Looking at maps of various cities in Texas, one thing I've noticed is that "Commerce Street" seems to be a common street name in that state - it appears in Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston, as well as a number of smaller towns. On the other hand, I can't really think of any cities outside Texas that have a Commerce Street - I'm sure there are some towns with one, but it's nowhere near as common in other states.
That led me to wonder: throughout the country, where have you seen street names that seems to appear disproportionately more commonly in certain states compared to others?
In Indiana, Lincoln and Michigan are common due to the old Lincoln Hwy and Michigan Rd.
Both exist in South Bend and Plymouth, where the Michigan Rd intersects the two main routings of the Lincoln Hwy.
Genesee in New York State especially in Rochester, Syracuse,and Buffalo
"Dixie" is pretty common in cities along I-75, as it parallels the former Dixie Highway.
There are more Center Streets in Utah than anywhere else I know of, as that's one of the axis street names in a typical town based on a Mormon grid. (Main Street is the other, but that's not exactly an unusual name.)
There are also a good amount of State Streets, most probably named in imitation of the one in SLC that forms the main north-south backbone of the Salt Lake Valley.
Of course, the coordinate-named streets ("400 South", "7th East", etc.) pretty much don't exist outside of Utah and eastern Idaho.
Peachtree in Georgia.
Quote from: US 89 on April 27, 2022, 10:11:32 PM
Of course, the coordinate-named streets ("400 South", "7th East", etc.) pretty much don't exist outside of Utah and eastern Idaho.
They are also found in Indiana.
Quote from: Big John on April 27, 2022, 10:14:16 PM
Quote from: US 89 on April 27, 2022, 10:11:32 PM
Of course, the coordinate-named streets ("400 South", "7th East", etc.) pretty much don't exist outside of Utah and eastern Idaho.
They are also found in Indiana.
That's a good point. I always forget about those because they aren't used the same way (the Indiana ones count off miles and section line roads rather than blocks in a town center).
"Maine St" in Maine
WI: streets named after Native nations, such as Flambeau and Oneida
Quote from: KCRoadFan on April 27, 2022, 09:45:03 PM
Looking at maps of various cities in Texas, one thing I've noticed is that "Commerce Street" seems to be a common street name in that state - it appears in Dallas, San Antonio, and Houston, as well as a number of smaller towns. On the other hand, I can't really think of any cities outside Texas that have a Commerce Street - I'm sure there are some towns with one, but it's nowhere near as common in other states.
Oklahoma City has one–it's the main street of the Capitol Hill neighborhood (which isn't anywhere near the state capitol). Confusingly, Google shows it as SW 25th Street, as do addresses painted on buildings in the area, though it's clearly signed as Commerce.
Anything that has a name of a County in California is very common. Roads carrying the name "Carson" are also very commonplace.
Quote from: roadman65 on April 27, 2022, 10:06:31 PM
Genesee in New York State especially in Rochester, Syracuse,and Buffalo
Same with Erie, especially where the canal was filled in and the road built on top.
Euclid Ave/St/Rd/etc. seems to be common in OH
Palmetto in South Carolina. I'm sure it's used frequently in Florida as well
In my area, Salem Street and Lowell Street seem to be very common. As you get closer to the Merrimack Valley, Shawsheen seems to be more common.
Perhaps unsurprisingly since he was from Virginia, we have a lot of streets named Lee (both Street or Avenue) around the Commonwealth, including Lee—Jackson Memorial Highway (which is proposed for renaming, most likely to Little River Turnpike to continue said route's march west to the actual Little River area).
IL: Main
[/sarc]
Quote from: kphoger on April 28, 2022, 10:28:48 AM
IL: Main
[/sarc]
Not Hill Street given that is the most prominent feature in said state?
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 28, 2022, 10:32:04 AM
Quote from: kphoger on April 28, 2022, 10:28:48 AM
IL: Main
[/sarc]
Not Hill Street given that is the most prominent feature in said state?
Check out this hill on Hill Avenue in DuPage County: https://goo.gl/maps/FG7ie7zmndxSAZ8SA
[/sarc]
A lot of streets in the north named after William Tecumseh Sherman.
