads to the Fort Wayne International Airport in Indiana that is named the “ Airport Expressway” while seinfeld and divided highway
Many people in Toledo, OH call freeways "E-Ways".
That is interesting that you noted Californians refer to their highways as “the (5)” noticed that talking to people
In Michigan we all say "expressway". We never say "The Interstate". There are no toll roads in the state. We always refer to highways like Interstate 75 or I-75 or 75, US highways are US-12 or 12, state highway markers are a diamond (actually a square with the points with corners up/down) with a block letter M and the number underneath. We say M-59 or 59. If we hear someone say "route 43" or "43" or "highway 43" we know that they are from out of state. Some states like Georgia and Florida use the official designation as SR (for state road) but people there never say "Ess Are"
I’m from Michigan as well and refer to the highways by their numbers or near Detroit may call routes by their memorial name, such as M-10 being called The Lodge.
Central Michigan here, the all encompassing for a controlled access highway I hear most is Freeway. But generally we refer to Freeways by their designation and route number (I-75, US 10) we do however refer to state highways by M
I wish there was more of an elaboration of parkways. also I think it's noteworthy that expressway always refers to an untold road
in atlanta, we call our freeways similar things to Los Angeles, but just say the number. for example: “i want to take the express lanes on 75 south to 285 before getting on 400”
I live in Ohio and grew up in the Miami and NYC areas. I generally use highway for any roads that are at least 2 lanes going in opposite directions. If the highway is limited access without at grade intersections I call it either an expressway or freeway depending on whether it is tolled or not. This is without regard to whether it is an interstate highway, a U.S. Route or even a state or county road. For example I-70 and Ohio Route 8 are both freeways in my part of Ohio (at least until Route 8 has at grade crossings up in the Macedonia area when I stop calling it a freeway and just call it a highway).
also an ohioan, ill say highway as long as the road is divided. wouldn’t call roads like broad street or morse rd in columbus “highways”
Pittsburgh’s highways that go around the city are also called parkways, and all vehicles can drive on them.
Coming from Southern New England, where there is so little county anything, it's weird hearing about county roads.
In Massachusetts where I come from originally, county roads are not marked as such. Some could be numbered highways that are, in fact, maintained by the city or town. An example of that is the entirety of MA Route 36 in Halifax and Pembroke, which is entirely maintained by the two towns it goes through. Another example is MA Route 80. The first 4.1 miles are state maintained, while the upper 2.4 miles are maintained by the Town of Kingston. Both Routes 36 and the town-maintained portion of 80 are laid out by the county (Plymouth County).
It's confusing, but in MA not all numbered highways are state highways, and not all state highways are numbered highways.
I will say an "I" in front of 2 digit interstate routes (I-96, I-75, I-69) and no "I" in front of 3 digit ones (465, 696, 794)
You must be from Michigan, then.
Same here in wisco
I’m from Michigan and I usually refer to highways within the state, whether interstate, US, or state by their number, or may use either the m prefix for state routes that also have an interstate or US route of the same number, such as M-24 and US-24, even though I refer to the latter as Telegraph Road or Dixie Highway since majority of it is on it. Same goes with M-10 and me calling it The Lodge.
The low clearance underpasses are not made to enforce the no trucks law. It's just that most of those highways are very old and so the bridges are lower.
There are “expressways” in Santa Clara county.
I think that an "expressway" is best suited to urban areas where a limited access road is used to streamline traffic and serves as a way to bypass many intersections that exist in such areas.
I believe that outside of the US, Highways can include many forms of unpaved roads.
