What do you call the roads with on and off ramps, no stop lights, and an average speed limit of 55 - 65?

I would use the general term “highway” unless I knew the specific term for the road I was on. Obviously, “interstate” has a specific meaning, as does “freeway”, even if it is a bit anachronistic – so these terms are not interchangeable.

From Albany to the Adirondack Park area, I-87, is called The Northway. The big road…the extension of the MA. turnpike, that runs from the NY. MA border to Albany, !-90, is called The NY Thruway.

In California they are called freeways, because California does not charge tolls. In California we only use the term Interstate when also using the route number, i.e., “Interstate 80” or “I-5”.

Southern California has its own habits developed by radio traffic reporters- “The 405” but not “the 101”.

We used to say “the Nimitz” for Hwy 17 from Oakland to San Jose, but then it folded into the Interstate network and now everyone just calls it 880.

A California highway does not necessarily have limited access.

In conversation, we call them highways. The official names include Turnpike and Parkway, and some signage refers to them as Freeways.

Depends on the lanes and the speed. More than two lanes it’s a freeway (as opposed to an interstate which takes tolls.) Two lanes at that speed we call highways. Kansas.

Varies but we use the term Interstate

Generally, they are called freeways. People I know just refer to them as numbers. “I was going down 680, when I passed 242, and realized I missed the exit for 24.”
I like to call them by their given names, like the Warren, the Rumford, the Nimitz, and the MacArthur.

@hearkat Don’t forget the Expressway, or is that too far south for you?

I35 locally is called The Canal Route.

@uberbatman – That is why I used “include” since I figured it wasn’t a comprehensive list. I’ve only been on the ACE for 2 round-trips that I can recall, so I it doesn’t pop in my head like the other 2 do.

In addition to the Expressway that uberbatman mentions, we also have Interstates, with are referred to as “I” and their number. The interstates seem inter-related in numbers, such as I195, I295 and I495 connect to I95.

The name that is most comfortable to me is highway. But, living in areas more rural than where I grew up I use Interstate if it is indeed an interstate, because in less populated areas they still use highway for rural highways. In dense area where there are many interstates and spurs and beltways I sometimes call the interstate specifically by number, for instance I would say I take 95 to 395. I drop the “I” usually.

Sometimes I use the term freeway, but less often.

If the road is actually called a parkway I use that, but I would not call a random interstate a parkway.

Sometimes a section of the interstate has a name, like I87 is “the Deegan” in NY, you put the the in front, and I am used to people calling it the Deega, not by the number. My guess is it was the Deegan before it was part of the interstate system.

Here where I live now there are some roads that are called expressways, they are not part of the interstate system, and I refer to it as an expressway using the full name, selmon expressway, similar to how I use parkway.

@hearkat I don’t think I refer to any of them as I before their number. It’s always just hop on 95 or whatever. I’m in an area myself where I’ve never really been on the parkway. I’ll tell people I’m from Jersey from time to time “Ohhh what exit?” Not a the slightest clue lol

Its a turnpike if you have to pay to drive on it. Otherwise it’s an interstate. Usually I refer to them by numbers—- 25 and 70 are the ones near me. But, in PA, we just called it “the turnpike” but like I said you had to pay to drive on it. We do have those in Colorado but I never take them so I don’t have a name for them.

Then ya got yer bypasses.

I agree with @uberbatman. It’s 80, 287, 46, 10. Parkway, Turnpike (rarely 95). The ACE.. I don’t know if I’ve ever referred to it as anything. lol

don’t even get me started on jughandles.

@poofandmook It’s always boobs with you!

@poofandmook I’m actually kinda a fan of jughandles, I really love circles and am kinda pissed they’ve been getting rid of them to replace them with a crazy cross of roads from every direction.

@uberbatman: depends on the circle. I find the circles down by your parts are super confusing, compounded by the increase of older folks down south. Up here the circles (Somerville, mainly) seem to be a little more well organized. But that is likely because I am more familiar with it.

@uberbatman and @poofandmook – You are right. People say 195 and 295, but they also say I95 – and I’ve heard folks refer to 195 as I95, and taking the wrong one would lead them way out of their way. I grew up where I195 was built and it opened shortly before I started driving, that was a source of confusion for many. Not to mention that I95 was moved from US Highway 1 to the Turnpike.

@poofandmook I’ll admit we do have a few ridiculous circles, there is no reason there should be yield signs in a circle. The 70/73 circle was great and so easy to navigate and then they got rid of it and now there are all these weird ramps, overpasses, and extra lanes >_<

@uberbatman and @poofandmook:
As for jughandles, they can be useful, but they didn’t coordinate the traffic signals properly on all of them.