Not so many in the south.
Quote from: kphoger on April 28, 2022, 10:44:41 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 28, 2022, 10:32:04 AM
Quote from: kphoger on April 28, 2022, 10:28:48 AM
IL: Main
[/sarc]
Not Hill Street given that is the most prominent feature in said state?
Check out this hill on Hill Avenue in DuPage County: https://goo.gl/maps/FG7ie7zmndxSAZ8SA
[/sarc]
You'd definitely would need to shift to 1st gear to get down that without burning up your brakes.
What about streets named after a certain railroad? Is there a state where, for example, Burlington is especially common? or Santa Fe?
Quote from: kphoger on April 28, 2022, 10:56:06 AM
What about streets named after a certain railroad? Is there a state where, for example, Burlington is especially common? or Santa Fe?
Santa Fe names roads are incredibly common along the BNSF line in the Central Valley of California. I've seen a couple "Atchison" names roads as well.
Not so much in the state, but in the region: "Front Street" in a grid as a substitute for "First Street"; "Market Street" in place of "Main Street" for an axis.
When Nashville, Tennessee was laid out, its north-south streets were named for streets in Philadelphia, with Broad Street as the axis. Broad Street is now Broadway, Front Street is now First Avenue, and Market Street (also called Main Street on some maps) is now Second Avenue. The other north-south streets were changed to numbered avenues as well.
Quote from: kphoger on April 28, 2022, 10:56:06 AM
What about streets named after a certain railroad? Is there a state where, for example, Burlington is especially common? or Santa Fe?
Streets named Frisco are common in towns where the Frisco line used to run. These Frisco streets are most common in S. MO and N. AR, but can also be seen in places like Tulsa or Yukon in OK, and, of course, the one town in Texas named after said railroad.
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 27, 2022, 11:27:31 PM
Anything that has a name of a County in California is very common. Roads carrying the name "Carson" are also very commonplace.
Many of the old Spanish mission, city, and (later) county names get reused a lot -- of course, that was true even at the time of the Spanish settlements. There's an area inland from Ventura that some people call the "Santa Clara Valley" because the Santa Clara River runs through it, while in most of the state that would refer to the San Jose area (because of the mission, city, and county named Santa Clara).
For some reason, "Santa Rosa" strikes me as especially popular, with or without any connection to the city of that name.
Quote from: GaryA on April 28, 2022, 11:37:40 AM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on April 27, 2022, 11:27:31 PM
Anything that has a name of a County in California is very common. Roads carrying the name "Carson" are also very commonplace.
Many of the old Spanish mission, city, and (later) county names get reused a lot -- of course, that was true even at the time of the Spanish settlements. There's an area inland from Ventura that some people call the "Santa Clara Valley" because the Santa Clara River runs through it, while in most of the state that would refer to the San Jose area (because of the mission, city, and county named Santa Clara).
For some reason, "Santa Rosa" strikes me as especially popular, with or without any connection to the city of that name.
There is a lot of Spanish road names floating around, El Camino Real is just the tip if a very large iceberg.
Quote from: ozarkman417 on April 28, 2022, 11:22:56 AM
Quote from: kphoger on April 28, 2022, 10:56:06 AM
What about streets named after a certain railroad? Is there a state where, for example, Burlington is especially common? or Santa Fe?
Streets named Frisco are common in towns where the Frisco line used to run. These Frisco streets are most common in S. MO and N. AR, but can also be seen in places like Tulsa or Yukon in OK, and, of course, the one town in Texas named after said railroad.
This prompted me to look for roads named "Frisco" in San Francisco, given how that city's residents are known to dislike said nickname for their city. Couldn't find any.
Quote from: roadman65 on April 27, 2022, 10:06:31 PM
Genesee in New York State especially in Rochester, Syracuse,and Buffalo
Utica's Genesee Street is very prominent, really the city's main street (as opposed to Main Street (https://www.google.com/maps/@43.1032318,-75.22011,17z), which is tiny). Albany has one too (https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6695733,-73.7397334,3a,39.2y,323.86h,86.84t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sHF6bisbi4097WoyPL25rHA!2e0!6shttps:%2F%2Fstreetviewpixels-pa.googleapis.com%2Fv1%2Fthumbnail%3Fpanoid%3DHF6bisbi4097WoyPL25rHA%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D76.41603%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192), but it's tiny (so in Main Street (https://www.google.com/maps/@42.6722858,-73.7363889,18.5z), for that matter).
