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National Boards => General Highway Talk => Topic started by: roadman65 on October 31, 2019, 09:39:15 AM

Title: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: roadman65 on October 31, 2019, 09:39:15 AM
NYC under the Commissioners Plan of 1812 set up the current situation where in Manhattan, all avenues run N-S and all streets run E-W.

I noticed that in Orlando, FL as well and recently noticed that in Marion County, FL as well.  It seems like a good idea as there is some consistency.

In Washington, DC we have numbered streets go  N-S and lettered streets run E-W, but nonetheless a consistency as well.   In St. Pete, FL you have the streets run N-S, and avenues E-W.

What places near you have some sort of descriptor change to reflect the cardinal direction of the street grids?
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: NWI_Irish96 on October 31, 2019, 09:46:25 AM
In Cicero, IL, E/W roadways are streets and places, N/S roadways are avenues and courts
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: formulanone on October 31, 2019, 10:41:04 AM
Gainesville, Florida had this phenomenon: Avenues, Places, Roads, Lanes generally ran east-west; and Streets, Terraces, Drives usually ran north-south.

The mnemonic was "APRiL STD" for this pattern, back when I delivered pizzas. Yeah, it's kind of crude.

Boulevards seemed to be either direction; Places and Circles weren't that common.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: US 89 on October 31, 2019, 10:44:33 AM
In Salt Lake City, named Streets run N/S and Avenues run E/W, and streets that don’t follow a cardinal direction are something else, usually Drives. The pattern breaks down in the suburbs but holds for all of Salt Lake proper.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: MNHighwayMan on October 31, 2019, 11:04:46 AM
Des Moines is largely like this, with streets being N/S and avenues are E/W. It's not a hard rule though, especially downtown where almost everything is a "street."
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: SP Cook on October 31, 2019, 12:01:06 PM
In Huntington, WV, avenues rune parallel to the river, and thus roughly E-W; while streets run towards and away from it, and thus N-S.   Avenues begin at the river and go up.  Streets start at a single 1st street and count away from it in the opposite order. Streets in the west half of town get a W added to the end.  There is only one 1st St, so, thus 2nd St and 2nd St W are two block apart, 10 St. and 10 St W are 20 blocks apart, and so on.  The address of any location can be determined by simple math, such as 326 3rd St would be between 3rd and 4th avenues on 3rd St.  On the west side of town, the avenues change from number to the presidents, and because of geography, 4th becomes Washington, and so on, but you can still determine any address by knowing the presidents up to Van Buren, remembering to add 4, and that the second Adams is skipped. 

Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Roadwarriors79 on October 31, 2019, 12:44:47 PM
Tucson AZ. Avenues run N/S and streets run E/W.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Rothman on October 31, 2019, 12:48:38 PM
Quote from: US 89 on October 31, 2019, 10:44:33 AM
In Salt Lake City, named Streets run N/S and Avenues run E/W, and streets that don't follow a cardinal direction are something else, usually Drives. The pattern breaks down in the suburbs but holds for all of Salt Lake proper.
Do the major streets (1st, 2nd, 3rd...North, South, East, West...) officially have a suffix?
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: GaryV on October 31, 2019, 02:04:40 PM
In Grand Rapids MI, streets run EW and avenues NS.  Of course there's a few other names, such as roads (especially the Mile Roads) boulevards (not necessarily divided), drives and courts.

Some run on diagonals, just as various highways do, and their more prominent direction determines if they are a street or avenue.  And if something bends significantly on one end - see Coit Ave - it maintains the name given on the major portion.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Bruce on October 31, 2019, 02:23:09 PM
In Seattle, avenues are north-south and streets are east-west. Usually  the exceptions are given a separate suffix, like Way (for grid breakers), or Boulevard.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: michravera on October 31, 2019, 03:20:11 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 31, 2019, 09:39:15 AM
NYC under the Commissioners Plan of 1812 set up the current situation where in Manhattan, all avenues run N-S and all streets run E-W.

