AARoads Forum

I'll go with numbered streets which is what Charlotte, Greenville NC, Washington, NC and Wilmington NC have.

Although I don't mind the street grid in Raleigh.

Numbers! Lettered streets are dumb they often repeat and it gets confusing fast!

Quote from: silverback1065 on October 25, 2021, 03:36:20 PM
Numbers! Lettered streets are dumb they often repeat and it gets confusing fast!

I see those a lot in New York lol

I prefer unique street names it's cooler. But I prefer numbers to letters.

I prefer a mix of numbers and named streets. No letters. Though there is an instance of using every number on every suffix imaginable (looking at you, Queens), which I dislike.

I prefer numbered streets and named avenues.

Lincoln, NE is the ultimate low-effort grid: lettered E-W streets and numbered N-S streets (avenues).

One scheme that seems quite common is naming streets after types of trees (Oak, Maple, Willow, etc.)

I will concur with you guys.. numbered streets and lettered Avenues are the best. Although we do have  14th Ave in Greenville  and it's because it curves going N-S instead of east-west but it's cool.

I like Denver's solution which has N-S streets  (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7548503,-104.9123045,16.07z?hl=en)in alphabetic order  (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7723497,-105.0599019,16z?hl=en)once outside the city's core.

Phoenix, with N-S numbered streets and aves. And, Chicago with #'s on south side. North and West side natives learn names/grid, while newcomers call the named major arterials, "XX00 north/west".

Diagonal NW/SW streets/grids are confusing to me,  :confused: no true N to refer to. Maybe if learned as a native? Old part of downtown Denver has it, then switched to true N-S outside area.

I prefer names, although a number or two interspersed in between is fine.

I'm not a fan of only-numbered streets because not only is it generic, it could get confusing.

Here in York Region, our east-west routes go like this from south to north:

Steeles Ave
Highway 7/Centre Street/14th Avenue
Langstaff Road/Highway 7   *Highway 7 moves up the grid once
Rutherford Road/16th Avenue
Major Mackenzie Drive
Teston Road/Elgin Mills Road
Gamble Road/19th Avenue

Quote from: US20IL64 on October 25, 2021, 05:12:05 PM
Phoenix, with N-S numbered streets and aves. And, Chicago with #'s on south side. North and West side natives learn names/grid, while newcomers call the named major arterials, "XX00 north/west".

Those "xx00 North" coordinate names you see in places like Chicago and Phoenix are in fact the actual (and only) street names in a lot of cities in Utah and eastern Idaho. I believe SLC is the biggest city that uses such a system as its primary street naming method.

Madison, WI. No grid whatsoever. They do have a first through sixth streets, but they are seemingly placed in the middle of nowhere.

It's great.

I prefer a zero system that starts in the corner. This negates the need for any cardinal directions.

For example, in the middle of the Salish Sea is Metro Vancouver's zero point (0 Ave and 0 St). The road along the southern border is 0 Ave, although I'm not aware of any 0 St.

That said, having a number in one direction and names in the other is pretty fun. This is how it's done in most of Tacoma, WA and Vancouver, BC.

This is what I would design:

E-W streets north of center are numbered (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
E-W streets south of center are named for plants/flowers/trees alphabetically (Ash, Beech, Cedar)
N-S streets east of center are named for Presidents chronologically (Washington, Adams, Jefferson)
N-S streets west of center are named for the states chronologically (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey)

I like the Orlando approach where everything is chaos and major roads often become neighborhood streets or end at lakes.

Numbered is my go-to after growing up in the SW suburbs of Chicago which extend the Chicago grid. Our Aves (N-S roads) are also numbered but its mixed with street names.

Quote from: cabiness42 on October 26, 2021, 07:54:03 AM
This is what I would design:

E-W streets north of center are numbered (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
E-W streets south of center are named for plants/flowers/trees alphabetically (Ash, Beech, Cedar)
N-S streets east of center are named for Presidents chronologically (Washington, Adams, Jefferson)
N-S streets west of center are named for the states chronologically (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey)

Isn't that mostly Lake County's grid with a touch of St. Joseph County?

Quote from: tdindy88 on October 26, 2021, 09:49:26 AM

Quote from: cabiness42 on October 26, 2021, 07:54:03 AM
This is what I would design:

E-W streets north of center are numbered (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
E-W streets south of center are named for plants/flowers/trees alphabetically (Ash, Beech, Cedar)
N-S streets east of center are named for Presidents chronologically (Washington, Adams, Jefferson)
N-S streets west of center are named for the states chronologically (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey)

Isn't that mostly Lake County's grid with a touch of St. Joseph County?

Yeah, Lake county uses numbers and states, St joe County uses trees and people (though not all Presidents) except that the names are alphabetical and not chronological.

When I read the title I thought this was going to be a thread about the layout of the grid itself...

Alphabetically named streets

This also has the flexibility of keeping the grid naming pattern when new streets are added between existing streets.

I prefer Chicago's south side system of numbered E-W streets and named N-S streets. Too prone to confusion to have both directions numbered. I suppose A, B, C would be OK if you didn't run out of letters.

I prefer no numbers or letters at all. I like using either place names (Louisiana Ave, Oregon St) or other nouns (my favorite is Lake Jackson, TX, which only uses names of plants and flowers).

Not sure that this is the "best" but one of the more interesting ones is Butte, MT which uses states as avenues, nothing special there, but minerals as streets, supposedly in the order that they were valued at the time of the plat.

Quote from: HighwayStar on October 28, 2021, 04:31:09 PM
Not sure that this is the "best" but one of the more interesting ones is Butte, MT which uses states as avenues, nothing special there, but minerals as streets, supposedly in the order that they were valued at the time of the plat.

greeley, co is... well, i think it's different, not sure about 'best' or 'worst'

numbered streets starting at 1 in the north, numbered aves starting at 1 in the east. east of 1st ave, its trees alphabetically. north of 1st street, it's letters. i like that part. you can also say things like 'i'm at 9th and 9th', and its not ambiguous.

the part i don't like, is when you get out of downtown, you get into curvy streets like '27th avenue lane' or '29th street road' etc.
28th st is aka the 34 bypass. 10th street is business 34.
the 85 bypass runs around 3rd ave, and business 85 is 8th ave.

I prefer 11th on highways signs compared to Eleventh btw.

Quote from: tolbs17 on October 28, 2021, 05:01:00 PM
I prefer 11th on highways signs compared to Eleventh btw.

As long as it's not 21th. (Such a mistake has been made before, as has the inverse, 111st.)

Quote from: 1 on October 28, 2021, 05:01:46 PM

Quote from: tolbs17 on October 28, 2021, 05:01:00 PM
I prefer 11th on highways signs compared to Eleventh btw.

As long as it's not 21th. (Such a mistake has been made before, as has the inverse, 111st.)

I mean, Bilbo Baggins probably lives on 111st Street...  :D

Quote from: jakeroot on October 26, 2021, 12:03:32 AM
I prefer a zero system that starts in the corner. This negates the need for any cardinal directions.

Well, in order for that to work, you need a hard border the city can't expand past, like an ocean or a state line. Otherwise, the city will inevitably annex the other side of the zero line at some point, and you have cardinal directions again.

Kansas City KS is the only city in this part of the country I can think of that can get away with that, and that's because their zero line is State Line Road. (They still use North and South for addressing purposes on N-S numbered streets, but no cardinals on E-W named streets.)

I like the street naming system in my hometown, Terre Haute, Indiana.

There is a hard western border on the Wabash river, and numbered streets are North/South, major thoroughfares are First, Third, Seventh, Thirteenth, Twenty-Fifth, with a number of 1/2 streets - 6 1/2; 9 1/2; 13 1/2 Streets.

Downtown streets and those to the north are primarily Geographic/Botanical (Wabash, Ohio, Tippecanoe, Eagle; Cherry, Walnut, Poplar, Elm, Maple, Linden, Ash, Beech; with numbered avenues First through Eighth in between, but no cardinal directions on these streets;

Diagonals are named after the places they'll take you: Lockport, Lafayette, Prairieton.

Streets south of downtown are primarily named for important locals.

