Freeway, or THE Freeway?

LAist's San Francisco sibling, SFist, last week took up the Northern vs. Southern California debate over whether to add the article "the" to freeway names. 405, or The 405?

In Los Angeles, of course, we have a habit of referring to "The 5," or "The 101." And that apparently drives them batty up north. One SFist comment read:

I know there are lots, tons, bunches of transplants here in the City, and we're better off for it, I think. But once the transplants arrive, I too have those moments where I hear something that sounds like proverbial fingernails on a blackboard.

Since when is SFO shorthand for San Francisco? Dudes, that's the airport, homies.

I hate SOMA. I'll never say NOPA.

And whyohwhy are there soooo many dodger fans at Giants games? Whyohwhy aren't said dodger fans being spit on?

But yes, the #1 indicator of a transplant is the "the" before the freeway number. Who does that??? It's just so effing weird.

Poor, poor supersensitive San Francisco. Yep, that's how Los Angeles will conquer San Francisco: First, it starts with how we refer to freeways... pretty soon, your mayor will be caught in a sex scandal... oh, wait!

Meanwhile, Blogging.la mentioned the "The" debate while asking a burning question of their own: Why do the Caltrans LED boards refer to interstates as "Routes"? They write:

I've only lived here for 22 years but I've never said "route". It is always THE 10 or THE 405 or The Santa Monica Freeway. Is the person programming the sign from somewhere else? Have they outsourced it? If it is a matter of saving letters, RTE is the same as THE or FWY.

Thankfully, NO ONE -- except for traffic reporters -- refer to the freeway by their full-fledged monikers. (After all, the 10 boasts at least four -- Santa Monica, San Bernardino, Rosa Parks, Christopher Columbus Transcontinental.)