A numbered street is a street whose name is an ordinal number, as in Second Street or Tenth Avenue. Such forms are among the most common street names in North America, but also exist in other parts of the world, especially in the Middle East. Numbered streets were first used in Philadelphia and now exist in many major cities and small towns. Grid-based naming systems usually start at 1 (but sometimes at a higher number or even at zero), and then proceed in numerical order. In the United States, seven out of the top ten most common street names are numbers, with the top three names being "2nd," "3rd," and "1st" respectively.
Some cities also have lettered street names. For example, Washington, D.C., in addition to having numbered streets, also has streets identified as a letter followed by "Street," going as high as the letter W. New York City (mostly in Brooklyn) has avenues titled "Avenue" followed by the respective letter of the alphabet, such as Avenue D. The idea for such a system was developed by Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who devised the system for Washington.
The numbered street system is criticized for taking away the individuality from a community that a named street would provide.
Source: Wikipedia
In my opinion, numbered streets assist the identification of location. They also help us feel the power of urban sprawl.
The highest street number in my city is the 28th. As I know, many streets in NYC are over the 200th.
I thought the numbering of street is great when you enter New York subway at 110th Street and the train passes through streets and quickly it stops at 81st Street. That's the Museum of Natural History.
In my hometown, streets are mostly named by people, surrounding geographical features, trees and other towns. There are also some interesting combination of street names. Transit stations are named for the surrounding areas/districts instead of streets.
Street numbering has become a trend in America since the progressive era. You know how far you've traveled when streets are named in numbers.
Even football fields are numbered...
Some cities also have lettered street names. For example, Washington, D.C., in addition to having numbered streets, also has streets identified as a letter followed by "Street," going as high as the letter W. New York City (mostly in Brooklyn) has avenues titled "Avenue" followed by the respective letter of the alphabet, such as Avenue D. The idea for such a system was developed by Pierre Charles L’Enfant, who devised the system for Washington.
The numbered street system is criticized for taking away the individuality from a community that a named street would provide.
Source: Wikipedia
In my opinion, numbered streets assist the identification of location. They also help us feel the power of urban sprawl.
The highest street number in my city is the 28th. As I know, many streets in NYC are over the 200th.
I thought the numbering of street is great when you enter New York subway at 110th Street and the train passes through streets and quickly it stops at 81st Street. That's the Museum of Natural History.
In my hometown, streets are mostly named by people, surrounding geographical features, trees and other towns. There are also some interesting combination of street names. Transit stations are named for the surrounding areas/districts instead of streets.
Street numbering has become a trend in America since the progressive era. You know how far you've traveled when streets are named in numbers.
Even football fields are numbered...