I noticed that in Orlando, FL as well and recently noticed that in Marion County, FL as well.  It seems like a good idea as there is some consistency.

In Washington, DC we have numbered streets go  N-S and lettered streets run E-W, but nonetheless a consistency as well.   In St. Pete, FL you have the streets run N-S, and avenues E-W.

What places near you have some sort of descriptor change to reflect the cardinal direction of the street grids?

In Sacramento, it is true for numbers. Lettered streets precede the Avenues, so cross streets at first avenue have a 2600 address.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: US 89 on October 31, 2019, 05:14:47 PM
Quote from: Rothman on October 31, 2019, 12:48:38 PM
Quote from: US 89 on October 31, 2019, 10:44:33 AM
In Salt Lake City, named Streets run N/S and Avenues run E/W, and streets that don’t follow a cardinal direction are something else, usually Drives. The pattern breaks down in the suburbs but holds for all of Salt Lake proper.
Do the major streets (1st, 2nd, 3rd...North, South, East, West...) officially have a suffix?

No. You might see a few older signs/maps with a "Street" suffix added on ("2nd N St" or "700 South St"), but all the coordinate-numbered streets are officially unsuffixed.

On the other hand, the three Temple streets do officially carry a Street suffix, but it is never used in speech and is omitted from the vast majority of street signs and addresses. The only place I've ever seen it is around I-80 west of downtown on a couple of signs for "North Temple St.", all of which date from the 1980s. So I guess North and South Temple (Street) do break the pattern, but those are the only two exceptions.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: ozarkman417 on October 31, 2019, 05:30:26 PM
Springfield doesn't have any sort of numbered streets (except 9th and 11th streets, which are not the ninth and eleventh streets in any way except by name), but streets (i.e Sunshine St and Kearney St) go east-west, while avenues to north-south (i.e National Ave & Glenstone Ave). "Blvd" & "Rd" are used interchangeably.  One-Way streets are rare here, but the two major ones are Jefferson (North) & Campbell (South) through downtown.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: pianocello on October 31, 2019, 07:24:50 PM
Quote from: MNHighwayMan on October 31, 2019, 11:04:46 AM
Des Moines is largely like this, with streets being N/S and avenues are E/W. It's not a hard rule though, especially downtown where almost everything is a "street."

Exceptions to this rule in downtown DSM (which I've never been able to figure out a pattern) are 2nd Ave, 5th Ave, and 6th Ave, which all run parallel to numbered "streets".

Ames, IA has "streets" going E-W and "avenues" going N-S. No exceptions, even for minor named streets. Furthermore, on ISU campus in Ames, "roads" go N-S and "drives" go E-W, also without exception.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: 3467 on October 31, 2019, 07:39:00 PM
Monmouth Illinois. Also all go in an ABC order of a 123 except Main and Broadway. All asphalt too.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: zzcarp on October 31, 2019, 08:54:23 PM
In the Denver metro area, Avenues are east-west and streets and boulevards north-south. In the original downtown grid, numbered streets run northwest-southeast and named streets northeast-southwest.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: KeithE4Phx on October 31, 2019, 09:18:25 PM
Quote from: Roadwarriors79 on October 31, 2019, 12:44:47 PM
Tucson AZ. Avenues run N/S and streets run E/W.

And the street numbers don't follow the address grid.  Between 1st and 10th Sts, the street numbers go up, while the address numbers go down.  1st St. is at 1100N, and 10th St. is at 100N.  Broadway Blvd, which would be 11th St. if it were numbered, is the "0NS" point on the street grid.  Going south, 12th St. is 100S, and they go up from there.  I believe the highest-numbered street is 44th St.


Meanwhile, up here in Mesa, we have numbered streets that run east and west, north of Main St., in the old sections of town, west of Gilbert Rd.  Like Phoenix, numbered places (if any) follow the same-numbered streets, directly to the north.

