Try, Salt Lake City all of our North-South Streets (100 S, 200 S,etc,etc)run East-West and all East-West Streets run North-South

I'll see if I can locate a map to post try google maps and you can see it, (I think it's easy to find around)

Mike

OMG. This place is a mess to say the least.

Street names change at the oddest places. One road has 4 names, runs thru and connects to the major parts of town. Changes it's name not at major (or what I would call major) intersections, but smaller ones.

Road names are a nightmare. There are many many many common names, then names that are close to the common names, then names that all sound alike (Pinewood, Pine Hill, Pine Lake, Pine Drive, Pinecone Dr...etc.). Numbering is random. The north side of one street may be even, while the next street down has even on the south side. Also, some roads stop, but reappear miles later, for no apparent reason.

Then we have the major town, the two minor towns, the military base, and the county. To say it's a nightmare is being kind.

I did cabling for a while. I carried no less than 3 maps, would google and mapquest some addresses, and still end up calling for directions.

I once gave directions to a guy - "Remember where this used to be, go there, turn right, go to where the other used to be, turn left and it's on the righ tpast there the whosis was." He got there.

I grew up in a city of about 50,000-I knew my way around primarily by landmarks. As JB states above me, my directions always revolve around major landmarks that may have ceased to exist years ago. Funny thing is, people who are recent residents will still give directions using the same formula...likely repeating what they were told!

All Messed up

Downtown Manhattan is a maze
Above 14th, mostly a grid

Brooklyn/The Bronx? I have NO clue

Queens - about 4-5 overlapping grids that are MOSTLY either Alphabetical/Numeric, but it gets REAL funky in some spots, particularly where the grids from the different original towns meet. Want to have fun? Go to Queens Blvd between say The Jackie Robinson (nee Interboro) Parkway, down to around 61st Street - 2 street grids cross there, and Queens Blv runs diagonal across both grids. One block you cross will be an Ave, the Next a Street, and they BOTH happen to have similar numbers in that area. I've lived, oh, 3-4 miles away for all but 18 months of my life, and I'll still scratch my head and say "OK, it's gotta be over THERE". The WORST part? If you're WRONG, and have to cross Queens Blvd. The whole area is 1 way streets, Not every street crosses QB, the Blvd has both "express" lanes (3) and Local lanes (2 + parking) in each direction - no left from a local, no right from an express, and crossovers are oh, every 1/4-1/2 mile or so

If I can respectfully disagree, I get the street organization in the Pacific Northwest, and it works for me. At least in the PNW you almost always know where you are at by the consistent NE-NW and SE-SW street layout, and about how far from home, as the street numbering tends to pick up from town to town from north of Everett to south of Kent-Auburn. And even without a street number, you can almost always figure out which way is west and walk towards Puget Sound. Street names aren't so hard as long as you remember a few names, and are familiar with some of the older routes (Hwy 99, Military Road, Northup Way etc) that are layered below the modern street grid.

London cabbies have it really tough.

And talk about spinning a drunk around and setting him loose, that actually happened to me on my 19th birthday. 'Friends' kidnapped me, blindfolded me, and let me loose down on the east side of Lake Wilderness (back when there weren't many folks down there at all). They thought they would next see me as a rescue or cadaver on KING-TV, instead I walked out to highway 169 and caught a ride near to home, and was in bed before they were. They sat drinking about a half mile from where they let me loose, thinking I would head in their direction. When they hadn't heard from me they called my mom, who answered at 5am, heard her son was missing, she said he's here, do you want to talk to him?

Manhattan is a grid, except for the southernmost parts - below 14th street, the roads were laid out by meandering cows. Oh, and those section in midtown where the tunnels hook into the island. Oh, and uptown, Washington Heights. Oh, and I guess a lot of Brooklyn was designed by cows too. And Queens, I guess queens is a grid, sort of, except where it isn't.

New York is a really, really, really big place. It's not "laid out" so much as "grown".

Ok how about intersections like this - Find Cafferty Road - and follow it:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=cafferty+road+18972&sll=40.528911,-75.108986&sspn=0.09603,0.122738&ie=UTF8&ll=40.48828,-75.114985&spn=0.024022,0.030684&t=h&z=15

Now, last I heard, when a road ends in a "T" intersection, the name changes...not Cafferty Road. You turn, and drive along another road - Headquarters road for example, and, although you don't know it, you're ALSO still on Cafferty road - until it suddenly turns off again.

Then there's Beaver Run Road -

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=cafferty+road+18972&sll=40.528911,-75.108986&sspn=0.09603,0.122738&ie=UTF8&ll=40.498936,-75.139081&spn=0.012597,0.021887&t=h&z=16

That takes you right into a creek bed - which is the "road" for a bit - and then you're back on gravel. Very exciting in winter melt.

Then there's Old Canal Lane - a road so rutted and worn, people who live along it don't even know it's a road:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=cafferty+road+18972&sll=40.528911,-75.108986&sspn=0.09603,0.122738&ie=UTF8&ll=40.527631,-75.073282&spn=0.006296,0.010943&t=h&z=17

The entire state of PA does not count.

It was obviously pre-planned to be a disaster from the start.

There are two towns not too far from my house named "Guin" and "Gu-win". I think it's the most idiotic thing I've ever seen.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guin,_Alabama

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gu-Win,_Alabama

"At least in the PNW you almost always know where you are at by the consistent NE-NW and SE-SW street layout..."

In the Seattle-Tacoma area that may be true, but not down here. North/south streets are SW, east/west streets are SW, diagonal streets are SW.

But in Yelm, all streets are S, no matter which way they go.

Sue