[NorthernPhoenix]

I’m not a native Vermonter, and frankly find myself missing the state when I’m not around. Sadly that’s been often lately.

Anyhow, does anyone know the story behind Vermont giving local names to state highways? Not divided highways, but roads like routes 2 or 7.

Where I’m from, navigation is real simple because you and anyone giving you directions knows to stay on the numbered route. The name of the street is the route number, period.

The number one thing that still drives me crazy about Vermont is how an otherwise-already-numbered road is also given a local name. For example, in my mind, if I want to drive from Burlington to New Haven, I take route 7. I don’t think of it as taking Shelburne Road, whose name then changes to something else eventually. It’s incredibly frustrating when I’m trying to get directions and the person starts giving street names which I later realize are actually numbered routes which the person could have used in the first place.

[harry chickpea]

Simple. The local names pre-date the state road numbers.

Historically, there were no "state" roads. There was the privately held Winooski Turnpike between Burlington and Montpelier (a road that people had to pay to use) that was chartered by the state and built by a Boston turnpike company in 1805, a few other turnpikes (there was one from Ben & Jerry's up to Moscow as an example), there were town roads where the townspeople often paid labor on road upkeep as part of taxes, there were trails and traces, ridge roads and shunpikes, but much early travel, and especially commerce, was via the rivers and then the railroads. In winter, towns could be isolated for days. The state government had no money to build roads, nor desire to do so back then. Roads were, in a word, terrible.

Even as late as the 1910s, the Cram map of the state showed railroads and rivers, but no roads. No roads in the state were even paved (outside of city streets) until 1932, when the electric railroad between Waterbury and Stowe was dismantled and a concrete road took its place.

Route 7 is a Federal road, not a state road. Route 100 is an example of a state road. Some smaller roads are county or town roads. Each is funded and maintained differently.

Roads as we know them only started to come into being after about 1904, when the internal combustion engine started powering things instead of horses and waterpower and steam.

So why use the local names? They are easier to remember than numbers, they are descriptive (the mountain road in Stowe) and most journeys are local anyway. County roads here in Alabama are known by their numbers and are almost impossible to remember. Local descriptive names are far better.

As for New Haven? As the old farmer said, "You could troy drivin over to Putney to ask, but 'fer as I know, you can't get theyah from he-ah."

[EckyX]

Growing up in Florida, I felt the same way, but it was worse in some ways.

For instance, numbered roads ran through several towns, and through each town the name of the road changed. You could take the East Merritt Island Causeway to West King Street, or simply stay on 520 (it's all 520). You could take Cortez Blvd to Broad St to W. Colonial Dr to E. Colonial Dr to Cheney Hwy, or you could simply drive down 50 - they're all just names for stretches of 50, and there's no visual indication of where the name changed. I'm sure there was some history behind this, but trying to figure out where 50 changed from Colonial to Cheney was idiotic.

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by EckyX

Growing up in Florida, I felt the same way, but it was worse in some ways.

For instance, numbered roads ran through several towns, and through each town the name of the road changed. You could take the East Merritt Island Causeway to West King Street, or simply stay on 520 (it's all 520). You could take Cortez Blvd to Broad St to W. Colonial Dr to E. Colonial Dr to Cheney Hwy, or you could simply drive down 50 - they're all just names for stretches of 50, and there's no visual indication of where the name changed. I'm sure there was some history behind this, but trying to figure out where 50 changed from Colonial to Cheney was idiotic.

You would go bonkers in London. The story goes that the Hackney and black cab drivers had huge recall abilities because of having to remember all the short streets and their names.

[vter]

They also have local names for E-911 purposes. The road name will often change when you cross a town line. I know Route 7 in New Haven is called Ethan Allen Highway. Other Towns, Route 7. South Burlington, Shelburne Road. etc.

[Gemini1963]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

You would go bonkers in London. The story goes that the Hackney and black cab drivers had huge recall abilities because of having to remember all the short streets and their names.

I don't want to go off on too much of a tangent, but I wanted to note that this is actually a really interesting topic - the London cab driver's test:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/330724...-drivers-exam/

[jackmccullough]

Originally Posted by Gemini1963

I don't want to go off on too much of a tangent, but I wanted to note that this is actually a really interesting topic - the London cab driver's test:
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/330724...-drivers-exam/

The Knowledge

[jackmccullough]

E-911 has actually made things a lot better. Before 1950 or so, maybe even later, the majority of the roads in Vermont did not have a single, standard name. For instance, the road that runs from Chelsea to Williamstown would be called the Chelsea Road if you're in Williamstown and the Williamstown Road if you're in Chelsea. Road nomenclature is much better than it once was.

Still, as the old-timer said, "If I was goin' there I wouldn't staht from heah."

[LINative]

Originally Posted by NorthernPhoenix

I’m not a native Vermonter, and frankly find myself missing the state when I’m not around. Sadly that’s been often lately.

Anyhow, does anyone know the story behind Vermont giving local names to state highways? Not divided highways, but roads like routes 2 or 7.

Where I’m from, navigation is real simple because you and anyone giving you directions knows to stay on the numbered route. The name of the street is the route number, period.

The number one thing that still drives me crazy about Vermont is how an otherwise-already-numbered road is also given a local name. For example, in my mind, if I want to drive from Burlington to New Haven, I take route 7. I don’t think of it as taking Shelburne Road, whose name then changes to something else eventually. It’s incredibly frustrating when I’m trying to get directions and the person starts giving street names which I later realize are actually numbered routes which the person could have used in the first place.

The road names are much older the State/Federal route numbers, sometimes by hundreds of years here in the Northeast. So it is a matter of tradition and also noting local addresses.

The one thing I wanted to mention is I don't think it so much the State of Vermont giving names to local roads but the independent towns/cities that do it. In other words, Vermont does not name Main Street in some local town, the local town does it. At least that is the way it is here in New York, I am assuming it is similar in Vermont.

There are exceptions when the state does the naming, the Connecticut Turnpike, the Garden State Parkway, the Molly Stark Byway, the Mohawk Trail, the Massachusetts Turnpike, the New York State Thruway, the Northway, Taconic State Parkway etc. But these are long distance roads and most are major highways.