In the newer parts of town, east of Gilbert Rd., they run north and south.  All follow the address grid, but not all north/south streets east of Gilbert are numbered.  They use both numbered and named streets, pretty much at random.

Numbered avenues run east and west, south of Main St., north of Southern, and only west of Gilbert Rd.  They follow the address grid, and only 1st thru 11th Sts are used.  Again, like Phoenix, numbered drives (if any) follow the numbered streets, directly to the south.

In the case of the east-west numbered streets and avenues, any that intersect Gilbert Rd. get names if they continue further east.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: stevashe on October 31, 2019, 11:11:02 PM
Quote from: Bruce on October 31, 2019, 02:23:09 PM
In Seattle, avenues are north-south and streets are east-west. Usually  the exceptions are given a separate suffix, like Way (for grid breakers), or Boulevard.

This actually extends to all of the King County grid as well, which (mostly) lines up with Seattle's grid. Most of the cities that have their own grid also use Avenues N/S and Streets E/W, exceptions being Kirkland which has them swapped, and Auburn, which uses lettered streets for N/S roads instead. Also, all east-west roads have their directionals before the name (i.e. NE 85th St) and all north-south roads have the directional placed after the name (i.e. 148th Ave NE) so you still can determine whether a road runs N/S or E/W even if it isn't a Street or Avenue designation.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Hot Rod Hootenanny on October 31, 2019, 11:20:37 PM
Columbus has numbered streets run N/S, while numbered avenues run W/E
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Bruce on November 01, 2019, 03:30:06 AM
Quote from: stevashe on October 31, 2019, 11:11:02 PM
Quote from: Bruce on October 31, 2019, 02:23:09 PM
In Seattle, avenues are north-south and streets are east-west. Usually  the exceptions are given a separate suffix, like Way (for grid breakers), or Boulevard.

This actually extends to all of the King County grid as well, which (mostly) lines up with Seattle's grid. Most of the cities that have their own grid also use Avenues N/S and Streets E/W, exceptions being Kirkland which has them swapped, and Auburn, which uses lettered streets for N/S roads instead. Also, all east-west roads have their directionals before the name (i.e. NE 85th St) and all north-south roads have the directional placed after the name (i.e. 148th Ave NE) so you still can determine whether a road runs N/S or E/W even if it isn't a Street or Avenue designation.

The pattern also extends to Snohomish County (where the grid is based on Everett's), but the directional is always a suffix. Pierce County generally follows the same rule, but Tacoma's grid has lettered streets that run north-south.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Brandon on November 01, 2019, 06:29:09 AM
Quote from: cabiness42 on October 31, 2019, 09:46:25 AM
In Cicero, IL, E/W roadways are streets and places, N/S roadways are avenues and courts

That's actually a continuation of the Chicago pattern of the following:
Avenues run north-south on the blocks (every eighth of a mile), i..e. 96th Avenue
Courts run north-south on the half blocks, i.e. 96th Court
Streets run east-west on the blocks, i.e. 75th Street
Places run east-west on the half blocks, i.e. 75th Place

That pattern actually continues (in rural areas, at least) to the south edge of Will County.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: tdindy88 on November 01, 2019, 08:19:35 AM
Gary, Indiana and most of Lake County follow a reverse pattern to Chicago. Avenues run east-west and streets run north-south.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Mrt90 on November 01, 2019, 10:59:19 AM
Kenosha, Wisconsin has avenues that begin at 1st Avenue at Lake Michigan and streets that begin at 1st Street at the Kenosha/Racine County Line.  I always explain it to people that it's like a spreadsheet: Avenues (and Places) are columns and Streets (and Courts) are rows, with the numbering starting at 1 and 1 in the upper right hand corner.  There are also a few Roads with names that run NE/SW (Roosevelt, Wilson, Lincoln for example) and other Roads with names that for the most part run N/S or E/W but curve enough that they don't follow the grid very well (Sheridan, Washington, Green Bay, Pershing Blvd for example). 
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: TEG24601 on November 01, 2019, 11:49:46 AM
Quote from: Bruce on October 31, 2019, 02:23:09 PM
In Seattle, avenues are north-south and streets are east-west. Usually  the exceptions are given a separate suffix, like Way (for grid breakers), or Boulevard.