Quote from: kphoger on April 28, 2022, 10:56:06 AM
What about streets named after a certain railroad? Is there a state where, for example, Burlington is especially common? or Santa Fe?
Indeed. We have Seaboard Street in Charlote, Raleigh, Goldsboro, Hamlet, Apex, Bladenboro, Creedmoor, Hoffman and Vass. There is also Seaboard Street/Seaboard Road in Rockingham, and another short Seaboard Road in Ellenboro that's perpendicular to the railroad. And there's a Seaboard Drive in Matthews. And a Seaboard Avenue in Monroe. Not to mention that there is a town named Seaboard in Northampton County.
Not quite as convincing about its railroad roots, there are Southern Drives in Durham, Asheboro, Dudley, Efland, Hendersonville, Randleman and Waxhaw. There a Southern Street in Kernersville and Selma, as well as a Southern Avenue in Dunn. There is Southern Road in Sanford and Stokesdale. As best as I can tell, the Southern operated in each of these locations.
More of a hyper-local example, but in Findlay Ohio and in several surrounding small villages, "Main Cross Street" is common. It's usually a main road that crosses "Main Street" near the center of town.
MAP: https://goo.gl/maps/Uv31vC4nABFfmZL16
Here's a nationwide list (but from 1993): https://www.nlc.org/resource/most-common-u-s-street-names/
I used this question for California in our trivia group and remember Redwood and Cypress making the top 10.
"Outer Road" in Missouri. It doesn't mean what you think it means until you know what it means.
"Kansas Avenue" in Kansas. A bit narcissistic, are we?
Quote from: thspfc on April 27, 2022, 10:42:58 PM
WI: streets named after Native nations, such as Flambeau and Oneida
Wisconsin also has a lot of streets, towns, etc named after early settlers. Doty, Juneau, and Dodge are fairly common names around parts of the state. Plenty of street references to early explorers Marquette and Nicolet in exist in Wisconsin and neighboring states including the Marquette Interchange in Milwaukee.
Quote from: Ned Weasel on May 07, 2022, 06:21:37 AM
"Outer Road" in Missouri. It doesn't mean what you think it means until you know what it means.
"Kansas Avenue" in Kansas. A bit narcissistic, are we?
Also, Texas Avenue in Texas, Colorado Avenue in Colorado, and Michigan Avenue in Michigan.
I suspect that I've done this one before, but it goes again.
An odd eponym is West Virginia Avenue throughout the state. These are located in Clarksburg, Dunbar, Martinsburg, Morgantown, Nutter Fort, Parkersburg and Weston. Plus a West Virginia Street in Beckley and Ridgeley. As opposed to Virginia Avenue West (sometimes W. Virginia Avenue) in Huntington and St. Albans and Virginia Street West (never supposed to be W. Virginia Street) in Charleston. Streets named Virginia Avenue are also located in Fairmont, Follansbee, Harpers Ferry, Hurricane, Martinsburg, Petersburg, Summit Point and Welch (and probably a bunch of other small towns). Other towns with Virginia Street are Keyser and Sistersville. Add to all of that Virginia Avenue SE in Kanawha City, which is part of the city of Charleston, with the southeast as a cardinal direction to help avoid confusion with Virginia Street on the East Side, West Side and Downtown.
Of course, there are both Virginia Avenue and West Virginia Avenue in Washington, D.C. No confusion there with adding cardinal directions, as the streets are labeled for their quadrants (NE, SE, SW and NW). Not sure if West Virginia Avenue or West Virginia Street (named after the 35th State) appears anywhere else in these United States.
Quote from: Dirt Roads on May 13, 2022, 11:55:16 AM
I suspect that I've done this one before, but it goes again.
