Stravenue

A stravenue (portmanteau of street and avenue) is a type of road particular to Tucson, Arizona, United States. A stravenue runs "diagonally between and intersects a Street and an Avenue."[1] By convention in Tucson, streets run east–west while avenues run north–south. However, in a few areas of Tucson, primarily around the central part of the city, which is divided by railroad tracks running diagonally from southeast to northwest, builders created small subdivisions of roads and houses that also are laid out on a diagonal basis rather than the normal east–west or north–south. Most of these subdivisions are located near either Benson Highway or Aviation Highway, which also run southeast to northwest.[2]

Street signs at intersection of Felix Stravenue (more commonly documented as Felix Boulevard) and Belford Stravenue in Tucson, Arizona.

Abbreviations

The United States Postal Service officially designates STRA as the standard suffix abbreviation for stravenues, and acknowledges the common use of the following additional abbreviations:

  • STRAV
  • STRAVEN
  • STRAVN
  • STRVN
  • STRVNUE[3]

Street signs may feature the "STRAV" abbreviation.[4]

Origin

Historian and preservationist Demion Clinco identified the earliest recorded appearance of stravenues on a February 1948 plat map of the Country Club Park neighborhood between Aviation Road, Country Club, and 29th Street. The map features six stravenues, and was produced by Tony A. Blanton, a land surveyor at Tucson architectural firm Blanton and Cole. Subsequent plat maps produced by Blanton in May and December 1948 also featured stravenues, and it is likely that he either coined the term or was the first to promote it.[5]

See also

References
  1. Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, Pima County (March 31, 2021). "18.83.040 Addressing. Pima County, Arizona Code". American Legal Publishing Corporation. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  2. Kelly, Andrea (March 3, 2008), "Road Runner by Andrea Kelly : 'Stravenue': Is it unique to Tucson?", Arizona Daily Star
  3. "C1 Street Suffix Abbreviations". USPS.COM. United States Postal Service. June 2020. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  4. Bean, Henry (November 14, 2020). "Stravenue origin story is a trip down memory lane for one Tucson family". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
  5. Wiley, Rick (November 20, 2020). "Flashback Friday: Then and now photos of Tucson". Arizona Daily Star. Retrieved July 2, 2021.
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