"Wasted" road names

[ftballfan]

Manistee, MI's Main Street is not the main street (River Street is), but Main Street was part of the original route of US-31 through Manistee

[thspfc]

I am angered whenever I see Madison's "Main St", which is just a two-lane urban arterial on the south of the capital square. Madison shouldn't even have a main because of its odd layout, but if I had to assign that name somewhere, I'd choose either East Washington or Johnson.

[stevashe]

It's especially bad for streets named after the city they are in.

Seattle Street is just a short 1,500-foot residential street in West Seattle, and its grid equivalent is "Grand Street", which is just as pointless for a prominent name.

Actually there is also Seattle Blvd, which is a main arterial near the Stadiums, however, it only runs for a couple blocks before changing names to Airport Way, so it's only slightly better.

[marleythedog]

Steubenville, Ohio appears to have a Main St that is not downtown, tucked into a residential area, and only two blocks long with a jog between blocks:

https://www.google.com/maps/@40.3592348,-80.6236181,3a,75y,250.02h,89.88t/data=!3m5!1e1!3m3!1sir7ltsk0sut2NS0za9HQjA!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3Dir7ltsk0sut2NS0za9HQjA%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D301.75342%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100

[skluth]

I am angered whenever I see Madison's "Main St", which is just a two-lane urban arterial on the south of the capital square. Madison shouldn't even have a main because of its odd layout, but if I had to assign that name somewhere, I'd choose either East Washington or Johnson.

It's actually a little over a mile, extending several blocks each side of Cap Square. Back in the day, it didn't curve at either corner of the square. That doesn't change the fact that any of several different streets would be better called Main St. I'd pick State St, but I lived in Madison before they made it a pedestrian and bus-only corridor. It may not be as significant for traffic as Washington or Johnson St, but it is the core of the business district especially if they included King St on the other side of the capitol. You are absolutely correct that it's a wasted street name.

[sparker]

Looping back to the example cited in the OP -- while somewhat idiomatic in the overall public eye, the term "Silicon Valley" tends to produce rolling eyes by local residents.  Useful in the abstract -- particularly for PR purposes or to attract investment -- but considered gauche locally, it's no wonder actual application to a facility is limited to a relatively short road decidedly not in the current developmental center (which these days lies, more or less, along CA 237).  That being said, the leading Lidar developer, Velodyne, which has contracts with most automotive manufacturers, is located along that particular parkway in SE San Jose.

[Finrod]

Not sure if this counts or not, but 1st Street in downtown Lafayette, Indiana, was all of two blocks between Main Street and South Street.  US 231 came into downtown on 4th Street which close to downtown became a one-way pair with 3rd Street.  When they built the new downtown bridge over the Wabash to West Lafayette, they got rid of 1st Street entirely.

[debragga]

Monroe, LA used to be called Fort Miro. Fort Miro Ave is a 0.5-mile long residential street on the north side of town. Seems like a waste to me.

[triplemultiplex]

"Wasted" road names; so like Bourbon Street?

[paulthemapguy]

Nobody cares about my old hometown of Oswego, Illinois.  There was ONE road named "Oswego Road" leading to it, and it stemmed from downtown Naperville, leading west-southwest.  US34 west of Naperville then replaced most of it, and instead of signing "Oswego Road" concurrently with US34, US34 carried on its defacto suburban moniker of "Ogden Avenue."  Thus, we missed out on the opportunity of having an important "Oswego Road" or "Oswego Highway."  This google map should explain it pretty well.

[michravera]

Silicon Valley Boulevard is a renamed half-mile stretch of Bernal Road between US-101 and Helleyer Avenue in southern San Jose. The road accesses a couple of industrial parks, but no notable tech firms are located there, and it is on the far southern edge of the valley, 8 miles south of downtown San Jose, and 10 miles or more from any of the real well-known tech firms (Intel, Apple, Google, etc.).