An odd eponym is West Virginia Avenue throughout the state. These are located in Clarksburg, Dunbar, Martinsburg, Morgantown, Nutter Fort, Parkersburg and Weston. Plus a West Virginia Street in Beckley and Ridgeley. As opposed to Virginia Avenue West (sometimes W. Virginia Avenue) in Huntington and St. Albans and Virginia Street West (never supposed to be W. Virginia Street) in Charleston. Streets named Virginia Avenue are also located in Fairmont, Follansbee, Harpers Ferry, Hurricane, Martinsburg, Petersburg, Summit Point and Welch (and probably a bunch of other small towns). Other towns with Virginia Street are Keyser and Sistersville. Add to all of that Virginia Avenue SE in Kanawha City, which is part of the city of Charleston, with the southeast as a cardinal direction to help avoid confusion with Virginia Street on the East Side, West Side and Downtown.
Of course, there are both Virginia Avenue and West Virginia Avenue in Washington, D.C. No confusion there with adding cardinal directions, as the streets are labeled for their quadrants (NE, SE, SW and NW). Not sure if West Virginia Avenue or West Virginia Street (named after the 35th State) appears anywhere else in these United States.
Just curious if any of the West Virginia Streets or Avenues have a directional component like East West Virginia Avenue. Could be lots of fun for locals to confuse out-of-towners.
In Massachusetts, many towns and cities have street names on roads leading to a neighboring town (Watertown St, Needham st, etc.). Washington Street is another one.
Streets named 'Wisconsin' (Ave, Rd, St, etc) are pretty common here in Wisconsin. Appleton has a Wisconsin Ave, Wisconsin Pl and a Wisconsin Rd.
Mike
Quote from: Dirt Roads on May 13, 2022, 11:55:16 AM
I suspect that I've done this one before, but it goes again.
An odd eponym is West Virginia Avenue throughout the state. These are located in Clarksburg, Dunbar, Martinsburg, Morgantown, Nutter Fort, Parkersburg and Weston. Plus a West Virginia Street in Beckley and Ridgeley. As opposed to Virginia Avenue West (sometimes W. Virginia Avenue) in Huntington and St. Albans and Virginia Street West (never supposed to be W. Virginia Street) in Charleston. Streets named Virginia Avenue are also located in Fairmont, Follansbee, Harpers Ferry, Hurricane, Martinsburg, Petersburg, Summit Point and Welch (and probably a bunch of other small towns). Other towns with Virginia Street are Keyser and Sistersville. Add to all of that Virginia Avenue SE in Kanawha City, which is part of the city of Charleston, with the southeast as a cardinal direction to help avoid confusion with Virginia Street on the East Side, West Side and Downtown.
Of course, there are both Virginia Avenue and West Virginia Avenue in Washington, D.C. No confusion there with adding cardinal directions, as the streets are labeled for their quadrants (NE, SE, SW and NW). Not sure if West Virginia Avenue or West Virginia Street (named after the 35th State) appears anywhere else in these United States.
Quote from: skluth on May 14, 2022, 12:21:40 AM
Just curious if any of the West Virginia Streets or Avenues have a directional component like East West Virginia Avenue. Could be lots of fun for locals to confuse out-of-towners.
Those kind of things really get my Roadgeek juices rolling, so yes I was looking for them and no I didn't find any. But West Virginia Avenue in the District of Columbia is entirely in the southeast, so it gets signed as West Virginia Avenue SE. There's a bunch of streets named Virginia Avenue and Virginia Street in the Old Commonwealth itself, and some of them add the cardinal direction East. I could only find a few of those: West Virginia Avenue in Crewe and a West Virginia Street in South Hill. An oddity here is that West Virginia Street is offset from East Virginia Street in South Hill, so that the former [could be] named after the breakaway state. By the way, this Virginia Avenue is the main drag on US-460/VA-49 in downtown Crewe. Plus, there is a real West Virginia Avenue in Virginia Beach, and it is definitely named after the Mountain State because it is right next door to (ugh) S Kentucky Avenue. So technically, that should be S West Virginia Avenue (but there are only two houses on each side of those streets, so no reason to confuse anybody else there).
Quote from: Ted$8roadFan on May 14, 2022, 12:29:33 PM
In Massachusetts, many towns and cities have street names on roads leading to a neighbori g town (Watertown St, Needham st, etc.). Washington Street is another one.