In Washington, DC, going north on e.g. North Capitol Street from the direction of the Capitol itself, first you intersect lettered streets, A-W, then single-word two-syllable streets, and then single-word three-syllable streets, both in alphabetical order. Going on 16th Street NW, which lasts longer in the District, you encounter streets named after trees, flowers and plants, also in alphabetical order northward. Then you've got the diagonal state-named streets.

Quote from: cabiness42 on October 26, 2021, 07:54:03 AM
This is what I would design:

E-W streets north of center are numbered (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
E-W streets south of center are named for plants/flowers/trees alphabetically (Ash, Beech, Cedar)
N-S streets east of center are named for Presidents chronologically (Washington, Adams, Jefferson)
N-S streets west of center are named for the states chronologically (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey)

I like this idea, but how would you handle the Presidents with the same last names (e.g., Adams, Bush, Harrison, Johnson)? Include their initials or just skip over the duplicates?

The best street grid is one where the traffic lights are timed for consecutive greens in all directions. This is far more important than street names.

I like how Gratiot County has their road names. The East-West roads are named after United States presidents and the north south roads are named after Michigan governors.

Quote from: 23skidoo on October 30, 2021, 07:48:03 PM

Quote from: cabiness42 on October 26, 2021, 07:54:03 AM
This is what I would design:

E-W streets north of center are numbered (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
E-W streets south of center are named for plants/flowers/trees alphabetically (Ash, Beech, Cedar)
N-S streets east of center are named for Presidents chronologically (Washington, Adams, Jefferson)
N-S streets west of center are named for the states chronologically (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey)

I like this idea, but how would you handle the Presidents with the same last names (e.g., Adams, Bush, Harrison, Johnson)? Include their initials or just skip over the duplicates?

I don't know anywhere President names get beyond Polk. In Green Bay, the second Adams is Quincy St.

Quote from: skluth on October 31, 2021, 10:38:34 AM
I don't know anywhere President names get beyond Polk. In Green Bay, the second Adams is Quincy St.

Ogden, Utah starts with Washington as its Main Street and counts up to the east, using Quincy for the second Adams. It makes it all the way to Buchanan before running out of space on the east side, but starts back up again on the west side of downtown with the two major streets between Wall Avenue and Washington named Lincoln and Grant (skipping Johnson). There are no more streets east of Buchanan or west of Wall thanks to the mountains and a huge UP rail yard.

Quote from: skluth on October 25, 2021, 03:49:46 PM
I like Denver's solution which has N-S streets  (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7548503,-104.9123045,16.07z?hl=en)in alphabetic order  (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7723497,-105.0599019,16z?hl=en)once outside the city's core.

Kinda sorta. It's two streets at a time in alpha order, but the two same-first-letter streets are often not in alpha order. Examples: Clermont is before Cherry; Dexter is before Dahlia; Eudora is before Elm.

Quote from: cabiness42 on October 26, 2021, 07:54:03 AM
This is what I would design:

E-W streets north of center are numbered (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
E-W streets south of center are named for plants/flowers/trees alphabetically (Ash, Beech, Cedar)
N-S streets east of center are named for Presidents chronologically (Washington, Adams, Jefferson)
N-S streets west of center are named for the states chronologically (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey)

Which means your city can only grow 46-50 blocks to the east or west. :D :D :D

Quote from: DenverBrian on October 31, 2021, 11:39:46 AM

Quote from: skluth on October 25, 2021, 03:49:46 PM
I like Denver's solution which has N-S streets  (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7548503,-104.9123045,16.07z?hl=en)in alphabetic order  (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7723497,-105.0599019,16z?hl=en)once outside the city's core.

Kinda sorta. It's two streets at a time in alpha order, but the two same-first-letter streets are often not in alpha order. Examples: Clermont is before Cherry; Dexter is before Dahlia; Eudora is before Elm.

i literally never knew that. i know about the 'two of each letter' thing, but it never occurred to me that the two streets themselves weren't alphabetized..

learns something new every day.

Quote from: silverback1065 on October 25, 2021, 03:36:20 PM
Numbers! Lettered streets are dumb they often repeat and it gets confusing fast!

Do it like Excel and double into AA, AB, AC, etc past Z. Base-26 numbering, or hexavigesimal if you really want to make somebody's eyes glaze over.

Raleigh originally had a nice, mostly clean grid system.  The city was bounded by North Street, East Street, South Street and West Street.  These streets still remain, although the Legislative Complex and Capital Boulevard (US-70/US-401) wiped out a good sized chunk of North Street.  The junction of the Seaboard and the North Carolina Rail Road also cuts off part of West Street in the southwest corner of the grid.  Here's what it looks like today (down the spine in each direction):

North -to- South Grid (streets running East-West)
North Street
Lane Street
Jones Street
Edenton Street
Hillsborough Street
Morgan Street
Hargett Street
Martin Street
Davie Street
Cabarrus Street
Lenoir Street
South Street

West -to- East Grid (streets running North-South)
West Street
Dawson Street
McDowell Street
Salisbury Street
Fayetteville Street
Wilmington Street
Blount Street
Person Street
Bloodworth Street
East Street

Today, there are also a couple of old alleys that have been upgraded to streets in there own right:

• Commerce Place (runs north-south, sits between Hargett and Dawson, runs between Martin and Davie)
• Gale Street (runs north-south, sits between McDowell and Salisbury, runs between Davie and Cabbarus)

Plus there is the southwest-northeast diagonal connecting Morgan Street to New Bern Avenue (which runs in the same corridor as Hillsborough Street east of the State Capitol).  I guess I should also consider the southeast-northwest diagonal connection from McDowell Street to Capitol Boulevard (part of which sits south of where North Street should be).

Numbers are far better than letters, but only the latitudinal OR the longitudinal streets should have either.  At least one set of the latitudinal or longitudinal streets should be named--but they can be named according to some thematic or alphabetical pattern.  Instead of using letters, you can use words starting with the letters in an A-B-C-D pattern, or have clusters like AAAABBBBCCCCDDDD etc.

Quote from: index on October 31, 2021, 02:17:29 PM

Quote from: silverback1065 on October 25, 2021, 03:36:20 PM
Numbers! Lettered streets are dumb they often repeat and it gets confusing fast!

Do it like Excel and double into AA, AB, AC, etc past Z. Base-26 numbering, or hexavigesimal if you really want to make somebody's eyes glaze over.

Bijective hexavigesimal if you want to get technical.

Quote from: skluth on October 31, 2021, 10:38:34 AM

Quote from: 23skidoo on October 30, 2021, 07:48:03 PM

Quote from: cabiness42 on October 26, 2021, 07:54:03 AM
This is what I would design:

E-W streets north of center are numbered (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
E-W streets south of center are named for plants/flowers/trees alphabetically (Ash, Beech, Cedar)
N-S streets east of center are named for Presidents chronologically (Washington, Adams, Jefferson)
N-S streets west of center are named for the states chronologically (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey)

I like this idea, but how would you handle the Presidents with the same last names (e.g., Adams, Bush, Harrison, Johnson)? Include their initials or just skip over the duplicates?

I don't know anywhere President names get beyond Polk. In Green Bay, the second Adams is Quincy St.

For Gratiot County, MI it goes
Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Jackson, Lincoln, Van Buren, Harrison, Tyler, Polk, Washington, Filmore, Pierce, Buchanan, Johnson, Hayes, Grant, Garfield, Cleveland, Roosevelt, Taft. Not every single mile road is named after a President but that is the names they used.  So that's 21 President's there.

For Michigan Governors it goes
Mason, Woodbridge, Barry, Ransom, McClelland, Wisner, Blair, Crapo, Baldwin, Bagley, Croswell, Jerome, Begole, Alger, Luce, Pingree, Bliss, Warner, Osborn, Ferris. So that's 20 Michigan Governor's there. Again not every single mile road is named after a Governor.

This county is about 23 miles by 24 miles so it's almost every mile.

For some reason, I prefer not naming streets after politicians, especially ones in the last 30 or so years.

Quote from: SkyPesos on October 31, 2021, 07:30:56 PM
For some reason, I prefer not naming streets after politicians, especially ones in the last 30 or so years.

Along those lines: I don't mind roads being named after living people. If I was to get a road named after me I would want to see it for myself.

