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Common and uncommon road names

N

NY 986

Well-known Member
Stopped to get gas today while on business over in Livingston County today. Insurance company rep was inside getting coffee and trying to get directions wile I was paying for my gas. I guess till today I never paid much attention to the uniqueness of how some area roads are named. He was trying to find a certain address on an East Lake Road but was befuddled because most of the Finger Lakes here have an East Lake Road and West Lake Road. Ridge Rd which runs through a number of townships but not all along the state highway 104 which tends to carry the moniker for most towns. Telephone Rd. Did not see a single public phone along it. LOL. PreEmption Rd is out in left field for many as it has nothing to do with any family name but rather is a line denoting the Phelps-Gorham purchase here which was the start of the area being settled.
US Rte. 20. Had many people stop looking for directions relative to that road wanting to know if they can get to Buffalo on it. Sure, but taking the New York Thruway is much quicker. What?!
I guess we have more than our share here of "Townline" Rds here.
 
There are two main north-south roads in my county. One is State Route 29 and the other is the Silverado Trail, a county highway. The tourists don't want to take the "trail" since they think it is narrow and dirt. In reality it is a far superior road, with a equal or higher speed limit as the State highway a couple of miles west.

Josh
 
Lincoln, NE has a street named "South Street" that runs east and west. So you have addresses for East South Street and West South Street.

As I recall, Memphis, TN has three streets named "Parkway" that run west to east, then south to north, and then east back west, forming three sides of a rectangle around the downtown area.

So there you have South Parkway West, South Parkway East, East Parkway South, East Parkway North, North Parkway East and North Parkway West.
 
If you have the GPS coordinates of where you need to be, getting there becomes somewhat easier!
 
Many places in Tx solved all that by giving major roads 2or3 and 4 different names.
Tx 121 and Sam Rayburn Freeway
U.S. 75 and Central Expressway and IH 45
Too many to count plus Matin Luther King Blvd.
It doesn't help when old timers recall a road by it's common name years ago. I'm sure it is common everwhere to say "take the old mill road passed Smithville ( a town that disapeared 90 years ago and is open pasture now.)
 
Been in a couple towns with odd street names... one town all are named after presidents and another town many are named after trees.

Which is dumb - because with street numbers one knows how many blocks to go to locate a specific address... BUT if just driving without GPS, how many presidents or trees is it away from main street?!! Uhmmmmmm...
 
i live on ames rd but on my checks the bank misspelled it as anus the were quit the conversation piece . and in iowa i seen dingleberry road.
 
I used to live on "Snake Hill Road" in West Virginia, close to Morgantown. It is appropriately named, however since it is well endowed with a population of timber rattlesnakes!
 
Two cities/towns here have streets named after all the states.
When the EMS system went to using 911 and locations for their computer, all roads had to be different from the rest in that area. Our driveway now has a name. But all duplicates had to be renamed.
 
Scenic HWY 11 runs near here. As you go north into Pickens and Greenville counties, you can will see Old HWY 11 and Old Old HWY 11. I turned onto Old Old 11 one day and the bridge over a creek was gone.
Richard in NW SC
 
I find the "unofficial" road names more of problem around rural areas of NY.

When I first moved to central/northern NY I went to work as a travelling John Deere mechanic. Many times a logger or farmer would call and gives names for roads that did not officially exist. Turnbull Road would be "Cat Hollow" instead. State route # 7 in Colliersville NY was often called "Potato Dip" by locals. Could be very confusing when trying to use a map.
 
A sign in Chetek Wisconsin shows a street named "Darn nnalert Street" kinds fun looking for the other side of that one.
 
'Round my small neck of the woods we have

Snake Road - a windy road
Durt Road - family name but dirt like 90% of rds
Blue Hole Rd - clay pit in the middle of the rd

Just to name a few.
 
You must be down by Dansville? I find a certain charm in all the counties here but I especially like Livingston County. Anyways, there is some nice farm land down by Dansville and Wayland.
 
have a friend from costa rica the dont have address like we do its like a farmer would tell you like its the fourth house on the left past the resturant thats painted blue imagine what the mailman goes through
 
My address is number .....'The Street' .Yet I live away out in the country. Really gets the couriers! They drive all over town looking at street names. The smarter ones try to use the sat nav, but our road has 5 entrances/exits so that doesn't work very well. The real smart folk listen when you are giving them directions!
The name stemmed from a few generations back when there was 3 little houses in a row on the site of our farmhouse. The locals nicknamed it(sarcastically!) 'The Street' and that became our farm title. Untill the local council decided to name all the little side roads. We lost our farm name and everyone else on the road ended up out on 'The Street!'
Sam
 
A housing development in Conn. built during the cold war had rd.names like Rocket run and Missil lane to name a few.
 
I used to live on "Park Avenue", just a half block south of "Route 66".....

There is a gravel road not far from this place called "Ruff Road"...
 
