Highway Name Generator

Real highways carry two or three names at once, and that is the trick to making a fictional one believable. There is the number the state or nation assigns (Route 117, State Route 9, Interstate 43, M19, Autoroute A88), the official name a legislature attaches (Veterans Memorial Highway, Governor Ames Expressway, Cascade Ridge Parkway), and the nickname drivers actually use (The Snake, The Devil's Backbone, Hell's Half Mile). Use all three layers for a big road and the map feels lived-in.

The suffix tells you what kind of road it is. Interstate, freeway and motorway mean limited access and no stoplights; expressway and arterial are one step down; turnpike and tollway mean someone collects money; parkway and scenic byway promise trees and views and ban trucks; bypass, spur, loop and connector describe what the road does rather than where it goes. Memorial highways are named for soldiers, firefighters, governors and local heroes. Nicknames are short, menacing or affectionate, and almost always start with The.

This list mixes all of those registers plus a handful of futuristic skyways and fantasy king's roads, so you can name the main drag of a Cities: Skylines build, the interstate a road-trip novel follows, or the trade route on a tabletop map in one pass.