Quote from: epzik8 on October 29, 2021, 05:35:15 PM
In Washington, DC, going north on e.g. North Capitol Street from the direction of the Capitol itself, first you intersect lettered streets, A-W, then single-word two-syllable streets, and then single-word three-syllable streets, both in alphabetical order. Going on 16th Street NW, which lasts longer in the District, you encounter streets named after trees, flowers and plants, also in alphabetical order northward. Then you've got the diagonal state-named streets.

Except the diagonal streets are called avenues, and they work better that way (Pennsylvania Avenue is so much better than Pennsylvania Street).

In Los Angeles, the main arteries are called boulevards, and they're usually named after various locations in SoCal (Ventura, Santa Monica, Hollywood, Crenshaw, etc.). In this respect, they complement the similarly-named freeways well.

Orange Co. California's grid is laid out well, in the northern part. And with Blvd's as main routes, Beach and Harbor.

Quote from: US20IL64 on November 04, 2021, 11:06:56 AM
Orange Co. California's grid is laid out well, in the northern part. And with Blvd's as main routes, Beach and Harbor.

Not quite in the northern part, but still... (2012)

Quote from: agentsteel53 on May 23, 2012, 02:05:02 PM

Quote from: bulkyorled on May 23, 2012, 06:44:35 AM
Kinda surprised LA is on there and definitely surprised Irvine is on there. But if that's based on ALL forms of eating out then nevermind. If it was just fast food then that would blow me away

there are restaurants in Irvine?  I've always seen that place as a hellhole of corporate and bank headquarters buildings. 

it is next to impossible to find a gas station or a convenience store in Irvine.

Quote from: skluth on October 31, 2021, 10:38:34 AM

Quote from: 23skidoo on October 30, 2021, 07:48:03 PM

Quote from: cabiness42 on October 26, 2021, 07:54:03 AM
This is what I would design:

E-W streets north of center are numbered (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
E-W streets south of center are named for plants/flowers/trees alphabetically (Ash, Beech, Cedar)
N-S streets east of center are named for Presidents chronologically (Washington, Adams, Jefferson)
N-S streets west of center are named for the states chronologically (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey)

I like this idea, but how would you handle the Presidents with the same last names (e.g., Adams, Bush, Harrison, Johnson)? Include their initials or just skip over the duplicates?

I don't know anywhere President names get beyond Polk. In Green Bay, the second Adams is Quincy St.

Amusingly there's an example right in your neck of the woods!

Starting with Washington Street in Bermuda Dunes, California, every mile road east is named after the next president. The second Adams is skipped, but the pattern holds up all the way out to Cleveland Street in North Shore.

Quote from: 23skidoo on October 30, 2021, 07:48:03 PM

Quote from: cabiness42 on October 26, 2021, 07:54:03 AM
This is what I would design:

E-W streets north of center are numbered (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
E-W streets south of center are named for plants/flowers/trees alphabetically (Ash, Beech, Cedar)
N-S streets east of center are named for Presidents chronologically (Washington, Adams, Jefferson)
N-S streets west of center are named for the states chronologically (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey)

I like this idea, but how would you handle the Presidents with the same last names (e.g., Adams, Bush, Harrison, Johnson)? Include their initials or just skip over the duplicates?

John Adams = Adams St
John Q Adams = Quincy St
William H Harrison = Harrison St
Benjamin Harrison = Benjamin St
Andrew Johnson = Johnson St
Lyndon B Johnson = Baines St
George HW Bush = Bush St
George W Bush = Walker St

Quote from: DenverBrian on October 31, 2021, 11:44:09 AM

Quote from: cabiness42 on October 26, 2021, 07:54:03 AM
This is what I would design:

E-W streets north of center are numbered (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
E-W streets south of center are named for plants/flowers/trees alphabetically (Ash, Beech, Cedar)
N-S streets east of center are named for Presidents chronologically (Washington, Adams, Jefferson)
N-S streets west of center are named for the states chronologically (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey)

Which means your city can only grow 46-50 blocks to the east or west. :D :D :D

If you need to, you can go to territories after the states and if you really need to other countries.
If you run out of Presidents, use other founding fathers, like Hamilton, Franklin, Hancock

Quote from: DenverBrian on October 31, 2021, 11:39:46 AM

Quote from: skluth on October 25, 2021, 03:49:46 PM
I like Denver's solution which has N-S streets  (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7548503,-104.9123045,16.07z?hl=en)in alphabetic order  (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7723497,-105.0599019,16z?hl=en)once outside the city's core.

Kinda sorta. It's two streets at a time in alpha order, but the two same-first-letter streets are often not in alpha order. Examples: Clermont is before Cherry; Dexter is before Dahlia; Eudora is before Elm.

There was a convention to this, as provided for in Phil Goodstein's (local Denver historian) book Denver Streets: Names, Numbers, Locations, Logic. I don't have the book handy (as I am at work), but I believe the first street in the double-alphabet is a name and the second one is a tree or flower, hence Clermont, Dexter, Eudora, etc., and Cherry, Dahlia, Elm, etc.

Quote from: cabiness42 on November 04, 2021, 01:29:31 PM

Quote from: DenverBrian on October 31, 2021, 11:44:09 AM

Quote from: cabiness42 on October 26, 2021, 07:54:03 AM
This is what I would design:

E-W streets north of center are numbered (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
E-W streets south of center are named for plants/flowers/trees alphabetically (Ash, Beech, Cedar)
N-S streets east of center are named for Presidents chronologically (Washington, Adams, Jefferson)
N-S streets west of center are named for the states chronologically (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey)

Which means your city can only grow 46-50 blocks to the east or west. :D :D :D

If you need to, you can go to territories after the states and if you really need to other countries.
If you run out of Presidents, use other founding fathers, like Hamilton, Franklin, Hancock

This sounds exceedingly boring.  Numbers, states and presidents?  Give me something unique.

Quote from: cabiness42 on October 26, 2021, 09:57:42 AM

Quote from: tdindy88 on October 26, 2021, 09:49:26 AM

Quote from: cabiness42 on October 26, 2021, 07:54:03 AM
This is what I would design:

E-W streets north of center are numbered (1st, 2nd, 3rd)
E-W streets south of center are named for plants/flowers/trees alphabetically (Ash, Beech, Cedar)
N-S streets east of center are named for Presidents chronologically (Washington, Adams, Jefferson)
N-S streets west of center are named for the states chronologically (Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey)

Isn't that mostly Lake County's grid with a touch of St. Joseph County?

Yeah, Lake county uses numbers and states, St joe County uses trees and people (though not all Presidents) except that the names are alphabetical and not chronological.

To expand on the eastern Lake County, Indiana street naming system:

• North (N/A as these streets would be on the premises of US Steel Gary Works or in Lake Michigan)
• South: avenues which are numbered (1st Avenue to 250th Avenue). This system is used across the county except where the Chicago numbering is used
• West: streets named for presidents in the order they served ending with Taft who was the 27th president. Then chief justices of the supreme court and finally, Indiana Governors
• East: streets named for states starting roughly in the order the entered the union, but then becoming random at the end - starting with Massachusetts St. and ending with New York St. Then streets named for Indiana counties (alphabetically) where they don't duplicate presidents' names (for example, Adams St is missing for this part because the name was used for a street named for a president)

Hobart and Crown Point within its original boundaries have their own street naming systems altogether. In western Lake County, Hammond and Dyer (which are not adjacent) use the Chicago numbering street system for east-west streets (108th St to 215th St). Newly annexed parts of Dyer maintain the Gary street numbering system.

So a very logical system has fallen apart to some extent.

Most counties in Indiana have their county roads named using a very simple system. The east-west road a mile north of the east-west base line is CR 100N, the one 2 miles north is CR 200N, the one 2.5 miles north would be CR 250N etc. And the same thing goes for all directions. Despite being pretty boring, it is a very practical and useful system for areas that have grids. You literally can never get lost.

Munster uses the same system as Hammond and Dyer, though all subtract 10000 from their Cook County counterparts. 17704 State Line Ave in Lansing is across the street from 7705 State Line Ave in Munster.

I am pretty sure Highland also uses the same street address numbering system as Munster, but I don't think either town has streets with the Chicago numbering. East Chicago and Whiting do, however.

Quote from: mukade on November 11, 2021, 06:49:34 PM
I am pretty sure Highland also uses the same street address numbering system as Munster, but I don't think either town has streets with the Chicago numbering. East Chicago and Whiting do, however.