In vancouver wa, its possable to be at an address at the corner of NE 99th street and NE 99th ave. it gets confusing from someone like me from the other side of the river. gotta remember to pay attention to "street or ave".
 
years ago when we went to the 911 addresses the county supervisors, all Dem, were going to name the road in front on my house--bill clinton ave. EVERYONE on the road was at the next board of supervisors meeting, it was named Carriage Trail
 

Revolutionary War battle of Blackstock's Plantation near me in SC. No trace of the "plantation" left, but the road from the area toward Spartanburg, SC and on to NC is still called the Blackstock road. Catch is there is Blackstock road, South Blackstock road, and West Blackstock road and I can't keep them straight.

Then there is Peachtree street in Atlanta, GA. However, there is more than one Peachtree street in Atlanta. I hope the GPS system has it straightened out because I got lost one time trying to find a church on Peachtree street.

Not too far off the Highway 11 that Richard mentioned, but in the opposite direction, near Tryon, NC, but in SC, there is Butter street, so called because some one in the eary days had dairy products to sell there.

KEH
 
When I was a kid we were on a rural route and didn't have house or box numbers. The mail carrier for route x knew all the people on that route and delivered accordingly. For other deliveries, it was the third 2 story brick house on the right, east bound from xx intersection. Never had any problems.
 
Is there another Condensary Road in the world? The milk plant here on the south edge of town made condensed milk in the little cans. First Libbys then Carnation. The road was named because it runs past the "condensary".
 
"More than our share of Townline Rd's" indeed! Seems every town here in upstate NY has at least a couple of 'em.

----

Here's another confuser: Roads with multiple names.

Classic example here: In the distance of about 3 miles, NY 252 changes it's name 4 times: Jefferson Rd, Ballantyne Rd, Archer Rd and Beaver Rd. Further adding confusion are signs designating it as the "POW/MIA Memorial Highway".

It's frequently confused even by long-time residents; also TV/radio rush hour traffic reporters.

----

My favorite unofficial local street name: S*x Hill Rd., a lightly traveled back road. It's a long-time favorite of amorous teen couples, thus the unofficial name. Even many locals cannot recall the road's real name....
 
I live in a rural subdivision on 1st Street. There is no 2nd St. The nearby town has 3rd St, 4th St, etc but no 1st or 2nd streets.

A few years back on another forum a guy was telling about visiting his wife's grandma. The guy collected old gas pumps and got very interested in the grandma's story about her late husband operating a gas station on Plum Street. The next morning the guy drove all over town looking for Plum Street hoping to see the old gas station. There was no such road. So when he got back to the house he asked granny if the road had been renamed. She started laughing. She said the real name of the road was Main Street, but the locals called it Plum Street because it ran plum all the way through town.
 
Chicken Dinner Road just west of Boise. At the time of its construction, a local woman would bring the road-crew chicken for a treat during lunch.
 
In Union County, Illinois, there's a community known as UBeDamnHoller, and how do you get there? You guessed it! UBeDamnHoller Road. I think the official name is now something else, but many of the locals wouldn't know what you were talking about if you asked directions using the "real" name.

In our community there's a nice little Lutheran Church known as West Point. It's at a T intersection - the north/south road is West Point Road, and the east/west road is East West Point Road.
UBeDamnHoller
 
There is a road near me (between Middleburgh and Schoharie) called Sodom Road.
There is another road very close to me called Heathen Creek Road.
About 25 years ago, some city folks bought a place on that road, took down the real sign and put up a new sign; Pleasant Valley Road.
There already is a Pleasant Valley Road in our town so they were told to put the Heathen Creek Road sign back up again which they finally did.
I think I'd rather live on Heathen Creek Road than Sodom Road! LOL
 
Close, Nunda. Same area, in fact our brilliant school boards are thinking of merging us with Dansville. Both schools are out of money because of state aid cuts so if we merge we get more for a short period of time. They don't think far enough ahead to when that money stops after a few years.
 
My town was 2 towns split by the river. North side has 1st-7th streets running north and south. South side has 1st-5th Ave running East and west. N Main street, runs east and west and is commercial, S Main street running east and west is residential. The next street south is 1st Ave, then 2nd Ave, etc. It is named Falls City for the falls on the west side of town....James
 
Here in Kentucky it is common practice to name the road after the place it goes..example in Frankfort, you can take Louisville Road to Louisville, and in Louisville the same road is Frankfort Ave...to Frankfort. Happens all over the state. The confusion is in between. Lots of these roads have another name or two or three somewhere in the middle. Lots of roads in this state change names as you go along.
 
My bil lived at the edge of town in a newer area and the street was named "future st" because the city map had a planned future st. in the future.
 
Near me there is a Fiber Optic Rd. A fiber optic line runs parallel with it. It intersects with Grain Bin Rd. There is a lone grain bin along this road. These names came about during the conversion to 911 addresses. Lots of imagination around here, huh?
 