I’ve only been to the 70/73 interchange a couple times since the put in the flyover. I remember passing Olga’s Diner as a little girl on the way to the zoo when none of that suburban sprawl was there… sigh

@hearkat it is quite annoying when a jughandle is AFTER the light. What tends to happen in these cases is you approach a red light, wait for it to change, drive around the little jughandle and then wait for the light to change again. Those are the times I curse my inability to turn left; That or the random streets that don’t have a jughandle when the last 10 did so you’re in the right lane looking for it only to see you needed to be in the left.

We totally just turned this into a Jersey Thread :P

They are called either interstates or freeways around here.
I call 55–65 mph too damn slow.

@WestRiverrat LOL!

I am from Southern California and have always called them freeways. We also always put the I’m front of the name, like the 405 or the 101. We also used the name of the freeway and the number interchangeably, like The 101 was also the Ventura Freeway. The only one we never referred to by a number was PCH, which was always PCH, never The One or The PCH. Where I live now they are interstates with no the and no names, just numbers.

For a generic term, I prefer to use thruway or highway but I will use expressway or interstate if the name fits. When talking of a specific road I use the number preceded with “the” since most people around here either don’t know or use the names of most of the thruways/expressways. For example, the I-90 is just “the 90” and rarely if ever the NY Thruway and I never heard it called the Governor Thomas E. Dewey Thruway. In fact, I doubt most people here even know it’s proper name.

We call it “the thruway” routinely.

I have never heard “the 90” used; I live in area where we drive on it all the time to get to Albany and surrounds. Maybe I hang out with the wrong people.

(”It’s” means “it is.”)

@gailcalled There are too many thruways here to just call it “the thruway”. We have also have the I-190 and the I-290, and the way they interconnect confuses some people.

Damn, my I obviously didn’t proofread well enough. I promise to do better next time!

In my “hood, there is only the Mass Pike, the thruway and the Northway and for the locals, our route to everywhere – The Taconic Parkway, known as “the Taconic.”

I-190 is farther west in the state. I am about 45 minutes SE of Albany in a rural area with primarily almost undriveable dirt roads named after old familes or the local flora and fauna.

(It’s OK.)

@gailcalled Growing up I heard thruway.

@Dutchess_III What’s this about interstates charging?I think I70 starts at Indianapolis, crosses Illinois and Missouri. Do they start a toll on the other side of Kansas City, Mo?

@ibstubro Some interstates are toll roads and turnpikes. Chicago has one or two (can’t remember) The NJ turnpike. There are several around the country.

“More than two lanes it’s a freeway (as opposed to an interstate which takes tolls.) Two lanes at that speed we call highways. Kansas.”

Was a specific comment from @Dutchess_III that elicited my specific question about I70, @JLeslie. I have driven thought KC many times, and I am curious about what @Dutchess_III is referring to.

Oh. Carry on. :)

Given the low speed limit, I would call that a secondary highway.

‘Round here (Boston), we’ll say, 93 (North or South), 128 (North or South), The Mass Pike, Route 3 (North or South), and 24 (South). Those are the main ones.

Interestingly, we have The Jerry Jingle Highway that used to be a highway before there were HIGHWAYS — now it’s a lovely secondary road.

It is called a limited access highway. The words turnpike and tollway are regional or colloquial terms for a limited access highway that charges tolls. If they are capitalized they refer to a specific road in a specific region. An interstate highway crosses state lines and is part of the federal interstate highway program. When referring to an interstate you would use the designation I-nn or I-nnn, with nn or nnn being the number assigned by the federal Department of Transportation to keep track of its highways. The three digit number can designate a by-pass, like I-295 in Rhode Island, or an expressway into and out of a city or area, such as I-195. By-pass designations are supposed to start with an even number. The last two digits refer to the main artery which is the thru-way, in this case I-95, because it goes through the city or area. Washington D. C. refers to the bypasses as Beltways, because on aerial photos these looked like belts. NJ has turnpikes and so does MA because of their English heritage and how their highway system developed. Connecticut’s turnpike run parallel to I-95 in some locations, but have vanished under the Interstate expansion that create expressway corridors away from I-95. Chicago and others have tollways because they were told they had tollways by someone from the DOT who culturally did not grow up with the word turnpike and needed to describe the roads that charged for maintenance, even though those same roads are interstate highways. California has a different terminology culture because the people who developed the California highway system called the highways certain terms and those terms stuck.

