Street names in Canada

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by milomilo

'Avenue' traditionally refers to a road decorated with trees on both sides. 'Street' is a road which is in general is important to local pedestrian activities.

Of course, these are very loose definitions and usually aren't followed, and mean different things to different people. Just a matter of opinion!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avenue_(landscape)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street

Yeah, they play fast and loose with the generics for street names these days.

This is a "boulevard" in my part of Gatineau. It's only about 300 m long and there is nothing boulevardish about it.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@45.49657...7i13312!8i6656

[Architype]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

Weird St. John's tidbit:

We prefer to name our streets. In fact every street in the city has a proper name.

Except 18th street.

We have no idea how it was named this. The city website has a blurb about each street name, and information about its origins. We thought that maybe there was a military connection or something along those lines.

Nah. Just 18th street. No signs of 1 through 17th streets, and nothing past 18.

Just 18th street.

Yes, but you forgot there is a First Avenue, all by itself between Portugal Cv. Rd. and Roche Street. I guess they are still waiting for Second Avenue.

Without a grid system, numbered streets would not make any sense.

And remember we've come a long way, only a few hundred years ago, people did not even have last names!

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by niwell

In Toronto, virtually every street is named. The one exception I can think of is in New Toronto / Long Branch, which has numbered N-S streets running off Lake Shore. However, the numbers are actually spelled out, ranging from "First St" to "Forty Second St". Something similar exists in parts of the Glebe in Ottawa IIRC.

https://goo.gl/maps/EkoJJuunC2D2

What I always found confusing about Edmonton is that the took street numbering to such an extreme that every branch of a crescent has a different street number:

https://goo.gl/maps/pj6XKu6NmZM2
https://goo.gl/maps/t3SeWTwtkd12
https://goo.gl/maps/mQkUkdNSDUD2

It doesn't really work too well in subdivisions.

The argument you hear from Edmontonians is that it's easier for wayfinding, but I am not sure if that's true. I don't have enough experience trying to navigate the city to know if it works. (I do know numbered streets make Manhattan easier to navigate.)

[Acajack]

Info on street naming in Bramalea and Brossard from a similar thread:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...6&postcount=39

[Architype]

I prefer Vancouver's system of numbered avenues crossed by named streets, which seems like a good compromise. It makes locations much easier to remember. New Westminster has numbers in both directions and it just seems more confusing.

[eemy]

Originally Posted by urbanroo

Now that we have GPS and google maps, however, numbers make less sense and I hope we can move back to names, which have so much more character to them.

Sometimes, yes. In subdivisions, it often seems that the developer just got lazy. Maple Grove Street, Maple Grove Avenue, and Maple Grove Crescent can probably be found right beside Hemlock Forest Drive and Hemlock Forest Circle, which are probably joined by Woodland Road.

Waterloo Region has pretty much got every city in the country beaten in terms of oddball street patterns, intersections and names. In particular, there is a propensity to name a single continuous road with multiple names. Despite rationalizing street names between Kitchener and Waterloo at some point in the 20th century (when they realized having a Queen Street in Waterloo that is entirely distinct from the Queen Street in Kitchener was a bit too confusing), the situation is still complete insanity.

The worst example is Idle Creek Drive - Fairway Crescent - Lackner Boulevard (no boulevard on it, btw) - Bingemans Centre Drive - Shirley Avenue - Riverbend Drive - Bridgeport Road - Caroline Street. That's eight different names for one continuous stretch of road with none of the name changes corresponding to municipal boundaries. If you move over a block to the west, you can then continue on Park Street - Jubilee Drive - Courtland Avenue - Fairway Road (crossing the original crazy street) - Kossuth Road, only a paltry five different names.

It wasn't always this bad, but road planners in the 60 might have had their coffee contaminated with LSD. They moved from having a single road (Mill Street) connecting Kitchener to Galt (Cambridge) to breaking it into disjointed pieces now variously signed Mill, Carwood, Vanier, Manitou, Doon Village, Doon Valley, Morningside and Blair. This places is nuts!

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

Sometimes, yes. In subdivisions, it often seems that the developer just got lazy. Maple Grove Street, Maple Grove Avenue, and Maple Grove Crescent can probably be found right beside Hemlock Forest Drive and Hemlock Forest Circle, which are probably joined by Woodland Road.

Waterloo Region has pretty much got every city in the country beaten in terms of oddball street patterns, intersections and names. In particular, there is a propensity to name a single continuous road with multiple names. Despite rationalizing street names between Kitchener and Waterloo at some point in the 20th century (when they realized having a Queen Street in Waterloo that is entirely distinct from the Queen Street in Kitchener was a bit too confusing), the situation is still complete insanity.

The worst example is Idle Creek Drive - Fairway Crescent - Lackner Boulevard (no boulevard on it, btw) - Bingemans Centre Drive - Shirley Avenue - Riverbend Drive - Bridgeport Road - Caroline Street. That's eight different names for one continuous stretch of road with none of the name changes corresponding to municipal boundaries. If you move over a block to the west, you can then continue on Park Street - Jubilee Drive - Courtland Avenue - Fairway Road (crossing the original crazy street) - Kossuth Road, only a paltry five different names.

