Roads are a record of those who have gone before. ~ Wanderlust: A History of Walking
This is probably true, but in more ways than one. That is, others have traveled roads before us, and perhaps have left their marks. But there’s also the origin of names that don’t end in road. That is, how do we distinguish between a path and a trail? And do we know why, at some point, a street was named a boulevard? Or a pike?
Sometimes it's a history question
For example, you may already be familiar with the word pike, which was shortened from turnpike. I learned more from Etymonline, which explained the origin. Turnpike is derived from a 15th century term for a revolving, spiked fence. At that time the purpose was to keep horse traffic off pedestrian paths. The term evolved to cover a gate used to stop traffic until a toll was paid. The income supported small communities as they developed roads for increasing merchant traffic. Somewhere along the way, even after the tolls were discontinued, the word was shortened to pike.
As a point of interest, at least to Tennesseans, Nashville and Knoxville have a reputation for having the most U.S. roadways called pikes. The AI summary mentioned this, as did a Facebook site. Neither provides a credible source, but surely it’s true. I mean, why lie about something like that?
Naming conventions for the byways your vehicle travels
Once again I can’t list every possibility, since The Boyd & Berend Group lists over 50 different types of these … whatevers. In this case, I’m doing you a favor by cherry-picking. You can always go for the whole load by following the link. Here’s a teaser:
- Alleys are narrow roads between buildings.
- Avenues run north-south. In the past, at least, avenues were tree-lined and wider than streets.
- Boulevards tend to be even wider than avenues, often with a tree-lined median down the middle.
- Close is a term most often used in the UK that indicates a short road serving a limited number of households.
- Coves are generally narrow and in the proximity of a large body of water or mountains.
- Courts usually end in a cul de sac.
- Drives were historically related to cattle drives. Now, not so much, but they often follow the curvature of hills or bodies of water.
- Lanes are often found in rural areas, but may be seen in cities. That happens when the roadway is actually an alley, but the city wants to make it sound more genteel.
- Places are generally narrow and terminate in a dead end.
- Streets run east-west, perpendicular to avenues. Streets, when a non-specific reference is made, generally refer to urban roadways.
- Trails often apply to roads that were used before cars came down the pike, as it were.
What about the roads, you ask? They are so generic, the term applies to any surface on which animals or vehicles travel. One thing Boyd & Berend points out that I hadn’t considered before is that roads are often named after either a “geographical feature or the destination”.
What's the point of all this?
As so often happens, it depends. Because each jurisdiction can do as it chooses with naming conventions, the protocols that were in place 100 years ago may not have stood the test of time. In a world where the word literally is butchered daily, it stands to reason that the explanations above may bear little relevance to today’s street names.
Still. In small towns settled long ago, change is slow. You may live in a place like that, where the hardware store or the insurance agency is owned by the children or grandchildren of the original owner. If so, take a little drive to observe the street names. Maybe you’ll find a literal connection between the name and the road’s characteristics. I’ll take a walk on the wild side and presume that you’ll have more luck with that if you stick to streets that were paved before Madisons and Megans became the names d’jour. That is, go old if you’re looking for street suffixes that bear any relationship to their origins.
This is not meant as a general disdain for change. As someone who loves heated seats and indoor plumbing, I see the value in change when it delivers improvements. Does it matter that road-naming is nonsensical at times? Probably not, but why alter a system that works? Is it progress if it betters nothing? I think not, and now that I know there was once a logical method to naming, that type of change will be a tiny aggravation every time I notice an example. Maybe it will be for you, too.
You’re welcome.
Interesting piece. The convention of the interstate system is that even numbers tend to run east to west and odd numbers north to south. Many major roads in cities are named after the politician whose signature it took to get the funding. In smaller towns the developers pick the names of the roads, often after themselves or their children.
I strongly suspect that many who add suffixes to black-topped surfaces these days have no idea there’s a protocol. I can hardly blame them, since I didn’t know it until recently.