Rocky Road

Roads should go somewhere. Streets should have houses, terraces more so. Avenues should have trees. Lanes should wind, crescents should curve. Places should be cul-de-sacs. Mews should have been stables (or at least designed to look like they might have).

Anecdotes follow:

My current address is on X Coast Road - a nice descriptive name. It's a road that goes along the x coast. Before that we were on Y Place, which was a cul-de-sac of about 30 houses.

Before that, we lived in America. West 101st Street was so named because it ran east-west, was west of the middle of the nearest city, and 100 blocks south of 1st Street, whereas Sumter Avenue ran north-south. It was named after the site of the first action in the Civil War, but could have been anything beginning with S, since it was between Rhode Island Avenue and where Texas Avenue would have been, had it not been renamed Bloomington Ferry Road, which was the road that ran down to the ferry in Bloomington.

I remember going through the road map when I was a kid and writing down every variant of Crescent, Close, Alley etc.
Frankly, I am for a thorough overhaul of the system with stringent criteria regarding slope, length, environment, road surface, curve, direction, location, humidity etc.

Well may you mock, Nib. But I am in possession of Standards Australia draft document on Rural & Urban Addressing, and therein no locality shall exhibit an apostrophe nor a full-stop, while macrons are forgivable in Maori only.

Elsewhere, a road is defined as "an open way or public passage primarily for vehicles" versus a street: "public roadway in a town, city or urban area, especially a paved thoroughfare". Spot the difference?

Here's that quaint area of Castle Hill I mentioned a while ago. Round Table references abound:
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/4893/castlehillh.jpg

(Squint-friendly summary)
Battlement Crescent
Bishopgate Avenue
Broadsword Place
Chainmail Crescent
Citadel Crescent
Courtyard Place
Damsel Crescent
Drawbridge Place
Excalibur Avenue
Farrier Place
Galahad Crescent
Guineviere Crescent
Merlin Crescent
Squire Place
Tristan Crescent
Turret Place

I used to live in Canberra. Our suburb's streets had the odd theme of being named after Northern Territory cattle stations, and on a school trip to Uluru we (coincidentally, I believe) managed to visit one of them.

Or so I recall, many years on.

A nice topic, DA.
From searching 'Road Types' in Google, I found the following Wikipedia site;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_road_types_by_features
Though it does not contain every road types, it is still worth a look.

Any attempt to stifle creativity when it cames to naming stuff should be resisted.

The 'burbs can be boring enough as it is without further rules & regs about what to call the latest thoroughfare.

I love all those quirky examples - like all the street names in Broken Hill named after the periodic table - they make me smile.

And if some otherwise boring local council meeting somewhere gets a bit creative over a bottle of red then I think that can only be a good thing!

Here are all the types of roads from the Road Naming Guidelines of the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. I have put in what I feel they should make up but feel free to add your own additions.

Alley
Arcade
Avenue - Should have trees
Boulevard
Bypass
Chase
Circle - Must be a circle...
Circlet - A smaller circle
Circuit - A road where if you follow it around, it ends up in the place you started.
Circus
Close
Court
Cove
Crescent - In the shape of a crescent or half moon, rejoining the road from which it starts Drive
Esplanade - Open, level and often along
the seaside or a river
Fairway - A straight-ish street with lots of greenery and bushes
Garden(s)
Grove
Lane - Should wind
Mall - A straight road with lots of small shops, eg. greengrocer, cafes, newsagents.
Mews
Parade
Parkway
Place
Plaza
Promenade - An open public walkway with wide shoulders at a seaside resort
Quay - By a wharf
Ridge
Ridgeway
Road - Should go somewhere
Row
Square - A square, Einstein
Street - Should have houses
Terrace - Should have more houses than streets
Walk - A road short enough for a nice walk along
Way

seems to be the place to recycle those jokes about "into warp drive -- then take the second on the left" and "Letsby Avenue" (where all the bobbies live), etc

@one wheel

I found myself pawing through that Wiki-list last year when I constructed a themed crossword for a TV guide. Notable answers included Glenn Close, Lois Lane, Kirstie Alley, Rosamund Pike... as well as Evergreen Terrace, Melrose Place, Sesame Street etc. I threw in Project Runway for a laugh – after all, a runway is a type of road.

My friends have nominated several nicknames for Galston Gorge (most of which would require asterisks for signposts.) I believe 'Hairpin Descent' and 'Bottleneck Pass' would be appropriate amendments.
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/4161/galstongorge.jpg

Similarly, bus routes to Coffs Harbour soccer tournaments back in the day inspire such titles as 'Emetic Drive', 'Tapeworm Way' or 'The ECG'.
http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/1593/coffsharbour.jpg

I often drive past an actual Lois Lane in Pennant Hills in Sydney.

I worked in Pennant Hills last year, in Trebor Rd. Whenever I looked at it, I would think 'Dr Robert must live THAT way...'

No, Nib, he lives in exactly the opposite direction.

I've been reviewing an area for this year's Census, and came upon a court signposted "Wonga M W" - I'm at a loss to know what M W is short for - Mid Way? Must Walk? Mud Wallow?

Having spent a few hours on "The Great Alpine Road" this morning, what does a carriageway require to earn the sobrquet "Great"?

Has anyone noticed that any new suburb with a grand-sounding reference to water, is invariably a dry, unattractive area?

@Nib In the Murrundindi area, near Yea, Victoria, there is a Rellimeiggam Creek, named after Maggie, the daughter of an early landowner named Miller. There is no anecdotal evidence she was backward.