Why are parkways called freeways out west?

[Renew Deal]

What the hell is going on with that? In the east we call them parkways and expressways. The wackos out west call them freeways. Why is that?

[GRLMGC]

1. Calm yourself

I say tomayto you say tomahto. It's all good.

[Renew Deal]

4. No, I will not calm myself.

:argh:

;)

[Radical Activist]

8. What kind of moron would call a road a park?

If it were a parkway there wouldn't be cars and asphalt everywhere. There would be trees and squirrels. I'm in the midwest and we call them highways, the interstate, expressway...whatever. We don't pretend our roads are parks. :)

[Ladyhawk]

2. Yeah? Well, why do you drive on a parkway and park in a driveway? nt

:D

[Fleurs du Mal]

5. What LadyHawk said

:toast:

[stavka]

3. Why are "Pantsways" called the "Beltway" near DC?

[Renew Deal]

7. That too.

:wtf: is a beltway?

[Left Is Write]

12. If you don't have a beltway,

do your pantsways fall down?

[autorank]

6. As a former wacko from out West allow me to answer suscinctly

You don't have to pay f'ing tolls on roads out West. Hence the term
freeway.

Comprende?

[Renew Deal]

9. That makes a lot of sense.

So it's a west coast hippie thing. hmmm. But still, we don't call them tollways here. Oh well.

[autorank]

20. From my experience, every road in the Northeast has at least three names

There's the name from the Revolutionary days, the name from the 19th century, and the name that everyone and their brother uses for the road which, of course, is never posted or on any map. I prefer the Northeast (which now starts at Fairfax Co., VA by my official designation). But the road thing is wacky. Besides, 'tollways' would be too logical and it would remind us that the roads back East are a giant rip off. They're supposed to lift the tolls when the road is paid itself off. Ever hear of that happening, nooooooooooooo.

[NoPasaran]

23. Well, when we build a toll road here, we call it a tollway

And you east coast elitists do have roads called "turnpikes" which refers to the barriers at the toll booths which have to be turned to let traffic through.

[Cuban_Liberal]

39. Same in Illinois.

Ours say tollway.

[GRLMGC]

13. Nice reply

I wish I had come up w/ that

[Left Is Write]

10. How far west do you consider west?

We call them freeways in Minnesota too.

Out here in the actual west (Idaho), when I say "freeway" people to me, "Do you mean the Interstate?" (Yeah, there's all of ONE freeway system here in the Boise area.)

[Egalitariat]

11. Out west they call it a freeway because it's paid for....

by a bunch of lackies out east.

A free lunch. We drive on it, and we send you NE'ers the bill.

In other words, it's a "free"way.

[Egalitariat]

14. Y'all call it a "high"way because the cost is high

and YOU pay the bills.

We call it a "free"way because the cost is high...

and YOU pay the bills.

THANKS!!!!

[autorank]

30. Hmm...actually "high"way might be more appropriate for CA.

[Renew Deal]

15. lol

:7

[AlCzervik]

16. As a Masshole living out west i still call them highways

on edit: not all are called freeways..example-The PCH=the Pacific coast highway

[Renew Deal]

17. I was calling them parkways when I was out there.

I wonder if people thought I was nuts. There was never an east coast CHiPS.

[AlCzervik]

29. When i lived in medford mass my address was

3920 mystic valley parkway. I never really understood the whole parkway thing but who am i to question city hall? East coast chips....hehe. Just picturing some of Medfords finest out on the "Freeway" like Ponch and John is hilarious.

[ET Awful]

33. Ponch and John were HIGHway Patrol :)

CHiPs is California Highway Patrol.

[AlCzervik]

34. thats true, they weren't Cfips

[Renew Deal]

36. Nice observation

hmmmmm

[HawkerHurricane]

38. That's OK, we never called them 'CHiP's...

Until the TV show, that is. They were always CHiMPs: California Highway Motercycle Patrolman. And a guy in a car was a Chippie.

[MrSlayer]

18. Lots of Turnpikes around here too.

[Shadowen]

19. I call it a freeway...

...because it was the first word I heard used to describe it, specifically in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, used by Judge Doom.

[Renew Deal]

22. I watched a lot of CHiPS

But I don't call them freeways. Be a leader man.

[Shadowen]

24. I was six at the time.

"Be a leader"...the only thing I led was my class in reading level. I think I was about grade 4 for reading by that time.

[Renew Deal]

28. lol

I was just kidding. ;)

[Shadowen]

35. I know.

I was feigning indignation. Apparently it loses something over the Internets.

[Longgrain]

21. Ah...

Up Hear-yah in New Angland, we call them neither pahkways ner freeways...

The proper terminology is highway.

[Renew Deal]

26. I live on LI

That's considered NE too. We also call them highways. It depends on the road. Most are called parkway.

Southern State
Northern State
Meadowbrook
Robert Moses

We also have the LI Expressway and the Seaford-Oyster Bay Expy.

The "Turnpike" is in Northern NYS as well as NJ. MJ also has a parkway.

[Longgrain]

32. But there are only 6 NE states...

I'd love to have you guys in New Yawk counted as New Angland...

But we still got Maine and Conn. to deal with...

Still. honestly, as a child, I believed there were 7 New England Staes...

Maybe my teachers just taught me wrong?

[Menshevik]

25. What the hell is a parkway???

[motely36]

27. We have a highway out here that everyone calls

The Road to Nowhere. For years it went nowhere, now it finally does but everyone still calls it The Road to Nowhere.

[democracyindanger]

31. Why do you hate us Westerners for our freedomways?

[Chicago Democrat]

37. What's a parkway? Look its simple...

Freeway are free and tollways are not... These are highways.
Streets are not "high" they are all at "street" level, that's why they are streets. Parkway, or Lane, or Road, or Boulevard is just a quaint name for a street!

Now that is what "quaint" is! Not the word I would use to describe the Geneva Convention's prohibition on torture! Sieg HieL!

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

40. I've lived on the east coast all my life and have never

heard anyone use the term "parkways". I have heard of "freeways". I've always used the word "highways". I grew up in Maine, btw.

Maybe I've heard of freeways from my mom and her family, since she is from Minnesota. I'm not sure what part of the country says parkways. I'm living in Florida right now, and I've never heard that word used around here.