Neighboring.
Michigan's most common street names are Maple, Park, Lake, Pine, Oak, Cedar, 2nd, Lakeview, 1st, Birch. There are over 400 streets in Michigan named Maple though.
Here's a list of the ten most common street names in each state (ignoring suffixes Street, Avenue, Road, etc.):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/03/06/these-are-the-most-popular-street-names-in-every-state/
Couple trends: Ten most common names in Florida are numeric First through Tenth, though mostly not in order. No numeric names among the top ten in any New England state and a few others.
Lists of most common names in each state including suffixes and showing which cities have such a street:
https://streetnamesearch.com/most-common-street-names/#states
Quote from: Streetman on August 12, 2023, 09:53:48 AM
Here's a list of the ten most common street names in each state (ignoring suffixes Street, Avenue, Road, etc.):
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2015/03/06/these-are-the-most-popular-street-names-in-every-state/
Couple trends: Ten most common names in Florida are numeric First through Tenth, though mostly not in order. No numeric names among the top ten in any New England state and a few others.
Lists of most common names in each state including suffixes and showing which cities have such a street:
https://streetnamesearch.com/most-common-street-names/#states
Very inaccurate list, there were numerous listed street names that exist in my hometown (Appleton, WI) that were not shown as being in Appleton.
Mike
I'm sure the name of the state is a common street name in a state. For example, Pennsylvania Avenue would be a common name in Pennsylvania.
Quote from: Dough4872 on August 12, 2023, 06:44:26 PM
I'm sure the name of the state is a common street name in a state. For example, Pennsylvania Avenue would be a common name in Pennsylvania.
Surprisingly, there's no streets named after Québec in Québec (or at least I don't believe so). But that's a
country province, not a state.
I think the reason that numbered streets are rare in the northeast is that very few streets are gridded, having largely evolved out of cenruries old cowpaths. There was never a cadastral survey of that area.
Quote from: pderocco on August 12, 2023, 07:08:36 PM
I think the reason that numbered streets are rare in the northeast is that very few streets are gridded, having largely evolved out of cenruries old cowpaths. There was never a cadastral survey of that area.
Exactly right, and for the same reason the coordinate system for assigning house numbers is rarely used, making 4-digit house numbers somewhat rare and 5-digit practically unknown.
Having lived on a similar named road in Northwestern Virginia, I submit that North Carolina is the land of the Longleaf Pine (ergo, Turpentine Trail):
- Longleaf Street, Supply NC
- Longleaf Drive, Chapel Hill NC
- Longleaf Drive, Charlotte NC
- Longleaf Drive, Fayetteville NC
- Longleaf Drive, Newport NC
- Longleaf Drive, Pinehurst NC
- Longleaf Drive, West End NC
- Longleaf Avenue, Goldsboro NC
- Longleaf Circle, Aberdeen NC
- Longleaf Circle, Cameron NC
- Longleaf Road, Aberdeen NC
- Longleaf Road, Southern Pines NC
- Longleaf Road, Southport NC
- Longleaf Place, Cary NC
- Longleaf Lane, Greenville NC
- Longleaf Lane, New Bern NC
- Longleaf Lane, Raeford NC
- Longleaf Lane, Sanford NC
- Long Leaf Lane, Goldsboro NC
- Long Leaf Lane, Plymouth NC
- Longleaf Pine Acres, Rockingham NC
- Longleaf Pine Acres, Wilmington NC
- Longleaf Pine Street, Advance NC
- Longleaf Pine Street, Clayton NC
- Longleaf Pine Street, Kinston NC
- Longleaf Pines Street, Raeford NC
- Longleaf Pine Circle, Leland NC
- Longleaf Pine Way, Sanford NC
- Longleaf Pine Place, Mebane NC
I'm sure that there are many more. Not surprisingly, many of the locations are in the Sandhills (home of the last remaining natural stand of longleaf pine).
Not so much the name itself but....in many parts of New England, common street names are towns that said street often lead to, such as Newton Street in Waltham, MA and Waltham Street in Newton, MA.