In the Midwest, it's common to refer to short interstate numbers by the letter "I", as in "Drive I-96 until you get to Detroit" (pronounced as 'eye-ninety-six'). Which kind of solves that problem.
Except in LA, you are often times referring to roads that aren't part of the Interstate system. So, to drive where I use to live close to Beverly Hills to the small town of 'Montrose' (might just be a neighborhood actually) I would take the (I)10 to the (I)5 to the (State Route) 2, or if I had a stop in say, Glendale I'd take the (I)10 to the (I)5 to the (State Route) 134, make my stop get back on the (State Route) 134 to the (State Route) 2. You also had roads like the State Route 110 which turns into Interstate 110 at some point, etc.
To the driver these are just freeways. Now LA did have many more major freeways which were state routes and not Interstates (with the occasional US Highway, such as the 101) than most places do. Where I grew up in the mid-west, we really only had Interstates and regular roads and did say I80 and never, "the 80"
To the driver these are just freeways. Now LA did have many more major freeways which were state routes and not Interstates (with the occasional US Highway, such as the 101) than most places do. Where I grew up in the mid-west, we really only had Interstates and regular roads and did say I80 and never, "the 80"