And yet, somehow the city still has a Broad St. and a Broad Way (now Broadway), that do not connect.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Bruce on November 01, 2019, 01:53:57 PM
Quote from: TEG24601 on November 01, 2019, 11:49:46 AM
Quote from: Bruce on October 31, 2019, 02:23:09 PM
In Seattle, avenues are north-south and streets are east-west. Usually  the exceptions are given a separate suffix, like Way (for grid breakers), or Boulevard.


And yet, somehow the city still has a Broad St. and a Broad Way (now Broadway), that do not connect.

Broad Street should really be renamed to something else now that it's shortened. Perhaps Needle Way to help tourists find the thing.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Elm on November 02, 2019, 01:27:10 PM
In Loveland, Colorado, avenues run north-south, and streets run east-west, with some other guidelines based on length and curves:

Quote
For purposes of naming streets, the following definitions shall be used:

  • Through streets less than four hundred feet in length shall be designated as "Places."  Cul-de-sac streets shall be designated as "Courts."
  • Streets four hundred feet in length or longer, running north and south, shall be designated as "Avenues."  Streets four hundred feet in length or longer, running east and west, shall be designated as "Streets."
  • Curving streets shall be designated as "Drives"  and may be of any length.
  • A looped street may have only one name if it intersects the same street to form two tee-intersections. Looped streets shall be designated as "Circles."  (Ord. 4059 § 2, 1995; prior code § 20.26(e))

(from 12.08.040 in the city code's Title 12 (http://www.cityofloveland.org/home/showdocument?id=66); later sections also go into naming themes by area)
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: stevashe on November 02, 2019, 03:10:33 PM
Quote from: Bruce on November 01, 2019, 03:30:06 AM
Quote from: stevashe on October 31, 2019, 11:11:02 PM
Quote from: Bruce on October 31, 2019, 02:23:09 PM
In Seattle, avenues are north-south and streets are east-west. Usually  the exceptions are given a separate suffix, like Way (for grid breakers), or Boulevard.

This actually extends to all of the King County grid as well, which (mostly) lines up with Seattle's grid. Most of the cities that have their own grid also use Avenues N/S and Streets E/W, exceptions being Kirkland which has them swapped, and Auburn, which uses lettered streets for N/S roads instead. Also, all east-west roads have their directionals before the name (i.e. NE 85th St) and all north-south roads have the directional placed after the name (i.e. 148th Ave NE) so you still can determine whether a road runs N/S or E/W even if it isn't a Street or Avenue designation.

The pattern also extends to Snohomish County (where the grid is based on Everett's), but the directional is always a suffix. Pierce County generally follows the same rule, but Tacoma's grid has lettered streets that run north-south.

Actually Clark County (Vancouver, WA area) has this as well, but they do the opposite of Snohomish County and always put the directional as a prefix.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: rlb2024 on November 02, 2019, 03:41:38 PM
In Memphis streets run N-S and avenues run E-W.  And street addresses have nothing to do with blocks – they are distance from the dividing lines between north and south or east and west.  The house numbers on the block I grew up started at 570 and ended at 652, and the difference between house numbers was either 4, 6, or 8 depending on the width of the lot the house sat on.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Revive 755 on November 02, 2019, 10:32:06 PM
Coralville, IA:  Streets run E-W, Avenues run N-S
Cedar Rapids, IA:  Streets run N-S, Avenues run either E-W or SW-NE depending upon the part of town
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: DJ Particle on November 05, 2019, 05:59:28 AM
Minneapolis follows this for the most part.  S and SE have mostly Streets E-W and Avenues N-S.  NE is the reverse.  And in N Minneapolis, just about *everything* is an Avenue.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: marleythedog on November 09, 2019, 06:50:02 PM
The core grid of Sidney, Ohio has avenues N-S (including Main Ave instead of Main St) and streets E-W. It doesn't extend to the 20th century suburban-style development, however.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: KeithE4Phx on November 09, 2019, 09:30:21 PM
Quote from: tdindy88 on November 01, 2019, 08:19:35 AM
Gary, Indiana and most of Lake County follow a reverse pattern to Chicago. Avenues run east-west and streets run north-south.