Yes, Hammond, Whiting, East Chicago, Munster and Highland are all part of North Township, and the entire township numbers E-W streets counting up from the state line and N-S streets counting up from 100th Street. Hammond, Whiting and East Chicago have some streets numbered on Chicago's grid. Munster and Highland have a few streets numbered on the Lake County grid, most notably 45th St.

How about the worst street grid?

This, judging by a search I've done on this forum, has only been mentioned once. Which was kind of surprising to me given the amount of minutiae this forum has dug up. And that is Hickory, NC's naming system for its grid. They had to make an entire guide to try and justify it:

https://www.hickorync.gov/sites/default/files/hickoryncgov/Communications/Navigate%20Hickory%20NC%20streets.pdf

QuoteA lot of addresses seem to be confusing because they end in Place, Court, Circle, Drive, Lane, or Way. These addresses usually fall within a defined block, according to the city’s grid system. For example, 7th Ave. PL would be between 7th Ave. and 8th Ave. and 7th St. Pl would be between 7th St. and 8th St.

Imagine telling somebody you live on 6th St Cir CT NW or 18th Ave Cir Pl NW. The first time I was in Hickory I wasn't confused as to where to go because I was using a GPS, but I had a real WTF moment with the street names.

The definitions they give also have confusing and arbitrary distinctions between things like courts and places. And the justification for why they implemented the system makes no real sense either.

QuotePrior to adopting the present street-numbering system, Hickory had a confusing system of naming and numbering streets and houses. There were many dead end roads and uncompleted streets, which picked up several blocks from where they ended. There were also four of each street or avenue, one in each quadrant of the city

Other places have non-contiguous streets with no problem. I don't know who thinks stacking street names on top of each other is somehow better than that.

Best street grid IMO is similar to the Miami grid system, with the cardinal direction quadrant (NE,SE,SW,NW) followed by the number, followed by the suffix (Avenue for N-S, Street for E-W, or vice versa). Dividing streets can be named whatever, as long as the names stand out (Main St., Central Ave., Broadway, Nameofcity Ave., etc.), and the diagonals can be named whatever, so long as they are themed (Presidents, trees, states, etc.).

If the base 10 numbers are boring, they can always be changed to something different like hexadecimal  :D

Quote from: SEWIGuy on October 25, 2021, 09:28:16 PM
Madison, WI. No grid whatsoever. They do have a first through sixth streets, but they are seemingly placed in the middle of nowhere.

It's great.

I was just looking at Madison's streets. There is a 7th and 8th Street too. The thing I see is that they are very short streets and 8th Street turns into Scofield which itself is a very short street so I'm wondering why they didn't just call it either Scofield or 8th for the entire street.

For my fictional capital city of Union City on OpenGeofiction, I use the following:
Dividers:
Independence Blvd (0E-W)
Capitol St (0N-S)

E-W streets: Presidents in order from President St (1300 S) going north to Obama St except for Capitol St and the 2 east-west streets that make up Union Circle Square. The southern street is Harpo St and the northern street is Groucho St. South of President St, there's only a couple blocks before the ocean. Those streets are other famous last names. North of Obama St, the names are more random last names.

N-S avenues: West of Independence Blvd, the streets are named for states, except for the western boundary of Union Circle Square named Zeppo Ave (400 W), working west to east and north to south in order.  After the states, then territories. At Western Ave (5800 W), the names are random first names. East of Independence Blvd, the streets are named for the state capitals in state name order. Montgomery, Juneau, Phoenix, etc. except for the eastern boundary of Union Circle Square named Chico Ave (400 E). When a capital shares the name with a President, the President street takes the name and the avenue is named after another city in that state. Biloxi, St Louis, Omaha and Milwaukee were used. Then comes Eastern Ave (5100 E) and then other random city names until County Line Rd (11000 E).

Then there is Congressional Island where all the streets are named after former Congressmen except for Island Ave and Sanctuary Ave.

On this subject, what's the reason for Cleveland's streets going E 6th, E 9th, E 12th east of Public Square?  And then on the west side it is W 3rd, W 6th, W 9th?  What happened to the streets not divisible by 3?

Quote from: hobsini2 on March 18, 2022, 07:34:00 PM
E-W streets: Presidents in order from President St (1300 S) going north to Obama St except for Capitol St and the 2 east-west streets that make up Union Circle Square. The southern street is Harpo St and the northern street is Groucho St. South of President St, there's only a couple blocks before the ocean. Those streets are other famous last names. North of Obama St, the names are more random last names.

John Quincy Adams - does it skip from Monroe to Jackson, or is Quincy used?
Benjamin Harrison - does it skip from Cleveland to McKinley, or is Benjamin used?
I'm guessing Cleveland is only used once.
Roosevelt - Teddy and FDR? The two Bushes?

Quote from: Mark68 on November 10, 2021, 04:24:59 PM

Quote from: DenverBrian on October 31, 2021, 11:39:46 AM

Quote from: skluth on October 25, 2021, 03:49:46 PM
I like Denver's solution which has N-S streets  (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7548503,-104.9123045,16.07z?hl=en)in alphabetic order  (https://www.google.com/maps/@39.7723497,-105.0599019,16z?hl=en)once outside the city's core.

Kinda sorta. It's two streets at a time in alpha order, but the two same-first-letter streets are often not in alpha order. Examples: Clermont is before Cherry; Dexter is before Dahlia; Eudora is before Elm.

There was a convention to this, as provided for in Phil Goodstein's (local Denver historian) book Denver Streets: Names, Numbers, Locations, Logic. I don't have the book handy (as I am at work), but I believe the first street in the double-alphabet is a name and the second one is a tree or flower, hence Clermont, Dexter, Eudora, etc., and Cherry, Dahlia, Elm, etc.

Or as I like to refer to it, "a person or place, and a plant."

Quote from: KCRoadFan on March 18, 2022, 11:26:54 PM

Quote from: hobsini2 on March 18, 2022, 07:34:00 PM
E-W streets: Presidents in order from President St (1300 S) going north to Obama St except for Capitol St and the 2 east-west streets that make up Union Circle Square. The southern street is Harpo St and the northern street is Groucho St. South of President St, there's only a couple blocks before the ocean. Those streets are other famous last names. North of Obama St, the names are more random last names.

John Quincy Adams - does it skip from Monroe to Jackson, or is Quincy used?
Benjamin Harrison - does it skip from Cleveland to McKinley, or is Benjamin used?
I'm guessing Cleveland is only used once.
Roosevelt - Teddy and FDR? The two Bushes?

Don't forget Andrew and Lyndon, either.

Quote from: KCRoadFan on March 18, 2022, 11:26:54 PM

Quote from: hobsini2 on March 18, 2022, 07:34:00 PM
E-W streets: Presidents in order from President St (1300 S) going north to Obama St except for Capitol St and the 2 east-west streets that make up Union Circle Square. The southern street is Harpo St and the northern street is Groucho St. South of President St, there's only a couple blocks before the ocean. Those streets are other famous last names. North of Obama St, the names are more random last names.

John Quincy Adams - does it skip from Monroe to Jackson, or is Quincy used?
Benjamin Harrison - does it skip from Cleveland to McKinley, or is Benjamin used?
I'm guessing Cleveland is only used once.
Roosevelt - Teddy and FDR? The two Bushes?

JQ Adams = Quincy
B Harrison = Benjamin
FDR = Franklin
GW Bush = Walker

Quote from: hobsini2 on March 18, 2022, 07:34:00 PM
E-W streets: Presidents in order from President St (1300 S) going north to Obama St except for Capitol St and the 2 east-west streets that make up Union Circle Square. The southern street is Harpo St and the northern street is Groucho St. South of President St, there's only a couple blocks before the ocean. Those streets are other famous last names. North of Obama St, the names are more random last names.

Why stop at Obama St?  There's a former president and a current president which are more recent.

Quote from: KCRoadFan on March 18, 2022, 11:26:54 PM

Quote from: hobsini2 on March 18, 2022, 07:34:00 PM
E-W streets: Presidents in order from President St (1300 S) going north to Obama St except for Capitol St and the 2 east-west streets that make up Union Circle Square. The southern street is Harpo St and the northern street is Groucho St. South of President St, there's only a couple blocks before the ocean. Those streets are other famous last names. North of Obama St, the names are more random last names.

