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In reading about the LA Freeway Fire this week, it struck me (from the East Coast) as very awkward when they consistently refer to roads by prefixing them with "the". i.e., "The I-10". On the East Coast (or, at least in New England) we typically refer to roads as simply "Interstate 10", or "I-10". I've also noticed that my GPS narration omits the "the" when asking me to take an exit ("take the next exit for Interstate 95 South").

Is this just a regional dialect, or is there some rule in the English language towards using one technique or the other? When referring to smaller roads, do people out west prefix those as well? For example, is it "turn onto the Park Avenue", or simply "turn onto Park Avenue"? If it's the latter, what rule[s] makes those roads different than numbered roads that get a "the" prefix?

Heartspring
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ereisch
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  • Does this answer your question? US Route 101 — "The 101" (That's about California but there's another question about Northern Ireland usages.) – Stuart F Nov 14 '23 at 14:17
  • Anecdotally, while I can't speak to there being any particular rule, in NYC, it's "Turn left onto Park Avenue/37th Street/Neck Road/Queens Boulevard", but "Take *the* Long Island Expressway/Major Deegan Expressway/Bronx River Parkway/Triboro Bridge to ..." – Jeff Zeitlin Nov 14 '23 at 14:34
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    In mainland Britain, named streets/roads don't take an article (though we may refer to the road heading towards a place as 'the Anytown road' whether or not it is so named). Numbered roads do take one ('The M1 motorway', 'the A6'). – Kate Bunting Nov 14 '23 at 14:45
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    @KateBunting though you sometimes hear "the Old Kent Road" or "the Victoria Embankment" or "the Great North Road" or "the Oxford Bypass" or similar examples. – Henry Nov 14 '23 at 15:23
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    @Henry - The Old Kent Road used to be the main road from London to Kent, and the Great North Road from London to the north of England, so they are covered by my parenthesis. It's true that we use the article with bypasses too. – Kate Bunting Nov 14 '23 at 16:33
  • Even here in New England we say: He took the Interstate south. BUT He took Interstate 95 to the venue. And also: He took 95 South to Boston. There's no rule per se but one should feel what is idiomatic or not: The took the 95 Interstate south. [buzzer]. – Lambie Nov 14 '23 at 17:23
  • I understand there are regional variations, but I'm wondering if there is a proper rule in the English language that applies here. Is one "more righter" than the other? Is one grammatically incorrect? – ereisch Nov 14 '23 at 19:02
  • No, I don't think either is grammatically incorrect. – Kate Bunting Nov 15 '23 at 10:29
  • @KateBunting - it used to, and still does, annoy me to hear mainly Londoners add 'the' to the proper names of thoroughfares such Edgware Road, Bath Road, Caledonian Road. – Michael Harvey Nov 15 '23 at 11:19

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