The north/south streets in Gary and Merrillville (same street grid) are not numbered, though.  The east/west avenues are.

And that only applies to Gary and Merrillville.  Hammond's and Whiting's (also same grid) numbered streets are the same as in Chicago, but addresses lop off the leading "1."  For example, 7500 Calumet Ave. is at the corner of 175th St. and Calumet.  There are no "West" streets; the "0 point" is the state line, and address numbers increase to the east.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: jakeroot on November 10, 2019, 04:43:10 AM
Tacoma is a bit weird. Everything is a street, except important roads (6th Ave, Pacific Ave, Sprague Ave, Puyallup Ave, Tacoma Ave, Fawcett Ave, Yakima Ave, etc).

In the north end, the grid literally gets squished to the point where 6th Ave, which is parallel/in-between S 7th St and N 7th St, becomes the dividing line between the north and south edges of the city. The only sections of the city with house numbers between 1 and 599 are in a triangle between Division Ave and 6th Ave (with Division coming straight out of 6th Ave, about 20 blocks from the edge of the city. It's really quite weird, and it needs to be seen on a map (https://www.google.com/maps/@47.2596079,-122.452255,15.5z) to make any sense.

I think this style would work poorly if more numbered streets were used. But, north-south streets are all named or have letters, so it's fine in practice.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Ned Weasel on November 10, 2019, 04:07:55 PM
It's kind of fun trying to explain the Kansas City metro area's street grid and naming/numbering conventions:

In the center city--Kansas City, MO--numbered streets run east-west.  Named roads with varying suffixes run north-south.  The numbers start on the north side of downtown, and going south, they increment every 1/16 mile until somewhere in the 20s, at which point they increment every 1/8 mile.  Going north, they seem to increment at 1/8-mile intervals, but I don't even know where the numbered streets start on the northern side, because the grid is interrupted by North Kansas City, which is a separate city and has numbered avenues that run east-west.  The Kansas City, MO grid system using numbered streets at 1/8-mile increments extends over Jackson, Platte, Clay, and Cass Counties in Missouri, and into Johnson and Miami Counties in Kansas.  I'm not sure if it extends beyond any of those counties.  And a numbered road that is aligned between two numbered streets is called a Terrace.  Then there's Kansas City, Kansas, where numbered streets run north-south, starting on the east side of downtown KCK, and they also increment at 1/8-mile intervals.  However, there are numbered avenues in the southeastern portion of KCK, in order to extend KCMO's street numbers into KCK.  This gets confusing at the Wyandotte-Johnson county line, where Wyandotte County names it County Line Road, but Johnson County names it 47th Street.  Frankly, I think it would be better for Johnson County to just adopt the avenue suffix for that street if it wants to use the number.  And I say this because the convergence of the two grid systems results in an intersection of two different 47th Streets (Kansas City, Kansas's 47th Street turns into Antioch Road south of the county line).  The Kansas City, KS grid system extends across Wyandotte and Leavenworth Counties in Kansas.