John Quincy Adams - does it skip from Monroe to Jackson, or is Quincy used?
Benjamin Harrison - does it skip from Cleveland to McKinley, or is Benjamin used?
I'm guessing Cleveland is only used once.
Roosevelt - Teddy and FDR? The two Bushes?

Good question. Here's what I did for those ages ago:
John Adams - Adams St
John Q Adams - Quincy St
William Harrison - Harrison St
Benjamin Harrison - Benjamin St
Andrew Johnson - Johnson St
Lyndon Johnson - Baines St
Teddy Roosevelt - Roosevelt St
Franklin Roosevelt - Delano St
Grover Cleveland (22) - Cleveland St
Grover Cleveland (24) - Grover St
George Bush Sr - Bush St
George H.W. Bush - Walker St

Disterner, As for 45 and 46, 45 is Dunce St. (I hated him). 46 doesn't have one yet. I am stopping at 45 anyway. North of there is Forest Home Ave and other names.

I also have a number other cities and towns that have some kind of theme or 2.

Ocean Park - Uses Alphabetical order names with Union St and Meridian Ave as the 0 point going up heading north and west. Going east uses tree and plant names.
Black Mud Hts - All streets have a Star Wars theme.
Fish City - Types of Fish
Ripon - Wrestlers and Musicians
Waupun - Star Trek characters and Wisconsin cities
Greensburg - Illinois cities
Westport - Explorers and Italian cities
The Lake Winnebago Area of Wisconsin with Oshki for Oshkosh, Base Lake for Fond du Lac and Appleville for Appleton.
Oshki - Used only the names of the existing main streets such as Algoma Blvd, High St, Oshki Ave (Oshkosh Ave), Main St, Oregon St, South Park Ave, Ripon Rd, Waupun Rd, Witzel Ave, Sawyer St, Koeller St and Washburn St.  Also used Native American tribes and numbers south of Downtown.

Algoma - Big 10 Teams Nicknames
Lake Spooner - Former Badgers

Cities that have street numbers in sixteenth-mile intervals should use hexadecimal.

Kalamazoo County MI uses letter names for their e-w roads. A Ave is a mile north of B Ave, which is a mile north of C Ave, etc.

If there is a half-mile road, it is named with both letters. For example I recently drove on East DE Ave. The Google Map lady didn't know what to call it - she settled on "East".

Quote from: GaryV on March 21, 2022, 08:02:23 AM
Kalamazoo County MI uses letter names for their e-w roads. A Ave is a mile north of B Ave, which is a mile north of C Ave, etc.

If there is a half-mile road, it is named with both letters. For example I recently drove on East DE Ave. The Google Map lady didn't know what to call it - she settled on "East".

So does Calhoun County to the east of it, the letters don't match up though. Like one example E. R Ave in Kalamazoo County turns into H Drive S. in Calhoun County.

A vote for Salt Lake City.

Just use Street Addresses as your street name.

Major boulevards in Salt Lake County have names like:  2100 North, 3300 South, 12600 South, 700 East, 2000 East, 2700 West

Downtown blocks are: 100 West, 200 West, 300 West... etc.

Quote from: i-215 on March 23, 2022, 04:32:42 AM
A vote for Salt Lake City.

Just use Street Addresses as your street name.

Major boulevards in Salt Lake County have names like:  2100 North, 3300 South, 12600 South, 700 East, 2000 East, 2700 West

Downtown blocks are: 100 West, 200 West, 300 West... etc.

So, every Mormon grid. :D

Quote from: Rothman on March 23, 2022, 06:40:41 AM

Quote from: i-215 on March 23, 2022, 04:32:42 AM
A vote for Salt Lake City.

Just use Street Addresses as your street name.

Major boulevards in Salt Lake County have names like:  2100 North, 3300 South, 12600 South, 700 East, 2000 East, 2700 West

Downtown blocks are: 100 West, 200 West, 300 West... etc.

So, every Mormon grid. :D

It works really well in Salt Lake because the entire valley is one address system. The grid is horrible if there are a lot of grids and reference points nearby and you don't know which one is being referred to. See Utah County, where most cities have their own grid, and others use a section line-based grid that is kind of close to Provo's but not quite. I honestly use state highway numbers to navigate myself down there because I can never remember which city I'm in - which I don't think I do anywhere else.

Quote from: US 89 on October 25, 2021, 08:40:01 PM

Quote from: US20IL64 on October 25, 2021, 05:12:05 PM
Phoenix, with N-S numbered streets and aves. And, Chicago with #'s on south side. North and West side natives learn names/grid, while newcomers call the named major arterials, "XX00 north/west".

Those "xx00 North" coordinate names you see in places like Chicago and Phoenix are in fact the actual (and only) street names in a lot of cities in Utah and eastern Idaho. I believe SLC is the biggest city that uses such a system as its primary street naming method.

Salt Lake proper has a different grid in the northeast quadrant, with numbered avenues and lettered streets, that doesn't quite match up with the rest of the city.  (It was developed much later than the downtown area.)  Also, most of its off-block streets have names (generally Street or Court north-south, and Avenue or Place east-west).  My grandparents lived at 1076 South Fifth (500) East (the street signs used to have both), and Denver Street is the first street to the west, while Herbert and Harvard avenues are the streets to the north and south.

Quote from: US 89 on March 23, 2022, 10:48:18 AM

Quote from: Rothman on March 23, 2022, 06:40:41 AM

Quote from: i-215 on March 23, 2022, 04:32:42 AM
A vote for Salt Lake City.

Just use Street Addresses as your street name.

Major boulevards in Salt Lake County have names like:  2100 North, 3300 South, 12600 South, 700 East, 2000 East, 2700 West

Downtown blocks are: 100 West, 200 West, 300 West... etc.

So, every Mormon grid. :D

It works really well in Salt Lake because the entire valley is one address system. The grid is horrible if there are a lot of grids and reference points nearby and you don't know which one is being referred to. See Utah County, where most cities have their own grid, and others use a section line-based grid that is kind of close to Provo's but not quite. I honestly use state highway numbers to navigate myself down there because I can never remember which city I'm in - which I don't think I do anywhere else.

But in Salt Lake County the blocks aren't uniform.  Downtown it's 6 2/3 blocks per mile.  Going north there isn't much city left, so I don't know what they do.  Going east maintains 6 2/3, with State (which shifts over a block), 7th, 13th, 20th and 27th eventually following section line roads.  South transitions to 8 blocks per mile following section lines, but it's not uniform.  West starts at 6 2/3, but retroactively jumps to 8 following section lines at 32nd.  And then there's the Avenues in my previous post.

My idea for Utah County is to go to the county grid (except in Provo, where the city grid would have multipliers) but then use Queens or South Florida-style streets, avenues, etc. with quadrants.

Quote from: elsmere241 on March 23, 2022, 11:05:57 AM

Quote from: US 89 on October 25, 2021, 08:40:01 PM

Quote from: US20IL64 on October 25, 2021, 05:12:05 PM
Phoenix, with N-S numbered streets and aves. And, Chicago with #'s on south side. North and West side natives learn names/grid, while newcomers call the named major arterials, "XX00 north/west".

Those "xx00 North" coordinate names you see in places like Chicago and Phoenix are in fact the actual (and only) street names in a lot of cities in Utah and eastern Idaho. I believe SLC is the biggest city that uses such a system as its primary street naming method.

Salt Lake proper has a different grid in the northeast quadrant, with numbered avenues and lettered streets, that doesn't quite match up with the rest of the city.  (It was developed much later than the downtown area.)  Also, most of its off-block streets have names (generally Street or Court north-south, and Avenue or Place east-west).  My grandparents lived at 1076 South Fifth (500) East (the street signs used to have both), and Denver Street is the first street to the west, while Herbert and Harvard avenues are the streets to the north and south.

Yeah, but all of the named streets will have the coordinate number on the signs (example (https://goo.gl/maps/1YiYw2hFmrjVdgsP6)), and major named streets are so few and far between that it's not that hard to memorize where the few big ones are.

The Street/Avenue directionality in SLC proper is pretty obvious but I'd never noticed the Court/Place pattern in all my years of living in Utah. Now that I'm looking for it, though...

