Transportation in Dallas - Streets

Streets

Dallas is devoid of any major street grid as a whole, though a number of major attempts intersect at awkward angles and in confusing interchanges around the city. The main street grid in the center city runs 45° to the typical N/S/E/W grid, creating confusion for many out-of-town visitors. This street grid prevails primarily in east Dallas, though it also permeates Oak Lawn, portions of downtown, and the Cedars. Another much smaller street grid lies downtown between Pacific and Young streets — it is about 15° off the typical N/S/E/W grid, and is on average 5-8 streets across N/S and about 3 miles (5 km) wide E/W. There is also a fairly extensive N/S/E/W grid around the original city of Oak Cliff. The rest of Dallas, developed from the middle of the 20th century on, is typically on a N/S/E/W grid, especially with major thoroughfares. In trying to make the city traversable, city planners have over time created wide boulevards that jump between the rights-of-way of multiple minor streets, trying to force a wide road wherever they can discover space for it. This forces the destruction of the minor streets' original paths, a name-change for the boulevard or minor streets, and roads (e.g. Cole 1, 2, 3) that exist in two or more places. Major thoroughfares in Oak Cliff typically do not cross the Trinity River, and when they do, they frequently do not continue with the same name on the north or eastern sides, which creates a degree of confusion. Also, many times a street will change names each time it crosses a municipal border. Conversely, many streets keep their names through sharp turns across the city.