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Which is the best street grid?

Numbered streets 1st, 2nd, 3rd
- 37 (67.3%)
Letter streets, A, B, C
- 4 (7.3%)
Other street names such as towns and counties
- 14 (25.5%)

Total Members Voted: 55


Author Topic: Which is the best street grid?  (Read 13902 times)

elsmere241

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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #75 on: March 23, 2022, 11:05:57 AM »

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.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2022, 11:19:00 AM by elsmere241 »
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elsmere241

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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #76 on: March 23, 2022, 11:13:56 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.
« Last Edit: March 23, 2022, 11:17:49 AM by elsmere241 »
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #77 on: March 27, 2022, 01:17:10 AM »

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), 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...

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.

Avalanchez71

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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #78 on: June 09, 2022, 10:53:42 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?
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mgk920

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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #79 on: June 10, 2022, 11:38:32 AM »

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
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #80 on: June 10, 2022, 01:12:27 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.
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Avalanchez71

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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #81 on: June 10, 2022, 06:48:10 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?
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michravera

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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #82 on: June 12, 2022, 09:28:33 PM »

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.
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #83 on: June 12, 2022, 09:40:13 PM »

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.
« Last Edit: June 13, 2022, 08:35:17 AM by NWI_Irish96 »
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mgk920

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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #84 on: June 13, 2022, 01:48:41 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
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KCRoadFan

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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #85 on: June 13, 2022, 10:14:08 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.)
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kphoger

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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #86 on: June 14, 2022, 11:14:02 AM »

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.
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #87 on: June 15, 2022, 02:40:53 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.
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #88 on: June 15, 2022, 02:47:00 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.
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #89 on: June 16, 2022, 02:35:40 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.
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #90 on: June 16, 2022, 02:46:33 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.
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #91 on: June 30, 2022, 01:37:14 PM »

Lettered and alphabetical streets are the thing what I like most.
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #92 on: June 30, 2022, 10:04:58 PM »

MANHATTAN, NYC
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #93 on: June 30, 2022, 10:41:46 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.
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KCRoadFan

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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #94 on: July 01, 2022, 01:15:11 AM »

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.
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #95 on: July 01, 2022, 11:57:03 AM »


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?
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mgk920

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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #96 on: July 01, 2022, 11:58:33 AM »

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
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #97 on: July 01, 2022, 08:45:22 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), 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...
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #98 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.
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Re: Which is the best street grid?
« Reply #99 on: July 02, 2022, 03:08:10 AM »

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), 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.

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.

 


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