It wasn't always this bad, but road planners in the 60 might have had their coffee contaminated with LSD. They moved from having a single road (Mill Street) connecting Kitchener to Galt (Cambridge) to breaking it into disjointed pieces now variously signed Mill, Carwood, Vanier, Manitou, Doon Village, Doon Valley, Morningside and Blair. This places is nuts!

St. John's has a knack for changing up the street names on a single street as well, makes it a real pain in the rear for people not familiar to learn their way around. For instance: Allandale Road becomes Bonaventure Avenue, but once it becomes Bonaventure, Allandale continues on parrallel to Bonaventure and acutally forms the other side of the block. Bonaventure then becomes Mayor Street at the intersection of Bonaventure, Bonaventure, and Mayor - Yes, Bonaventure comes from 2 directions. You can also look up my old stomping grounds when I was a student near the intersection of Empire Avenue and Empire Avenue...

In Stephenville, our original town plan had Avenues to run east-west and Streets to run north-south. Gallant St, Queen St, King St, Woodland St, Maple St, Grove St, Churchill St, etc... all run north-south roughly parrallel to each other at different intervals and lengths. Then St. George's Ave, St. Clare Ave, Pleasant Ave, Hillview Ave, etc... run parrallel east-west. Some roads that came later got it wrong, like St. Stephen's Street and Atlantic Avenue, while Main Street was allowed to differ because of its function so they aren't hard and fast rules.

Of course, the base has streets named for the American states (ie: Carolina Ave or Montana Drive), but new streets get whatever names has the best ring to it - ie: Fowlow Drive, Tompkins Avenue, Bruce Boulevard - as long as they are named for former mayors and councillors.

[CanSpice]

Kingsway runs through Vancouver and Burnaby, and it doesn't have a street type -- it's not Kingsway Street or Kingsway Avenue, it's just Kingsway. Are there any other roads in Canada that are like this?

As far as I can find it didn't start out as Kings Way either. It used be called Westminster Road and Vancouver Road until it was officially opened in 1913 as Kingsway.

[Acajack]

I think it's pretty common to have street names changes. In cities like London and Paris, street names sometimes change from block to block!

Toronto and Montreal seem to be exceptions to this as many street names seem to go on forever all across the city for many km.

In Montreal, many street names even "pick up" after a fairly big gap if they're still along the same axis as the other stretch.

The main historic east-west road in Ottawa changes names several times.

From the east: Old Montreal Rd, St-Joseph Blvd, Montreal Rd., Rideau St., Wellington St. (then a weird gap - confusing for non-locals), Wellington St. W., Richmond Rd, Robertson Rd., Hazeldean Rd.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

Kingsway runs through Vancouver and Burnaby, and it doesn't have a street type -- it's not Kingsway Street or Kingsway Avenue, it's just Kingsway. Are there any other roads in Canada that are like this?

As far as I can find it didn't start out as Kings Way either. It used be called Westminster Road and Vancouver Road until it was officially opened in 1913 as Kingsway.

Not sure if it counts but there is a street in Toronto called "The Queensway".

[Trevor3]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

Kingsway runs through Vancouver and Burnaby, and it doesn't have a street type -- it's not Kingsway Street or Kingsway Avenue, it's just Kingsway. Are there any other roads in Canada that are like this?

As far as I can find it didn't start out as Kings Way either. It used be called Westminster Road and Vancouver Road until it was officially opened in 1913 as Kingsway.

Esplanade runs along the waterfront in Sydney, NS. Sometimes it gets referred to as The Esplanade, but it really is just Esplanade.

[CanadianCentaur]

Originally Posted by ue

^ Which, AFAIK has only presented itself as a problem in Edmonton, which renamed the streets and avenues to start in the centre of town in the 100s, not 50s. I believe Grande Prairie is the only other place to have done this.

Actually, that's not true. Fort St. John is yet another city with the same kind of street numbering as Edmonton's and GP's.

Dawson Creek also has streets which are almost entirely numbered, but it's a bit different. Streets and avenues run the same directions as in Edmonton, but avenues increase in numbers in the opposite direction, and streets are centered at 10 St instead of "100 St" in the downtown core.

In fact, having most, if not all, streets numbered instead of named is a pretty common feature in many towns across the Peace in Alberta/BC. Some are a bit different, and others are the same as Edmonton's and GP's.

Outside of that, the only cities in Canada with similar street numbering systems on a large scale like that I know of are all in Metro Vancouver in Delta (North Delta, actually), Surrey, Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge. Some newer neighbourhoods in North Delta have mainly named local streets though. Surrey's street numbering system like Edmonton's, but "Streets" increase in number to the east. In Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge and Langley, the street numbering system there are basically an extension of Surrey's.

Even in Edmonton, you do get entire neighbourhoods with named instead of numbered streets. You will see this mainly in SW Edmonton between the North Saskatchewan (and some just west of that) and Whitemud Creek and right down to city limits west of Calgary Trail. The two largest communities outside Edmonton within Metro Edmonton, Sherwood Park and St. Albert, have entirely named streets.

