GIVE INTERSTATES FAMOUS NAMES (1-2003)

The Indiana General Assembly is back in session again, and 
as is typical, there are several heavyweight contentious 
issues to resolve. These include the state’s budget, school 
funding, ISTEP, and daylight saving time.

But one issue that will come up this year, which may also 
turn out to be contentious given the nature of our 
legislative body, is one the lawmakers can have a little 
fun with. And it may well garner nationwide media 
attention, as it already has.

David Letterman wants the I-465 loop around Indianapolis 
named after him. Letterman, the host of the late night talk 
show on CBS that bears his name, and a native of 
Indianapolis’ Broad Ripple area, has personally requested 
that the loop be given the name, “David Letterman 
Expressway.” Another name that is sometimes bandied about 
is “Letterman Loop.” 

He made his plea for the name change during one of his talk 
show episodes last year. City officials were more or less 
open to the idea, but it will probably be up to the General 
Assembly to actually make the name change.

The idea of naming I-465 after one of our most beloved 
Hoosier celebrities has some merit. But it also brings up 
the broader notion of giving different names to each 
segment of the state capitol’s Interstate highway system. 
It’s an idea whose time has come and may, in fact, be 
overdue.

Consider Chicago, for example. They have the Dan Ryan 
Expressway, the city’s most famous stretch of Interstate 
that runs through its downtown. Then there’s the Kennedy, 
the Boreman, and several others.

So what if Indianapolis isn’t as big as Chicago. Does that 
mean it can’t name its Interstates? 

Well, take Louisville. It is smaller than Indianapolis, yet 
it names its expressways. It has the Watterson and the 
Audubon, for example.

What would be the advantage of giving names to Indy’s 
Interstates? It would help in giving directions for one 
thing. But mainly, it would make it much more efficient to 
provide traffic information to motorists.

Here’s an example. You turn on the radio and hear the 
reporter say something about an accident tying up traffic 
on eastbound I-465 at U.S. 31. Where is that? It could be 
on Indy’s south side, just north of Greenwood, or it could 
be on the city’s north side, near Carmel. U.S. 31 
intersects I-465 at both those places.

To be more precise, the reporter would have to say 
something like, “We have an accident that is tying up 
traffic on eastbound I-465 at U.S. 31 on the north side.” 
Well that’s a mouth full. 

To make it easier to give traffic reports, it would help to 
give each leg of I-465 a different name. The inner loop 
segments could also be given names of Hoosier celebrities. 
If the northern leg of I-465 were called the Letterman 
Expressway, the reporter could simply say, “Eastbound 
traffic is backed up on the Letterman.” 

Other segments could be given names such as the Red Skelton 
Parkway, Jane Pauley Freeway, Jim Nabors Expressway, or 
Florence Henderson Highway. More appropriately, segments of 
Indianapolis Interstates could be named after famous 
Hoosiers who are now dead, but who had an impact on 
history, such as James Whitcomb Riley or Benjamin Harrison.

Whatever the names given, it would be a good idea to follow 
the nationwide trend of naming segments of Interstate 
highways. It would also be a great way to honor famous 
Hoosiers. We can only hope our legislators would have 
enough discretion not to approve one like “Michael Jackson 
Parkway.”