For such a well-known and important economic region, an eponymous road name like that should have a much more prominent route (compare to, say, Hollywood Boulevard, Pacific Coast Highway, etc.). For example, Alma Street/Central Expressway/De La Cruz Boulevard/Coleman Avenue connects downtown Palo Alto to downtown San Jose, passes through Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and Santa Clara, would get you within spitting distance of many of the major players in the industry, and thus would be a much more apropos route to get the "Silicon Valley" moniker.

Are there other examples of road names that are "wasted" in this manner?

North First Street would have been a better example when Silicon Valley Blvd was named.

In San Luis Obispo county, Industrial Blvd doesn't (or at least didn't) have much industry, but Tank Farm Rd did have a tank farm.

In Sacramento, Stockton, Freeport, Franklin, Fair Oaks, and Folsom Blvds both went (and to a certain extent still go) to those cities, towns, and settlements. I believe that Auburn Blvd did, at one time, go to Auburn (by what name was US-40 locally known?). Capitol Ave even goes to the Capitol!

In San Francisco, Sacramento Street doesn't go much of anywhere.

[empirestate]

I find it strange that the Genesee Streets in Buffalo, Syracuse, and Utica (none of which have the Genesee River) are among those cities' major thoroughfares – while Genesee Street in Rochester (where the Genesee River actually is) is a middling neighborhood street.

Not all that middling–it is a principal avenue through that neighborhood, and what's more it feeds right into a southward extension that follows right along the Genesee. Its own southern end is right next to its namesake river in Genesee Valley Park (to which Genesee Park Boulevard also leads).

But, true, not as prominent as Buffalo's Genesee Street, which is probably named for being a prominent route to the Genesee, an important corridor in its day.

(In fact, it may even be that Rochester's Genesee Street is named for the Genesee Valley Canal, putting it in a category with the various Erie Boulevards.)

[skluth]

There is a 1 1/2 block Main Street in Jurupa Valley, CA one block north of commercial Limonite Ave. It appears to only have homes except for a boat repair business right along Van Buren Blvd at its east end.

[Evan_Th]

Chapel Hill, NC, has a four-block "Market Street" in a subdivision at the south edge of town.  At least they renamed the one block of it that used to be "Main Street."

[roadfro]

Just saw this thread and have a couple examples for Reno, NV:

You'd think "Reno Avenue" would be a major thoroughfare. It's actually a small residential street just south of the downtown core of Reno.

Also, "Center Street" is the north/south road about one block east of Virginia Street in downtown and midtown, whereas Virginia Street is our true main street (it's the old US 395) and is also the center dividing line for E/W addressing through most of Reno.

[DJ Particle]

Add Minneapolis to the list of non-main "Main Streets".  It runs only about 8 blocks in downtown proper, and the northernmost part of it runs through mostly residential areas.  There isn't even an exit for it where it crosses I-694 (since the nearby University Ave is a far more major route), and the road is even discontinuous (no crossing at Broadway, and the train ROW kills it between 17th Ave & the St. Anthony Parkway)

The true "main" street of downtown is Nicollet Avenue, and you can't drive on it unless you're a bike, a cab, or a bus.  In 1965, the section between Grant and Washington Aves was re-named (after a major reconstruction) to "Nicollet Mall", as that's pretty much what that stretch is...an outdoor shopping mall.

[bzakharin]

Sussex Ave/Turnpike from Morristown to Randolph never went to Sussex County as far as I know. At least Middlesex-Essex Turnpike used to connect the two counties, though today it's just a few blocks serving Metropark train station in Iselin.

[Verlanka]

Main Street in Tampa might qualify.

[TheStranger]

Main Street in San Francisco's South of Market is actually a reference to someone's last name and NOT intended ever to be a "main street" in SF.  St. Francis Boulevard does lead into the St. Francis Wood neighborhood, but as the English translation of the city name, is otherwise not a main thoroughfare.

In South San Francisco, South San Francisco Drive is a sleepy residential street through the Terrabay subdivision and to one office building at Airport Boulevard (former US 101/Bypass US 101).

In Colma, Colma Boulevard is a road that basically only connects Junipero Serra Boulevard with El Camino Real (Route 82/former US 101) and primarily links to a shopping center.