Mr. Welty,

The reason I spoke about the small bit of Wyoming I am familiar with, and one of the reasons it may be an exception, is that the railroad apparently deliberately built its line following the lines of coal. Hence those towns in SE Wyoming like Rock Springs had a raison d’etre after they built the railroad.

If anyone is traveling I80 across Wyoming, I recomment Rock Springs as a stop. Apparently they won a law suit against the coal companies (or the railroads?) a number of years back for completely undermining the town and used the money for an attractive sports complex (only seen, not used) and conversion of the old courthouse into one of the most attractive museums of American life 1880-1940 I have ever visited.

Some may recall that in Dick Cheney’s pre-9/11 New Yorker interview he stated that after he dropped out of Yale the way he was able to get back on his feet was by taking advantage of the good-paying union jobs then available in Rock Springs—not to mention the free tuition at the state university. Talk about pulling up ladders!

Someone said that I80 in Wyoming avoided the mountains so less scenery—perhaps true, but watching the Uintas off to the south for a hundred miles or so is a fond memory.

The named freeways thing really is perverse. First, only traffic reporters and people over fifty use the names. Second, the names and numbers diverge wildly. The 110 is the Harbor Freeway south of downtown and the Pasadena Freeway north of downtown. The “Hollywood Freeway” is the 101 until it switches to the 170, and the “Ventura Freeway” is the 134 until it becomes the 101 at the same time that the 101 ceases to be the “Hollywood Freeway.” I think it’s because the 170, which is a relatively short stretch of freeway even if you factor in the part of Highland Avenue that is considered part of it and was until recently ruled by CalTrans instead of LADOT, would feel small and insignificant if you took “Hollywood” away from its existence. I don’t remember: does I-95 have these kind of issues?

No, it’s just “95,” at least in my neck of the woods.

Or, in my neck of the woods, “128.” But I think that usage may be on the way out.

You probably noticed that I-80 travels nowhere near the mountains in Wyoming. Easier on the car, much less pleasant on the eyes.

That’s why the railroad, then I-80 after it go through Wyoming rather than Colorado.

I have heard “The Bayshore” over the years, but mostly from my mother’s (86 years old) generation. I’m old enough to remember when it was the “Bloody Bayshore,” and once worked on “The Old Bayshore,” which is worth checking out. If you imagine that kind of road as the main route between San Francisco and San Jose ca. 1958 you’ll know why it was bloody.

I have also regularly heard “The El Camino,” so go figure—I wonder if a German would travel auf dem the El Camino?”

In point of fact, while modern 101 parallels the old Spanish royal highway, in the SF peninsula El Camino is actually highway 82. And when it was newly open (and empty enough that I was once in a car going 107 miles per hour at four o’clock on a weekday afternoon)280 was frequently called “The Junipero Serra.” Further on, and by no means a highway by current standards, is California Highway 35, still commonly called Skyline. Many hears ago it was the way one traveled from San Francisco to Santa Cruz; when the San Francisco Chronicle once interviewed Yehudi Menuhin about his youth in San Francisco he reminisced about a two day trip down to the family cabin in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

And Highway is “The Coast Highway,” so in point of fact you have five named routes heading south of San Francisco, The Coast Highway, Skyline, Junipero Serra, El Camino, and Bayshore.