Lombard and other crazy streets around the world

[ZLoth]

From SF Gate:

Lombard and other crazy streets around the world

San Francisco's famous Lombard Street will close to cars during four busy weekends this summer, the city's Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors decided Tuesday.

The famously steep, twisty street attracts throngs of tourists, creating safety and access problems, and annoying the area's affluent residents.

If this decision ruins your summer plans to visit the crazy roadway, we're here to help. Click through the gallery above for a handy guide to other odd city streets around the world.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[english si]

if it's closed to cars, how will residents park their car by their house?

When I went to it, while there was some tourist motor vehicle traffic, it made up less than half the motor vehicle traffic, with residents forming the majority. It was quite fun to see cars attempt a reverse through the pedestrians on the sidewalk.

[elsmere241]

Bill Cosby once said, "They built a street up there called Lombard Street that goes straight down, and they're not satisfied with you killing yourself that way–they put grooves and curves and everything in it, and they put flowers there where they've buried the people that have killed themselves."

[BrianP]

World's Kookiest Roads
http://www.weather.com/news/commuter-conditions/worlds-kookiest-weirdest-roads-20140520

Which does include Lombard Street.

[Alps]

Shippen St., Weehawken is NJ's local contribution to the Lombard hysteria. Not quite as long, but the curves are packed even tighter.

[Revive 755]

There's Snake Alley in Burlington, Iowa as an Iowa version of Lombard Street.
Google Aerial
Google Streetview at the bottom

[thenetwork]

Bassett Road in Westlake, OH is one of a handful of roads that will take a driver east, west, north AND south via 90 degree turns.

https://mapsengine.google.com/map/edit?mid=zkCtXrcLsabc.kKOJ0o0_F_e8

This was one of the original county roads in the area, and at that time, the road took some weird turns due to property owners and their produce farms.  Nowadays, most of the orchards and vineyards are gone in favor of subdivisions and other assorted urban sprawl.


Another "fun" little street is Cadillac Hill (aka Bates Hill) just off of the SR-59 Innerbelt in downtown Akron, OH.

http://www.akronhistory.org/blog/uncategorized/bates-hillcadillac-hill/

The way the road is designed, you are hard pressed to go anything more than 5-10 MPH up OR down.  I have driven it a handful of times and it is not the 28% grade that will kill you, it's the embedded washboard stones that will drive you crazy.

[bulldog1979]

Grand Rapids has is own fun hairpin on a hill: Hall Street

[roadman]

Bill Cosby once said, "They built a street up there called Lombard Street that goes straight down, and they're not satisfied with you killing yourself that way–they put grooves and curves and everything in it, and they put flowers there where they've buried the people that have killed themselves."

Ah yes, from his Driving in San Francisco routine.  A must listen for any roadgeek.

[2Co5_14]

There is another less well-known "crooked street" in San Francisco: Vermont St betweem 20th and 22nd St.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=SF,+CA&hl=en&ll=37.759006,-122.403902&spn=0.000001,0.001032&sll=42.939774,-85.68439&sspn=0.014043,0.033023&oq=SF&t=h&hnear=San+Francisco,+San+Francisco+County,+California&z=21&layer=c&cbll=37.759073,-122.403947&panoid=PzMnLWxi_tA5mGa2Dn6Ijg&cbp=12,179.21,,0,6.82

I went on a group bike ride once that included this street - I was on the brakes most of the time.

[citrus]

There's also Cascadilla Park Rd in Ithaca, NY.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Cascadilla+Park+Rd/@42.4434377,-76.4929293,174m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x89d081850b289f83:0xe5efedcf2f67c194