Quote from: elsmere241 on March 23, 2022, 11:13:56 AM
But in Salt Lake County the blocks aren't uniform.  Downtown it's 6 2/3 blocks per mile.  Going north there isn't much city left, so I don't know what they do.  Going east maintains 6 2/3, with State (which shifts over a block), 7th, 13th, 20th and 27th eventually following section line roads.  South transitions to 8 blocks per mile following section lines, but it's not uniform.  West starts at 6 2/3, but retroactively jumps to 8 following section lines at 32nd.  And then there's the Avenues in my previous post.

Do non-uniform blocks matter on that scale, though? As long as block numbers count up in the same directions continuously and stay roughly the same distance, they serve their navigational purpose. The varying length of a mile depending on whether you're on the old SLC downtown or section-line grids in various parts of the valley is simply an intellectual curiosity - nobody is going to be confused that a "block" might be 0.125, 0.142857, 0.15, or 0.166667 miles long.

The Avenues...yeah, their grid is a little off from the main grid, but going with 50 units=1 Avenues block is far simpler than trying to apply the rest of the city's grid up there. And because 2nd Ave/North Temple both connect as 100 North and there's no road into that neighborhood further north, the resulting discontinuity only matters along South Temple, where the difference only gets more than 100 units at the very east end. It would make more sense if A St. had been 250 East instead of 200, but meh.

Quote from: hobsini2 on March 18, 2022, 07:34:00 PM
For my fictional capital city of Union City on OpenGeofiction, I use the following:
Dividers:
Independence Blvd (0E-W)
Capitol St (0N-S)

E-W streets: Presidents in order from President St (1300 S) going north to Obama St except for Capitol St and the 2 east-west streets that make up Union Circle Square. The southern street is Harpo St and the northern street is Groucho St. South of President St, there's only a couple blocks before the ocean. Those streets are other famous last names. North of Obama St, the names are more random last names.

N-S avenues: West of Independence Blvd, the streets are named for states, except for the western boundary of Union Circle Square named Zeppo Ave (400 W), working west to east and north to south in order.  After the states, then territories. At Western Ave (5800 W), the names are random first names. East of Independence Blvd, the streets are named for the state capitals in state name order. Montgomery, Juneau, Phoenix, etc. except for the eastern boundary of Union Circle Square named Chico Ave (400 E). When a capital shares the name with a President, the President street takes the name and the avenue is named after another city in that state. Biloxi, St Louis, Omaha and Milwaukee were used. Then comes Eastern Ave (5100 E) and then other random city names until County Line Rd (11000 E).

Then there is Congressional Island where all the streets are named after former Congressmen except for Island Ave and Sanctuary Ave.

Are you still working on this project?

I'd vote for what Edward P. Brennan did in Chicago starting in the early to mid 1900s.

https://burnhamplan100.lib.uchicago.edu/node/2561/

**This average Joe, no different than any one of us here in this forum, is one of my true HEROES!!!**

he singlehandedly turned Chicago from one of the most fiendishly difficult places anywhere to find ones' way around (many small suburbs were being added to the fast growing city at that time and their street naming and addressing number grids were simply being absorbed into the city's with no changes (it was so BAD that the even the Post Office was having real problems doing their thing!) into one of the most ridiculously EASY.   The street grid numbers that one sees on freeway and CTA rapid transit station signs in Chicagoland mean that no even casual Chicagoan is ever lost.

Many other upper midwest places (ie, Milwaukee, WI and my hometown of Appleton, WI) were in similar straits at the time and very quickly followed suit.

Mike

Quote from: Avalanchez71 on June 09, 2022, 10:53:42 PM

Quote from: hobsini2 on March 18, 2022, 07:34:00 PM
For my fictional capital city of Union City on OpenGeofiction, I use the following:
Dividers:
Independence Blvd (0E-W)
Capitol St (0N-S)

E-W streets: Presidents in order from President St (1300 S) going north to Obama St except for Capitol St and the 2 east-west streets that make up Union Circle Square. The southern street is Harpo St and the northern street is Groucho St. South of President St, there's only a couple blocks before the ocean. Those streets are other famous last names. North of Obama St, the names are more random last names.

N-S avenues: West of Independence Blvd, the streets are named for states, except for the western boundary of Union Circle Square named Zeppo Ave (400 W), working west to east and north to south in order.  After the states, then territories. At Western Ave (5800 W), the names are random first names. East of Independence Blvd, the streets are named for the state capitals in state name order. Montgomery, Juneau, Phoenix, etc. except for the eastern boundary of Union Circle Square named Chico Ave (400 E). When a capital shares the name with a President, the President street takes the name and the avenue is named after another city in that state. Biloxi, St Louis, Omaha and Milwaukee were used. Then comes Eastern Ave (5100 E) and then other random city names until County Line Rd (11000 E).

Then there is Congressional Island where all the streets are named after former Congressmen except for Island Ave and Sanctuary Ave.

Are you still working on this project?

I just looked at the Union City map and absolutely loved it. That looks like a place I would want to live - because of the beaches and all that.

Interesting that Washington was used in the state streets, and that the first of the president streets was "George Washington Street."  Very clever, I love it!

I like the "Union Circle Square"  concept - makes me think of Capitol Square in Madison, WI. Is Union City meant to be a bigger version of Madison, but along an ocean?

By the way, as a curious would-be resident of Union City, I want to know: does the city have a waterpark or aquatic center somewhere? (Well, aside from the beach, that is...)

All in all, having looked at that map, I think it looks great.

Quote from: KCRoadFan on June 10, 2022, 01:12:27 PM

Quote from: Avalanchez71 on June 09, 2022, 10:53:42 PM

Quote from: hobsini2 on March 18, 2022, 07:34:00 PM
For my fictional capital city of Union City on OpenGeofiction, I use the following:
Dividers:
Independence Blvd (0E-W)
Capitol St (0N-S)

E-W streets: Presidents in order from President St (1300 S) going north to Obama St except for Capitol St and the 2 east-west streets that make up Union Circle Square. The southern street is Harpo St and the northern street is Groucho St. South of President St, there's only a couple blocks before the ocean. Those streets are other famous last names. North of Obama St, the names are more random last names.

N-S avenues: West of Independence Blvd, the streets are named for states, except for the western boundary of Union Circle Square named Zeppo Ave (400 W), working west to east and north to south in order.  After the states, then territories. At Western Ave (5800 W), the names are random first names. East of Independence Blvd, the streets are named for the state capitals in state name order. Montgomery, Juneau, Phoenix, etc. except for the eastern boundary of Union Circle Square named Chico Ave (400 E). When a capital shares the name with a President, the President street takes the name and the avenue is named after another city in that state. Biloxi, St Louis, Omaha and Milwaukee were used. Then comes Eastern Ave (5100 E) and then other random city names until County Line Rd (11000 E).

Then there is Congressional Island where all the streets are named after former Congressmen except for Island Ave and Sanctuary Ave.

Are you still working on this project?

I just looked at the Union City map and absolutely loved it. That looks like a place I would want to live - because of the beaches and all that.

Interesting that Washington was used in the state streets, and that the first of the president streets was "George Washington Street."  Very clever, I love it!

I like the "Union Circle Square"  concept - makes me think of Capitol Square in Madison, WI. Is Union City meant to be a bigger version of Madison, but along an ocean?

By the way, as a curious would-be resident of Union City, I want to know: does the city have a waterpark or aquatic center somewhere? (Well, aside from the beach, that is...)

All in all, having looked at that map, I think it looks great.

What are the coordinates?

Quote from: jakeroot on October 26, 2021, 12:03:32 AM
I prefer a zero system that starts in the corner. This negates the need for any cardinal directions.

For example, in the middle of the Salish Sea is Metro Vancouver's zero point (0 Ave and 0 St). The road along the southern border is 0 Ave, although I'm not aware of any 0 St.

That said, having a number in one direction and names in the other is pretty fun. This is how it's done in most of Tacoma, WA and Vancouver, BC.

Yeah, start "Zero" and "Ampersand" a couple hundred meters out in the ocean or in the middle of the river (so you could use them for a boat ramp or a pier, or whatever). Number forwards and letter backwards. Ideally, MyTown Blvd should be between some streets in the teens or come next after "A" street.