I- 55 from Lake shore drive out to the 294 is called the Stevenson. 294 from 94 North side to South Side by Indiana is called the Tri State Tollway . The 355 from i-80 to 290 is called the Veterans Memorial Tollway. I-390 by Ohare airport is Elgin O hare Expressway. I-90 from Dan Ryan to Indiana is Chicago Skyway
Yup! I'm from NJ/NYC Area and its true! Trucks and commercial vehicles are not allowed on Parkways and must use Expressways or more local roads! Many of the Parkways were built in the early 1900s (1930s) and are the inspiration of the urban planner named Robert Moses. And many of these roads were not built to handle larger vehicles such as trucks and tractor trailers. A lot of these Parkways have narrower lanes, low overpasses and very sharp and twisting curves as many of them follow the routes of rivers (like Bronx River Parkway, Saw Mill Parkway etc). There are signs everywhere throughout the city that warn trucks and commercial vehicles to stay on expressways not parkways! There are certain exceptions such as the beginning (or end depending how you look at it) of the Grand Central Parkway immediately after the RFK Bridge. Trucks entering into Queens from the RFK bridge are allowed to stay on the GCP until the exit for I-278 West (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) where they must exit!
Thanks for showing love to "the" L.A. freeway system."I took the 57 to the 10 to the 101." That's our lingo!
Dallas just uses every name. Dallas North Tollway, George Bush Turnpike, LBJ Freeway, Central Expressway, Northwest Highway
That's how it is in Louisville, KY. There is the Watterson Expressway, Snyder Freeway, and Dixie Highway.
As a Californian, I can attest to the usage of "the" before the highway number. My native Portlander partner and friends make fun of me for it all the time
Expressway is NOT used universally in the Boston area. Some stretches of I-93 are referred to as expressways, like the southeast expressway, but more often than not, other stretches of interstate are more commonly referred to as highways, or just by their number- and sometimes the wrong one :) Large stretches of I-95 are still called 128 by locals.
All other numbered roads are called Route ##- whether it is a state route or US highway. No such thing as country roads.
Remember, freeway originally meant “free flow” not necessarily “free to drive”. Freeways *can be* and often are free, but toll roads can also be considered a freeway as long as they are built to free-flowing, limited access standards.
There are a bunch of expressways in the south San Francisco Bay Area in California
Lettered routes in Missouri are not county roads. They are State Supplementary Routes. They're funded at the state level.
I'm from Maine. Highway = any large road that generally has a higher speed limit and turnpike = anything on the scale of an interstate highways, since the Maine Turnpike (I-95) is the only major limited access highway (US-1 and US-2 also function as "Main Street" for most of the cities and towns they go through). But all the state, US, and interstate routes get called by their number (with or without the word "route," like "drive up 35 and turn on to 117" or "I live right off Route 1").
The again, we only have I-95 (Kittery to Houlton) and its bypass I-295 from Scarborough to Gardiner (195 and 395 are glorified offramps), and US routes 1 (Kittery to Fort Kent), 2 (Houlton to Gilead), 201 (Brunswick to Seboomook), 202 (Lebanon to Bangor), and 302 (Fryeburg to Portland). Some of our state routes are MASSIVE, like ME-11 going from Lebanon to Fort Kent or ME-9 going from Berwick to Baileyville, even though they're rarely the most direct point from Point A to Point B.
Philadelphia also uses the “Expressway” term i.e. “Schuylkill Expressway” or I-76 non tolled part in Philadelphia.
Confusing the matter further is the US highways that run through my area: US 31 and 131, function almost exactly like interstate highways. 75mph speed limit, on-ramps, exits, etc.
The only difference I can tell is 1) it wasn't always like this since we have the old US 31, too, and yeah, that's more like a state road. It didn't become an expressway until later.
2) In a few stretches, like through Grand Haven and Holland, it slows down and becomes more like a regular city road with normal intersections and traffic lights and everything.
Whereas interstates are only high speed expressways and that's all they've ever been.
In Ohio, we also have Township roads, which are managed by individual townships.
Now I can see why VA-267 is known as the Dulles Toll Road or The Dulles Greenway.
Do what truckers do. We call the interstates the the big road. Sometimes you’ll hear them called superslabs. Everything else is cutting through the woods.