Simple, right?  Now let me explain Wichita's grid system (and maybe some of the people here who are more familiar with Wichita could explain the historical reasoning behind this)!  At first glance, in the more central parts of the city, it seems very similar to the grid system Kansas City, MO uses south of downtown.  Numbered streets run east-west, and they increment at 1/8 mile intervals, going both north and south of Douglas Avenue.  Named roads of varying suffixes run north-south.  Going north, Douglas Avenue is the 0 point of the street numbering (although Central Avenue appears to be the 5 point, and is there even a 4th Street?), but going south, Douglas Avenue appears to be the 3 point (and I had to look closely at a map to notice this), but the east-west numbered streets don't start in the southern direction until well south of Douglas Avenue, anyway; named streets are used instead.  And similar to Kansas City, MO, Wichita has named roads with varying suffixes running north-south, until you get somewhere east of Greenwich Road and about a mile west of Maize Road!  On the outer edges of the city, you have numbered streets running in both directions.  They are differentiated with a directional suffix indicating their geographical relationship to the center of the city.  For example, on the eastern side of Wichita, there is an intersection between 13th Street North and 127th Street East, and on the western side, there is an intersection between 13th Street North and 119th Street West.  However, the north-south numbered streets increment in 1/16-mile intervals instead of 1/8.  In fact, this is identical to the way grid-based address numbers increment in Johnson County, with the exception of part of Olathe.

And then there's Topeka, where numbered streets run east-west, except for major east-west roadways, which are called avenues.  And, again, north-south roads are named with varying suffixes.

So, as much as some of us would probably like a nice, clean grid system where streets run in one direction, and avenues run in the other, metro Kansas City, Wichita, and Topeka all decided against that at some point in history.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Terry on November 24, 2019, 03:01:32 AM
Many urban places in Alberta use the street/avenue grid system (with streets running either N/S or E/W and avenues the opposite). The exceptions are roads that don't fully follow a grid or are curvy. Then they're referred to other road terms, like Road, Trail, Drive, etc. Most of roads are numbered according to where the quadrant center is. In Edmonton, numbering started at 101 St. and 101 Ave. downtown, with numbers increasing to the north and west, putting the quadrant center well to the southeast. In Calgary, the quadrant center is at Centre St. and Center Ave., just about on the south bank of the Bow River, in the downtown area.

The increments between each street and avenue is dependant on how each subdivision was done within a quarter-section (Alberta Township System) or a settlement plan (mostly surveyed using the river lot subdivision idea).
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Big John on April 02, 2024, 09:23:20 AM
Bump for the City of Bismarck had an official April Fool's day notice it was switching the street and avenue designations.
https://www.bismarcknd.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=8290
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: SEWIGuy on April 02, 2024, 09:39:06 AM
Moline and Rock Island Illinois both have numbered streets going north/south, and numbered avenues going east/west.

Furthermore, the cities lie next to one another east/west and oftentimes the numbered avenues don't match. For instance, 18th Avenue in Rock Island becomes 19th Avenue in Moline. Not even a jog in the street - all you do is cross a city line.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: elsmere241 on April 02, 2024, 11:05:59 AM
Quote from: US 89 on October 31, 2019, 10:44:33 AMIn Salt Lake City, named Streets run N/S and Avenues run E/W, and streets that don't follow a cardinal direction are something else, usually Drives. The pattern breaks down in the suburbs but holds for all of Salt Lake proper.

And some E/W streets are "Place", and N/S streets "Court".  Places and Courts aren't very common.

One exception is Market Street, which runs east-west.  It was part of Post Office Place - that post office is now a courthouse.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Rick Powell on April 02, 2024, 12:44:31 PM
Quote from: Brandon on November 01, 2019, 06:29:09 AMThat's actually a continuation of the Chicago pattern of the following:
Avenues run north-south on the blocks (every eighth of a mile), i..e. 96th Avenue
Courts run north-south on the half blocks, i.e. 96th Court
Streets run east-west on the blocks, i.e. 75th Street
Places run east-west on the half blocks, i.e. 75th Place

That pattern actually continues (in rural areas, at least) to the south edge of Will County.

There are a few exceptions in Chicago. Halsted Street is north-south, but is the primary exception. Several avenues including North, Chicago, Fullerton, Foster, Lawrence, Touhy and Belmont Avenues are east-west (and notably all are north of Madison Street, the "0th Street" of the otherwise numbered streets of the south side). Actually, 8th Street is the first street south of Madison that is commonly referred to by a number.