[Hali87]

How does the concession line system in parts of Ontario fit into all this? Are those streets (roads? lines?) named or numbered, or both?

[eemy]

That is linked to the surveys that were done way back when. Most municipalities have given proper names to most of them, though, to make emergency services easier.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

That is linked to the surveys that were done way back when. Most municipalities have given proper names to most of them, though, to make emergency services easier.

Though in some cases the "proper name" is simply Tenth Line Road, Route 500 or County Road 29...

[BretttheRiderFan]

Growing up in Grande Prairie and now living in Edmonton was great as the grid is essentially identical. I have noticed that Edmonton did run out of avenues on the south side, or at least it seems that way once you get south of about Ellerslie.

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Though in some cases the "proper name" is simply Tenth Line Road, Route 500 or County Road 29...

This specific convention, I'm pretty sure, is limited to geographic townships of Russell & Cambridge, southeast of Ottawa. Many concession roads running east-west (more so in Russell than in Cambridge) in these two townships follow this convention. I'm never seen it anywhere else in Ontario, so I think it's a local quirk to this little corner of the province. My guess is that it originated out of some desire to have a bilingual naming convention given the area's mixed English-speaking and French-speaking demographics.

[Horus]

Originally Posted by jeremy_haak

Sometimes, yes. In subdivisions, it often seems that the developer just got lazy. Maple Grove Street, Maple Grove Avenue, and Maple Grove Crescent can probably be found right beside Hemlock Forest Drive and Hemlock Forest Circle, which are probably joined by Woodland Road.

Waterloo Region has pretty much got every city in the country beaten in terms of oddball street patterns, intersections and names. In particular, there is a propensity to name a single continuous road with multiple names. Despite rationalizing street names between Kitchener and Waterloo at some point in the 20th century (when they realized having a Queen Street in Waterloo that is entirely distinct from the Queen Street in Kitchener was a bit too confusing), the situation is still complete insanity.

The worst example is Idle Creek Drive - Fairway Crescent - Lackner Boulevard (no boulevard on it, btw) - Bingemans Centre Drive - Shirley Avenue - Riverbend Drive - Bridgeport Road - Caroline Street. That's eight different names for one continuous stretch of road with none of the name changes corresponding to municipal boundaries. If you move over a block to the west, you can then continue on Park Street - Jubilee Drive - Courtland Avenue - Fairway Road (crossing the original crazy street) - Kossuth Road, only a paltry five different names.

It wasn't always this bad, but road planners in the 60 might have had their coffee contaminated with LSD. They moved from having a single road (Mill Street) connecting Kitchener to Galt (Cambridge) to breaking it into disjointed pieces now variously signed Mill, Carwood, Vanier, Manitou, Doon Village, Doon Valley, Morningside and Blair. This places is nuts!

There should be a meeting at the corner of King and Weber to discuss this.

[Franco401]

One terrible annoyance in Fredericton is the many cases of a street or road making multiple unnecessary name changes on its route. Particular examples include:

Waggoner's Lane-Dundonald Street-Beaverbrook Street-Forest Hill Road This is the worst since none of the roads or very historical, leave the city, or have other significant changes. Four names in 2.5km!

Royal Road-Main Street-Union Street-Riverside Drive, four names in 5.5km.

Bishop Drive-Woodside Lane

Arnold Drive-Knowledge Park Drive-Kimble Drive: Kimble is OK because that part is in a residential area, but Arnold Drive doesn't even have any properties on it.

Gibson Street-Canada Street

Wilsey Road-Vanier Industrial Drive

Woodstock Road-King Street-Waterloo Row-Lincoln Road: We let this one slide since these names work, King is an important downtown corridor and Waterloo is very famous for its massive Victorian mansions.

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

Kingsway runs through Vancouver and Burnaby, and it doesn't have a street type -- it's not Kingsway Street or Kingsway Avenue, it's just Kingsway. Are there any other roads in Canada that are like this?

As far as I can find it didn't start out as Kings Way either. It used be called Westminster Road and Vancouver Road until it was officially opened in 1913 as Kingsway.

Edmonton also has Kingsway. It literally means Kings' Way so it doesn't need that extra indicator.

As for roads that change names, there is Whyte Avenue to look at.

At Lindbrook: Highway 630
After Range Road 220: Township Road 515
After Intersection at Sherwood Forest Estates: Highway 630
After Intersection north of Edgar T. Jones Natural Area: Wye Road
After Anthony Henday Drive: Sherwood Park Freeway
After 71st Street: 82 Avenue NW
After 114th Street: University Avenue
After Saskatchewan Drive: Groat Road
After 118th Avenue NW: St. Albert Trail
After 137th Avenue NW: Mark Messier Trail
After 156th Street NW: St. Albert Trail
After a minor intersection north of Ross Road: Highway 2
After Highway 18: Range Road 253
Terminus west of Analta, short of Armstrong Lake.