Oddly enough, we do have one expressway: the Corona-Pomona Expressway (CA 71). I don't exactly know why it's the lone expressway in the land of freeways, but it probably has something to do with it not being entirely a freeway, since in certain parts it's one lane in each direction and it has a regular street intersection with Mission Blvd. Nevertheless, we still just call it the 71.
Only a fellow road geek would know this, but part of SR 79 is signed as the "Ramona Expressway" for some reason. That one is really puzzling, since it's really just a highway with no grade separations. One thing to remember is that the Socal freeway system was originally intended to be even bigger than what was built. There were supposed to be freeways running through Beverly Hills, down Beach Blvd, down La Cienega, etc. That's why there are so many state highways that are just regular streets. They were numbered that way to be freeways, but for various reasons they were never rebuilt as freeways.
Perhaps this is my perception of the very area I was born and raised in, but it is my perception to have.
It is just your perception. If you hadn't been raised to hate Socal, your parents would have had to move to Nevada or something.
I think you'll eventually find that California does a lot of weird/stupid things when compared to the rest of the country, especially in the trucking industry.
On the other hand, we finally started posting exit numbers on our signs. Sometime before you die, they might all have numbers on them!
Another reason that most people don't use the official names (like "San Diego Freeway") or "I-xx" is that many of them are confusing and don't exactly correspond to numbers. Examples:
- The names often only apply to a segment of a numbered freeway, so you have to know which segment is named what in order to know where it is. Interstate 10 is called the Santa Monica Freeway between the beach and downtown LA. In the short East LA segment where it's the same road as Interstate 5, it's the "Golden State Freeway". East of that it's the "San Bernardino Freeway." Similarly, the 91 is variously called the Gardena Freeway, Artesia Freeway, and Riverside Freeway. Way too complicated. Just use the number.
- Don't get me started on the various places that have dedicated a freeway to someone, but no one ever uses the name. Part of the 10 is the "Rosa Parks Freeway", but no one calls it that. And no one calls the 105 the "Glenn Anderson Freeway". Ever.
- In some places (for example, the 210), it's confusing to use "I-210" because only part of the 210 is an interstate and the rest is a state highway. The last eastern section of the 210 freeway is only a state highway, but the rest of it west of Glendora is an interstate. Also, the 110 is an interstate south of downtown, but only a state highway north to Pasadena. Again, easier to just use the number.
- Most confusingly, some freeway names stretch across multiple freeway numbers. The Hollywood Freeway is the 170 in the Valley and continues as the 101 the rest of the way downtown. The Ventura Freeway is the 101 until you get to the 170 interchange (yeah, that same interchange) then continues on as the 134 to Pasadena.
I think the only difference is that we're using "the" instead of putting "freeway" at the end. You have to make clear to people that you're talking about a freeway and when we say "the" we all know what we mean. Even if it's not common outside California, I'm puzzled that other people would think it's weird.