I used to drive through Hartford Connecticut during high traffic, and listen to the radio to get the traffic updates. Since I didn’t live in the area I did not know the names of the bridges, so I was always left wondering if they were talking about the bridge I was on. If they had simply used the designations as published on maps I would have been fine. If the map-makers had simply referenced the name of the bridges somewhere on the maps, life would also have been better.

You can always check the Department of Transportation for official definitions and applications of the terms, but that won’t change the colloquialisms.

@DaphneT I use Turnpike for roads that you collect a ticket when you enter the system, and pay the entire amount for use when you finally exit the road. Florida turnpike actually has it set up this way in the northern part of the system, but once in Palm Beavh County it changes to what I call a tollway, even though it is still referred to as the FL turnpike. Well, now it is also the Ronald Regean turnpike, but I never hear anyone use that.

Spurs that connect from one major artery to another start with even and have three digits with the final two being the main interstate it connects to as you mentioned. These can be loops or run parellel-ish and reconnect to the predominant interstate. The odd number spurs basically go to no other major interstate. It’s not necessarily into a city center, but often is.

You didn’t mention that our interstates are two digit odd numbers when they run north to south and two digit even when they run east to west. North south running interstates are numbered lowest to highest east to west. So, I75 is west of I95 for instance. Even numbers are lowest to highest south to north, so I10 would be south of I40 for instance. I only mention the bit of trivia, because I love the logic of the system and you had gne into such depth already, I thought people on the Q might be interested.

When I moved to Tampa area at first it was difficult listening to traffic and when people referred to bridges and highways because they use the name, not the number, and when most people look at maps we usually look at the interstate designation if it is part of the interstate system.

Where I live, if you’re in the left lane you’d better be going 75 at minimum. We refer to the roads by number (ie “684”) or name (ie “The Taconic”) or just “the parkway.”

^^^. The Sprain, the Hutch, the Merritt, the Henry Hudson, the SawMill

Fascinagting how much info this questions engendered.

We always said the Sprain River Parkway in full, but just called the Hutch the Hutch. So inconsistent.

There are parts of parkways and interstates in NY that are slower moving. I remember my grandma used to ride in the middle of the two lanes, basically on the broken white line, of one of the highways in Westchester because it had so many curves. I told her she wasn’t in her lane? I was a little girl, and she told me it’s easier to be in the middle. Oy.

@JLeslie The North/South numbering is West to East for Interstates – I-5 runs from the Mexican Border to the Canadian border through California, Oregon, and Washington.

The US Highway System goes East to West, so US 1 runs up the eastern seaboard Florida north to Maine, while US 101 runs near the Pacific Coast from San Diego north to Seattle.

I5 around Seattle is SCARY!

I always feel drivers can go any speed they want to in THE RIGHT LANE (as long as it’s not crazy slow, in which case they shouldn’t be driving at all if they can’t handle an appropriate speed). If they’re in the left lane, however, they better be going 80 or else get out of the way.

@zenvelo I indeed wrote it wrong, but then in my example of I75 and I95 I wrote correctly. I should have proof read better. Thanks for pointing it out so others will not be confused. I should just use left to right lowest to highest. Haha.

In the UK we call them motorways, and in theory the speed limit is 70mph. You’re lucky if you get that fast though, unless you’re travelling at 3am. The M25 ring road around London is proudly referred-to as the biggest car-park in Europe.

Highway is the general term. 95, 195, 295, 495, 93, and the Mass Turnpike are the specific names. No articles, but occasionally preceded by “route”.
The second-biggest roads always have a “Route” before it: Route 1, Route 1A, Route 6, Route 44. Route 128 is weird because it’s actually part of 95.

As of today, one could call the Major Deegan expressway a runway.

http://stream.wsj.com/story/latest-headlines/SS-2-63399/SS-2-419023

“Small Plane in Distress Lands on Congested NYC Highway
Three On Craft Escape Serious Injury; No Vehicles Hit.

A small passenger plane on its way home from a sightseeing trip to the Statue of Liberty on Saturday lost power and was forced to land on a congested New York City highway, narrowly missing cars, authorities said.”

I realised that I didn’t answer the other part of this question, about how our motorways are named. It’s always the number, with a “the”; the M6, the M40 etc. Only two I’m aware of that have (unofficial) names; the M25 (London Ring Road) and M60 (Manchester Ring Road). But even here in Manchester we just say the M60 most of the time. It’s far less of a mouthful.