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STLLC2019 t1_j2160nq wrote

Reply to comment by [deleted] in Attempting to get from Buffalo NY to Indiana, how is the 90 through PA? by Lumpy-Upstairs3755

People from outside of PA, being generally weirdos, have an annoying tendency to refer to interstates as "The (highway number)" rather than I-(highway number) like normal folk.

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drewbaccaAWD t1_j22j0pr wrote

It's more of an East Coast/ West Coast thing in my experience... In the east you drive on I-95 and out west you drive on "the 5" or "the 15" or whatever. Same applies to Interstates 90/80/70 etc.

I personally prefer using "the" which most of us do when referring to "the Turnpike" although we'd then say I-80, I-79, or whatever. So yeah, I do say I-whatever out here.

Just one of those weird regional things.

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randycanyon t1_j22jc8u wrote

Not even west Coast.

Southern California.

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drewbaccaAWD t1_j22lw6a wrote

It was "the five" and "the 90" in Seattle. Lived there for seven years (two years in San Diego).

*edit to add* Wife was from Phoenix.. "the ten" and "the 17" as well as "the eight."

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SWPenn t1_j23bwen wrote

I read the story of how that came to be in Southern California. The original freeways were built before interstate numbering. So they were simply named "the Hollywood Freeway" and "the Santa Monica Freeway," etc. When they were designated with numbers, people just inserted the number after the "the." So now it's "the 5" and "the 405," and so on.

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