Cities where Avenues run one way and streets run another

[roadman65]

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?

[NWI_Irish96]

In Cicero, IL, E/W roadways are streets and places, N/S roadways are avenues and courts

[formulanone]

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.

[US 89]

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.

[MNHighwayMan]

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."

[SP Cook]

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. 

[Roadwarriors79]

Tucson AZ. Avenues run N/S and streets run E/W.

[Rothman]

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?

[GaryV]

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.

[Bruce]

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.

[michravera]

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.

[US 89]

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.

[ozarkman417]

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.

[pianocello]

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.

[3467]

Monmouth Illinois. Also all go in an ABC order of a 123 except Main and Broadway. All asphalt too.

[zzcarp]

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.

[KeithE4Phx]

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.

[stevashe]

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.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

Columbus has numbered streets run N/S, while numbered avenues run W/E

[Bruce]

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.

[Brandon]

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.

[tdindy88]

Gary, Indiana and most of Lake County follow a reverse pattern to Chicago. Avenues run east-west and streets run north-south.

[Mrt90]

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). 

[TEG24601]

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.

[Bruce]

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.