Yes, it's weird being out in southern Will County and driving around the cornfields of 30000 South Ridgeland Avenue like it was a Chicago street.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Hunty2022 on April 02, 2024, 01:19:09 PM
Part of the Virginia Beach Oceanfront does this. They do Avenues going North-South, and Streets are East-West.

The avenues start on the east with Atlantic Ave, then Pacific, Baltic, and Mediterranean.
Streets start south with 1st, and go north past 40th.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: jlam on April 02, 2024, 01:33:02 PM
Most of the cities around here follow this pattern. Some (like Greeley) are numbered for both avenues and streets, but others (like Eaton) are only numbered for one and named for the other.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Streetman on April 03, 2024, 02:32:16 PM
Quote from: roadman65 on October 31, 2019, 09:39:15 AMNYC under the Commissioners Plan of 1812 set up the current situation where in Manhattan, all avenues run N-S and all streets run E-W.
...
In the outer boroughs: The Bronx generally continues the Manhattan system, although "north", as in Manhattan, is closer to north-northeast.
Queens street grids go at all kinds of directions. Avenues always run closer to east-west. Where needed there are Roads and Drives between consecutive numbered Avenues. North-south run Streets, with Places and Lanes where needed.
Brooklyn also has grids at different angles, but within each neighborhood, Streets and Avenues are perpendicular to each other.
Staten Island doesn't seem to have a system, with many neighborhoods having Avenues crossing each other.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: jakeroot on April 03, 2024, 10:41:54 PM
Quote from: Big John on April 02, 2024, 09:23:20 AMBump for the City of Bismarck had an official April Fool's day notice it was switching the street and avenue designations.
https://www.bismarcknd.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=8290

This is great, I love that it's just a picture of someone laughing at us. Like it wasn't some huge, long essay about studies, or anything believable. Just a picture of someone laughing at us, under the title.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: KCRoadFan on April 03, 2024, 11:52:04 PM
Miami's numbered street grid comes to mind: "Streets" run east-west, with Flagler Street being the north-south baseline, while "Avenues" run north-south, with Miami Avenue being the east-west baseline.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: LilianaUwU on April 04, 2024, 02:26:06 AM
The Limoilou and Charlesbourg neighborhoods of Québec City have such a grid. Avenues go north-south, streets go east-west.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: JCinSummerfield on April 04, 2024, 01:21:20 PM
Not a city, but in Lenawee County, Michigan, everything running N-S is a Highway; and everything running E-W is a Road.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Dirt Roads on April 04, 2024, 11:38:31 PM
Nitro, West Virginia is long and thin (similar to Huntington, but much smaller) and the avenues run the long arc parallel to the Kanawha River, and the streets run perpendicular to the avenues.  There's only three main avenues [north] of the railroad tracks, aptly named First, Second and Third.  But there is a hodge-podge of avenues between the railroad tracks and the river, some of which are very short. 

Not everything follows those "rules", as there is "River Lane" that makes a bend from parallel to streets then parallel to avenues.  Worse, "Lock Avenue" starts out parallel to streets (headed to the old Lock #7 location) and then finally turns northward parallel to the other avenues. 