Quote from: michravera on June 12, 2022, 09:28:33 PM

Quote from: jakeroot on October 26, 2021, 12:03:32 AM
I prefer a zero system that starts in the corner. This negates the need for any cardinal directions.

For example, in the middle of the Salish Sea is Metro Vancouver's zero point (0 Ave and 0 St). The road along the southern border is 0 Ave, although I'm not aware of any 0 St.

That said, having a number in one direction and names in the other is pretty fun. This is how it's done in most of Tacoma, WA and Vancouver, BC.

Yeah, start "Zero" and "Ampersand" a couple hundred meters out in the ocean or in the middle of the river (so you could use them for a boat ramp or a pier, or whatever). Number forwards and letter backwards. Ideally, MyTown Blvd should be between some streets in the teens or come next after "A" street.

So my town's numbering system starts in the corner, at 000 E and 7500 S, and there is one plus and one minus to this. The plus as you noted is that you don't need cardinal directions and don't have duplicate numbers (of opposite directions) on the same street. The minus is that the major intersection at the middle of town is 800E and 8400S and even a roadgeek like me had to look those numbers up instead of knowing them.

Quote from: michravera on June 12, 2022, 09:28:33 PM

Quote from: jakeroot on October 26, 2021, 12:03:32 AM
I prefer a zero system that starts in the corner. This negates the need for any cardinal directions.

For example, in the middle of the Salish Sea is Metro Vancouver's zero point (0 Ave and 0 St). The road along the southern border is 0 Ave, although I'm not aware of any 0 St.

That said, having a number in one direction and names in the other is pretty fun. This is how it's done in most of Tacoma, WA and Vancouver, BC.

Yeah, start "Zero" and "Ampersand" a couple hundred meters out in the ocean or in the middle of the river (so you could use them for a boat ramp or a pier, or whatever). Number forwards and letter backwards. Ideally, MyTown Blvd should be between some streets in the teens or come next after "A" street.

All of the addresses in Kenosha County, Wisconsin are that way.  Few named streets (only a few legacy named roads), with the rest of them numbered based on the south county line (also the Illinois state line) and the easternmost extent of land along the Lake Michigan lake shore - this is including the City of Kenosha, along with (I believe) all of its suburbs and all of the other munis in the county.

Mike

Quote from: mgk920 on June 13, 2022, 01:48:41 AM

Quote from: michravera on June 12, 2022, 09:28:33 PM

Quote from: jakeroot on October 26, 2021, 12:03:32 AM
I prefer a zero system that starts in the corner. This negates the need for any cardinal directions.

For example, in the middle of the Salish Sea is Metro Vancouver's zero point (0 Ave and 0 St). The road along the southern border is 0 Ave, although I'm not aware of any 0 St.

That said, having a number in one direction and names in the other is pretty fun. This is how it's done in most of Tacoma, WA and Vancouver, BC.

Yeah, start "Zero" and "Ampersand" a couple hundred meters out in the ocean or in the middle of the river (so you could use them for a boat ramp or a pier, or whatever). Number forwards and letter backwards. Ideally, MyTown Blvd should be between some streets in the teens or come next after "A" street.

All of the addresses in Kenosha County, Wisconsin are that way.  Few named streets (only a few legacy named roads), with the rest of them numbered based on the south county line (also the Illinois state line) and the easternmost extent of land along the Lake Michigan lake shore - this is including the City of Kenosha, along with (I believe) all of its suburbs and all of the other munis in the county.

Mike

I know that several towns in Alberta have a numbered grid where Streets run north-south and Avenues run east-west (or vice-versa) and the central intersection in town is 50th Street and 50th Avenue or 100th Street and 100th Avenue. That way, no directionals are needed. (Of course, the capital Edmonton, which is centered on 100th and 100th, has grown enough to reach more than 100 streets away from that point, and thus directionals were needed anyway.)

Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on June 12, 2022, 09:40:13 PM
So my town's numbering system starts in the corner, at 000 E and 7500 S, and there is one plus and one minus to this. The plus as you noted is that you don't need cardinal directions and don't have duplicate numbers (of opposite directions) on the same street. The minus is that the major intersection at the middle of town is 800E and 8400S and even a roadgeek like me had to look those numbers up instead of knowing them.

It also means that the numbering can't continue if a new neighborhood goes in on the other side of zero.

I lived in a town where 000 was on the far east side of town (actually, the numbered streets stopped at Third Street and there was no Second or First).  Then a new subdivision of duplexes was built just east of there.

Quote from: kphoger on June 14, 2022, 11:14:02 AM

Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on June 12, 2022, 09:40:13 PM
So my town's numbering system starts in the corner, at 000 E and 7500 S, and there is one plus and one minus to this. The plus as you noted is that you don't need cardinal directions and don't have duplicate numbers (of opposite directions) on the same street. The minus is that the major intersection at the middle of town is 800E and 8400S and even a roadgeek like me had to look those numbers up instead of knowing them.

It also means that the numbering can't continue if a new neighborhood goes in on the other side of zero.

I lived in a town where 000 was on the far east side of town (actually, the numbered streets stopped at Third Street and there was no Second or First).  Then a new subdivision of duplexes was built just east of there.

Well, in this case beyond zero is another state and also part of other municipalities so nothing is going to go past zero.

Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on June 15, 2022, 02:40:53 PM

Quote from: kphoger on June 14, 2022, 11:14:02 AM

Quote from: NWI_Irish96 on June 12, 2022, 09:40:13 PM
So my town's numbering system starts in the corner, at 000 E and 7500 S, and there is one plus and one minus to this. The plus as you noted is that you don't need cardinal directions and don't have duplicate numbers (of opposite directions) on the same street. The minus is that the major intersection at the middle of town is 800E and 8400S and even a roadgeek like me had to look those numbers up instead of knowing them.

It also means that the numbering can't continue if a new neighborhood goes in on the other side of zero.

I lived in a town where 000 was on the far east side of town (actually, the numbered streets stopped at Third Street and there was no Second or First).  Then a new subdivision of duplexes was built just east of there.

Well, in this case beyond zero is another state and also part of other municipalities so nothing is going to go past zero.

If the state line were 5th Street and everything counted up from there, the next street over in the other state could still be 4th Street.

Quote from: Avalanchez71 on June 09, 2022, 10:53:42 PM

Quote from: hobsini2 on March 18, 2022, 07:34:00 PM
For my fictional capital city of Union City on OpenGeofiction, I use the following:
Dividers:
Independence Blvd (0E-W)
Capitol St (0N-S)

E-W streets: Presidents in order from President St (1300 S) going north to Obama St except for Capitol St and the 2 east-west streets that make up Union Circle Square. The southern street is Harpo St and the northern street is Groucho St. South of President St, there's only a couple blocks before the ocean. Those streets are other famous last names. North of Obama St, the names are more random last names.

N-S avenues: West of Independence Blvd, the streets are named for states, except for the western boundary of Union Circle Square named Zeppo Ave (400 W), working west to east and north to south in order.  After the states, then territories. At Western Ave (5800 W), the names are random first names. East of Independence Blvd, the streets are named for the state capitals in state name order. Montgomery, Juneau, Phoenix, etc. except for the eastern boundary of Union Circle Square named Chico Ave (400 E). When a capital shares the name with a President, the President street takes the name and the avenue is named after another city in that state. Biloxi, St Louis, Omaha and Milwaukee were used. Then comes Eastern Ave (5100 E) and then other random city names until County Line Rd (11000 E).

Then there is Congressional Island where all the streets are named after former Congressmen except for Island Ave and Sanctuary Ave.

Are you still working on this project?

To make a long story short, no. The territory was released as an open state due to inactivity by me. I had missed the messages a few weeks after it happened. But It looks like Union City is still there.

Quote from: KCRoadFan on June 10, 2022, 01:12:27 PM

Quote from: Avalanchez71 on June 09, 2022, 10:53:42 PM

Quote from: hobsini2 on March 18, 2022, 07:34:00 PM
For my fictional capital city of Union City on OpenGeofiction, I use the following:
Dividers:
Independence Blvd (0E-W)
Capitol St (0N-S)

E-W streets: Presidents in order from President St (1300 S) going north to Obama St except for Capitol St and the 2 east-west streets that make up Union Circle Square. The southern street is Harpo St and the northern street is Groucho St. South of President St, there's only a couple blocks before the ocean. Those streets are other famous last names. North of Obama St, the names are more random last names.

