Im curious as to the differences between them, if there are any? Do they mean anything? Some clarity would be appreciated
In: Engineering
In modern, practical use, there’s really no fixed convention. Some places you’ll see Streets going north/south and Avenues going east/west with Roads heading out of downtown, but it’s not consistent.
Classically, a road is a road, an Avenue is a road with trees, a Street is a road with buildings, a Boulevard is a road that follows the old city walls/edge of the city, and everything else is just small neighborhood roads.
In the US, they don’t mean anything outside of some very specific exceptions.
For example, in Manhattan an “avenue” always runs north-south and a “street” always runs east-west.
– **Road (Rd.)**: This is the most basic term and can refer to any thoroughfare that connects two points.
– **Street (St.)**: Typically a public way with buildings on both sides, streets often run perpendicular to avenues.
– **Avenue (Ave.)**: Avenues are also public ways with buildings or trees on either side and usually run perpendicular to streets. They may also have medians.
– **Boulevard (Blvd.)**: A boulevard is a wide city street with trees and vegetation on both sides, often with a median in the middle.
– **Way (Way)**: This term refers to a small side street off a road.
These definitions can vary and are not always strictly adhered to, as urban planners and developers may choose names based on what they think sounds nice or fits the character of an area.
And some is historical, depending on when the name was fixed, with later periods also using earlier words.
– Way = Latin (from Romans)
– Street = Old English
– Gate = Old Norse
– Alley = Old French/Norman
– Lane/Drive = Middle English
– Avenue/Boulevard = Modern French
– Road = Modern English
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