Down in the East Nitro section near the St. Albans bridge, there are a handful of doodads running parallel to the streets: Erwin Drive, Martins Court, Reeves Drive, Gravely Drive, Helens Court and further down, Jordan Place.  They have a Locust Street on the river side, which lines up with Locust Avenue on the hill side (crossing First Avenue), but that turns south and becomes Okey Avenue parallel to First Avenue.  Main Avenue also turns and becomes Blackwood Avenue, running parallel to the streets.  But the dealbreaker in the East Nitro section is River Avenue that runs entirely parallel to the streets.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Road Hog on April 04, 2024, 11:57:52 PM
Atkins, AR decided long ago to create quadrants and designate avenues as N-S and streets as E-W. The local newspaper is located at 204 Ave. 1 NE, which used to be Dover Street before the big redesignation.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Quillz on April 05, 2024, 01:01:13 AM
The SF Valley as a whole is like this. Avenues are north-south, streets are east-west. 
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Ketchup99 on April 06, 2024, 10:58:32 PM
Pittsburgh mostly isn't like this - generally, avenues are major roads connecting multiple neighborhoods, while streets are less important and usually stay in one neighborhood. However, there are a few places where this trend doesn't hold. Downtown, for instance, has north-south streets and east-west avenues, but downtown is a mix of two grids (one parallel to the Allegheny, and one parallel to the Monongahela). In the Strip District, though, avenues exclusively run NE-SW, while streets run SE-NW.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: Bickendan on April 07, 2024, 01:56:44 AM
Quote from: stevashe on November 02, 2019, 03:10:33 PM
Quote from: Bruce on November 01, 2019, 03:30:06 AM
Quote from: stevashe on October 31, 2019, 11:11:02 PM
Quote from: Bruce on October 31, 2019, 02:23:09 PMIn Seattle, avenues are north-south and streets are east-west. Usually  the exceptions are given a separate suffix, like Way (for grid breakers), or Boulevard.

This actually extends to all of the King County grid as well, which (mostly) lines up with Seattle's grid. Most of the cities that have their own grid also use Avenues N/S and Streets E/W, exceptions being Kirkland which has them swapped, and Auburn, which uses lettered streets for N/S roads instead. Also, all east-west roads have their directionals before the name (i.e. NE 85th St) and all north-south roads have the directional placed after the name (i.e. 148th Ave NE) so you still can determine whether a road runs N/S or E/W even if it isn't a Street or Avenue designation.

The pattern also extends to Snohomish County (where the grid is based on Everett's), but the directional is always a suffix. Pierce County generally follows the same rule, but Tacoma's grid has lettered streets that run north-south.

Actually Clark County (Vancouver, WA area) has this as well, but they do the opposite of Snohomish County and always put the directional as a prefix.
Likely to match Portland's system and more or less try to sync up with the Eastside's numbered avenues (SE 164th Ave in Clark County is offset from NE 162nd Ave in Multnomah County, and SE 192nd Ave more or less lines up with NE 181st Ave, but as I-205 is the only nearby bridge, one could squint looking at the map and see how everything could line up if more crossings existed).

Only Gresham, Troutdale, Camas, and Washougal swap the N-S Avenues and E-W Streets of greater Portland/Vancouver, overlaying their own grid on top of the Metro grid. Hillsboro overlaps and meshes its grid on Portland's, using the same scheme for numbered Avenues, going from N/SW 335th Ave to N/SW 17th Ave counting down to 1st, then back up to N/SW 75th, with some named roads like Century Blvd formerly being SE 231st/NE 229th Avenues before Portland's kicks back in at N/SE 218th just past Cornelius Pass Rd.
Title: Re: Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another
Post by: bzakharin on April 17, 2024, 03:32:07 PM
A section of Camden and Pennsauken, NJ do something like this. It's odd that it crosses municipal lines, but does not constitute the majority of either city. The section is between the Delaware River to the northwest, the Cooper River to the southwest, Browning Road to the northeast, and the railroad which carries the River Line and freight trains to the southeast.

The pattern is that avenues parallel the Delaware River (roughly SW to NE) and numbered streets (16th through 49th) are perpendicular to them. There are exceptions, though. Roads between consecutively numbered streets can be streets or avenues, and there are a few streets mixed in with the avenues.

Bayonne, NJ has a more orderly grid. The lettered avenues are parallel to the Newark Bay (southwest to northeast), and go from A to F, with named avenues in between when needed, and numbered streets perpendicular to them from 1st to 58th, again with named streets in between when needed.

Another such grid is in nearby Union City, continuing into parts of West New York, Guttenberg, and North Bergen, where avenues parallel the Hudson River and streets are perpendicular to them. The numbered streets go from 2nd to 95th, while avenues are named except in a small section of North Bergen which has 1st through 5th Avenues.