In Glendora ,Ca there is a street just n. of Highway 66 named Compromise line rd. It kind of parallels 66 , but at an angle to it.
 
Years back a local auctioneer coned us into hauling a tractor from one of his sales west of me over into W Va. to a place on a road if you want to call it a Road and the name of the road was Walley Ridge Run Road , yep that was and experience . Thank god for four wheel drive and a big engine . And once in there there was not enough room to turn around hooked up with a 28 foot trailer . Had to unhook get the truck headed back out and use a loader tractor once we got it running to wiggle the trailer around to hook back up . This road if you want to call it a road ( more like a goat path ) ran along side of a creek and there was three places that the creek was higher then the road . Back in my oil field days a drilling co. wanted me to build a drilling location as the head tool pusher told me it's down in your back yard , Oh where , he says on Spidell Rd. ???????? Ah where , Spidell Rd you know down in your neck of the woods. wright off Rt 9 ????????? i am at a total loss as i have know idea where this road is till he get the map out and then it OH you mean GAS TAX ROAD . The township trustee's did finally put up a road sign now that says Spidell . And we have a Stubenville Pike road and IF you follow the goat path it will take you to Stubenville Also Lisbon Canfield takes you from the old Mahoning seat to Columbiana county seat .
 
One nearby town has 1st, 2nd, 3rd street north, 1st, 2nd,3rd south, 1st 2nd, 3rd east, 1st,2nd, 3rd streets west.
Not much imagination, but easy to find places as long as you have the correct suffix.

Traveling in the Chicago area is the worst. They refer to their highways by other names like Tri-State, Dan Ryan, Kingery, East-West Tollway but the road maps show I 294, etc.

I had a cousin in Ohio that lived on Polecat Road. There was also a Stink Creek Road near there.
 
south central pa ,about every county has a road marked niger mountain road,but recently they are being renamed black mountain road.
 

How about "Seldom Seen" and "Never Seen" roads, hear in cental Ohio..!

I always got a kick when I drove by "Buck-Snort Pensylvania"..!!!

That is on I-80..

Ron.
 
Here in s.w.Pa we have a Tom Cat hollow road and a Ramcat hollow, and a May west road, and a Duck Hollow and a FanCat hollow.
 
At Cincinnati they have River Rd on the North side of the river and on the South side of the river there is also River Rd. I think that there is also a North Bend Rd on both sides of the river.

I have noticed several counties in SE Indiana have a County Line Rd.

Care to guess what is located on Legion Post Rd?

In Harrison, OH and West Harrison, IN there is State St. North bound you are in OH and South bound you are in IN. The Harrison PD, the Hamilton Cty Sheriffs Dept, the Ohio Highway Patrol, the Indiana State Police, the Dearborn Cty Sheriffs Dept, and the West Harrison Town Marshall all have authority.
 
Beaver Avenue signs have been stolen so often in Adams County, Wisconsin, they now abbreviate them to Bea. Ave. Glad I got mine in time.
 
I agree, jd,
The signs are exactly like other "real" road signs except you have to read the fine print "private".
 
Hey Tractor vet, I live just a few miles from spidel rd. spent part of my high school days there as I had a friend who still lives at intersection of Spidel and Hoffee rds.
 
...should have just named it "Damn abundant" rd and been done with it. Can't say "Black" anymore cause some of the lighter skinned ones are complaining. it will change again soon.
 
We have a "No Head Lane" for a road that has a creek next to it with no head and a BlackHead Sign Post Road, don't know all the particulars to that one. I live on Seacock Chapel Road which comes from Seacock Swamp 1/2 mile from me that had a small church next to it many moons ago.
 
Our main farm is on Yankee Town Road, named after a school that is close. My greatgrand father was a Confederate calvaryman. My uncle was the pub central committeman and they name the road past his place, Regan Road. Now his daughter and husband live there and have to put up with since they are nnalert. They are the 4th generation in this house, so they can't move.
 
In Omaha, Dodge Street is the 'zero' street, addresses South are South, and North are North. EXCEPT, at about 80th street going West, Dodge becomes West Dodge, and there are North addresses South of Dodge! I found one residential street with the same number addresses on 2 houses! One was North and one was South! I got the impression, as the package delivery guy, that I do not DARE to mix them up!!!
 
Apt-To- Miss Rd in Jasper Co. I was working for a customer in south Jasper Co on a dirt rd. I asked him where the road came out. He said if you are real careful and don't make any wrong turns you will come out in Juliette in 45 minutes. I asked where If I made a wrong turn. He said I don't know, I never made a wrong turn. That co has a lot of Forest Service Rds with just a number on them. I tell people I don't know that I live in Likenotta, not in the counties next to me and Likenotta been in the one I live in. Tommy.
 
Other common road names in Upstate NY- Ridge rd, North Rd., and as you mentioned , Town line Rd. and Lake Rd (maybe with a N,S,E oe W) Also River Rd. Many of the rural roads around here are named after some of the early settlers.
 
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