Who determines which end of the street is number 1? Is it also the same person who decides which side of the street is odd vs even?

Question

Had the thought pop into my head randomly the other day. I’m assuming this is a town planning thing, but is there any sort of a guideline for making these decisions?

In: Other

Answer 1

Washington, DC actually has a very deliberate plan to street numbering. The Capitol building is the “center” and all numbers and letters go up from there. North Capitol street and South Capitol street run north and south from it. Numbered streets get higher as you go east and west. Lettered streets get higher as you go north and south. Each block is 100 numbers, regardless of the actual number of addresses on it. Makes it very easy to navigate, though you do need to specify which quadrant of the city you mean.