My kid asked me this question and I didn’t have a good quick answer. Also, I’m not referring to the US Interstate highway system. I am referring to the state and county level.
Any insight is much appreciated!
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Well, everything has to have a name, and it is usually the creator of that thing, that gets to name it. So, to look at how roads get their name, we start with how those roads are created.
Large road systems that are designed top-down, via centralized planning, tend to use numbering system as names. There is usually a system to how theses numbers are assigned. This method of naming roads is efficient and rational, good if it’s a big project that involve many people, and take many years to complete.
On the other hand, roads that are built bottom up, by the individuals, private companies, or local municipalities for their own use, tend to get named by their builder, and thus are given more meaningful names, kind of like how parents name their babies.
If a centrally planned road system make use of existing roads, then that section of road would have 2 names. For example, both the original name Pine St. and also Highway 17.
Lastly, roads can get re-named (or in this case, have a name added) after they are built. For example, people can rename a stretch of highway so-and-so memorial highway to memorialize a person.
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