N-S avenues: West of Independence Blvd, the streets are named for states, except for the western boundary of Union Circle Square named Zeppo Ave (400 W), working west to east and north to south in order.  After the states, then territories. At Western Ave (5800 W), the names are random first names. East of Independence Blvd, the streets are named for the state capitals in state name order. Montgomery, Juneau, Phoenix, etc. except for the eastern boundary of Union Circle Square named Chico Ave (400 E). When a capital shares the name with a President, the President street takes the name and the avenue is named after another city in that state. Biloxi, St Louis, Omaha and Milwaukee were used. Then comes Eastern Ave (5100 E) and then other random city names until County Line Rd (11000 E).

Then there is Congressional Island where all the streets are named after former Congressmen except for Island Ave and Sanctuary Ave.

Are you still working on this project?

I just looked at the Union City map and absolutely loved it. That looks like a place I would want to live - because of the beaches and all that.

Interesting that Washington was used in the state streets, and that the first of the president streets was "George Washington Street."  Very clever, I love it!

I like the "Union Circle Square"  concept - makes me think of Capitol Square in Madison, WI. Is Union City meant to be a bigger version of Madison, but along an ocean?

By the way, as a curious would-be resident of Union City, I want to know: does the city have a waterpark or aquatic center somewhere? (Well, aside from the beach, that is...)

All in all, having looked at that map, I think it looks great.

Madison was not exactly what I had in mind but certainly elements where used. Union Circle Square was just where all the government buildings, aside from the Blue House, were centered. The city did not have an aquatic park at the time of the last edit. But does have an amusement park (9 Flags Over Wintania), a motor speedway (Shrewsbury Park Paceway), horse racing track (Union Downs), football stadium (Walsh Stadium), 2 baseball stadium (Hemmingway Park [MLB], Riverside Park [Minor League]), a horse track that became a casino (Fremont Park) and a Marina & Ferry Terminal.

Lettered and alphabetical streets are the thing what I like most.

MANHATTAN, NYC

Quote from: SEWIGuy on October 25, 2021, 09:28:16 PM
Madison, WI. No grid whatsoever. They do have a first through sixth streets, but they are seemingly placed in the middle of nowhere.

It's great.

The streets in downtown Madison are actually all named after the signers of the Constitution. There's still no grid, since they use the same theme in every direction, but it is a pretty cool theme. I think they switched to numbers once they ran out of Constitution names going east.

I love the grids that contain multiple series of alphabet streets one after the other - among them DC and neighboring Arlington, VA, as well as Denver, Minneapolis, and Tulsa. Also, in each of those cities, the streets running in the other direction are numbered, and I love numbered streets as well.

Quote from: mgk920 on July 01, 2022, 11:47:46 AM

Quote from: epzik8 on June 30, 2022, 10:04:58 PM
MANHATTAN, NYC

But building addresses in Manhattan bear no resemblance to the street naming.  One has to be intimately familiar with the formula to make sense of it.
:no:

Yeah, in Manhattan...  142 W 44th Street is between 6th and 7th Avenues.  And 785 Madison Avenue is between 66th and 67th Streets.  Let's not call that system the "best", OK?

Quote from: epzik8 on June 30, 2022, 10:04:58 PM
MANHATTAN, NYC

But building addresses in Manhattan bear no resemblance to the street naming.  One has to be intimately familiar with the formula to make sense of it.

:no:

I'll take Chicago's 'Brennan' addressing system any day over NYC's.

Mike

Quote from: US 89 on March 27, 2022, 01:17:10 AM

Quote from: elsmere241 on March 23, 2022, 11:05:57 AM

Quote from: US 89 on October 25, 2021, 08:40:01 PM

Quote from: US20IL64 on October 25, 2021, 05:12:05 PM
Phoenix, with N-S numbered streets and aves. And, Chicago with #'s on south side. North and West side natives learn names/grid, while newcomers call the named major arterials, "XX00 north/west".

Those "xx00 North" coordinate names you see in places like Chicago and Phoenix are in fact the actual (and only) street names in a lot of cities in Utah and eastern Idaho. I believe SLC is the biggest city that uses such a system as its primary street naming method.

Salt Lake proper has a different grid in the northeast quadrant, with numbered avenues and lettered streets, that doesn't quite match up with the rest of the city.  (It was developed much later than the downtown area.)  Also, most of its off-block streets have names (generally Street or Court north-south, and Avenue or Place east-west).  My grandparents lived at 1076 South Fifth (500) East (the street signs used to have both), and Denver Street is the first street to the west, while Herbert and Harvard avenues are the streets to the north and south.

Yeah, but all of the named streets will have the coordinate number on the signs (example (https://goo.gl/maps/1YiYw2hFmrjVdgsP6)), and major named streets are so few and far between that it's not that hard to memorize where the few big ones are.

Kinda on this topic, is it true you have to give your grid location to the pizza delivery guy if you order delivery? My aunt who lives in Herriman told me that but I have a hard time believing that it's true...

It wouldn't surprise me if that were the case.  My grandfather was a chaplain with the Salt Lake Police for a time, and he let me go on a ride-along once.  Dispatch used the address, then the coordinates.

Quote from: SD Mapman on July 01, 2022, 08:45:22 PM

Quote from: US 89 on March 27, 2022, 01:17:10 AM

Quote from: elsmere241 on March 23, 2022, 11:05:57 AM

Quote from: US 89 on October 25, 2021, 08:40:01 PM

Quote from: US20IL64 on October 25, 2021, 05:12:05 PM
Phoenix, with N-S numbered streets and aves. And, Chicago with #'s on south side. North and West side natives learn names/grid, while newcomers call the named major arterials, "XX00 north/west".

Those "xx00 North" coordinate names you see in places like Chicago and Phoenix are in fact the actual (and only) street names in a lot of cities in Utah and eastern Idaho. I believe SLC is the biggest city that uses such a system as its primary street naming method.

Salt Lake proper has a different grid in the northeast quadrant, with numbered avenues and lettered streets, that doesn't quite match up with the rest of the city.  (It was developed much later than the downtown area.)  Also, most of its off-block streets have names (generally Street or Court north-south, and Avenue or Place east-west).  My grandparents lived at 1076 South Fifth (500) East (the street signs used to have both), and Denver Street is the first street to the west, while Herbert and Harvard avenues are the streets to the north and south.

Yeah, but all of the named streets will have the coordinate number on the signs (example (https://goo.gl/maps/1YiYw2hFmrjVdgsP6)), and major named streets are so few and far between that it's not that hard to memorize where the few big ones are.

Kinda on this topic, is it true you have to give your grid location to the pizza delivery guy if you order delivery? My aunt who lives in Herriman told me that but I have a hard time believing that it's true...

I mean, I can’t imagine you have to, but back in the pre-GPS days, it would certainly help the pizza driver if he hadn’t been to that specific neighborhood before. Sort of another piece of information to fall back on if he gets lost.

Ideally, you should be able to get anywhere in the Salt Lake Valley without a map given a coordinate pair and a working knowledge of where the bigger roads are. That said, the coordinate of the street you’re on is less useful in newer subdivisions or hilly areas where the roads aren’t on a straight NS/EW grid, and a good bit of Herriman falls into that category. It also kind of falls apart if you go to other counties where there are a bunch of different grids that all grow into each other. The places I’ve lived in Utah have all fallen into one of those categories, such that I’ve never really known my other coordinate even if it is on the street sign, and I’ve never been asked for it either because even if I did know it wouldn’t mean much to anyone.

Quote from: elsmere241 on July 02, 2022, 02:17:29 AM
It wouldn't surprise me if that were the case.  My grandfather was a chaplain with the Salt Lake Police for a time, and he let me go on a ride-along once.  Dispatch used the address, then the coordinates.

Coordinates are especially nice in that context because they can give a fast and pretty good first-order approximation of where in the valley something is.

You’ll also see that type of thing in business addresses and advertisements and the like, too. Something like “Come find us at 8129 South Highland (2000 East)”. Though this practice doesn’t seem to be as common as it once was, and I blame that almost entirely on smartphone GPS.

This last time I was in Utah over Memorial Day, I was annoyed by the roads that squiggle through the grid, messing things up.