"Jeff Liebermann" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 22 Jan 2011 18:21:21 -0800, David Nebenzahl
wrote:
But bewa up here in the Beige Area, where we like to think we're so
much superior to our SoCal cousins, we never use the article, saying
instead "take 80 to get to Berkeley" or "take 101 to 280 to 17 to get
down to Santa Cruz". (One can easily spot newcomers to San Francisco who
refer to "the 80" or "the 101". That's just SO wrong!)
Ahem. I beg to differ slightly. In the People's Republic of Santa
Cruz, it's called "Highway 9", "Highway 17", and "Highway 1". They're
never referred to by their correct name of "US Route 9", "State Route
17", and "Calif State Route 1".
In Smog Angeles, Hwy 1 is called "Pacific Coast Highway", State Route
90 is the "Richard M. Nixon Freeway", and Interstate 5 is called the
"San Diego Freeway".
When I lived over the hill in San Jose in the late 1970's, the
numerical designations were rarely used. Interstate 880 was called
"the Nimitz". These days, nobody remembers Admiral Nimitz so it has
become "880".
Caltrans seems to be making a concerted and expensive effort to add to
the confusion by numbering all the freeway exits and onramps.
Unfortunately, they didn't plan it very well, so some of the numbers
are already out of sequence and there are postfixes such as "Exit
11c". I have yet to hear anyone refer to a specifically named exit by
its numerical equivalent.
When one visits the People's Republic of Santa Cruz, the point of
entry is what is called "the fish-hook" because of a 270 degree tight
turn. It's been greatly improved by an expensive rebuild 4 years ago,
but it still offers a fair approximation of a roller coaster ride:
http://we.got.net/~mapman/streets/SantaCruz/Fishhook/fishhook.html
My office is adjacent to this abomination. I would estimate we lose
one large truck to the tight turns every 2 weeks.
--
Jeff Liebermann
Interestingly, here in the UK, the exits from the motorways - loosely
'freeways' equivalent, I guess - have always been numbered, and have always
been referred to by number. So someone giving directions might say "take the
M1 north, and exit at junction 15 onto the A508", 'A' being the
designator for a major road, but without motorway status.
Arfa