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How are streets, roads, and avenues different?

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A road, a street, an avenue, a boulevard, a drive, a parkway, a beltway… and that just gets us started! What’s the difference between each of these thoroughfares? This Vox video by Phil Edwards and Gina Barton helps illuminate the nitty gritty of how we (mostly) define our routes of transportation: How streets, roads, and avenues are different.

A street is a road but a road isn’t always a street. A road can also be an avenue or a boulevard—it’s the general term for anything that connects two points. From there, the names of roads can be shaped by their environment and/or the form of the road. A drive is a long winding road that can be shaped by mountains or a lake. Place is a narrow road with no throughway. And just as there is no rule book to building a city, these roads and other don’t always correspond with their described classifications.

Next: The world’s craziest intersection and 4-Way Stop vs the Roundabout. Bonus: City workers paint letters on a London road.

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