Which DC state-named avenues are most like the actual states?
Image by Matt Johnson.
DC has 50 roads named for each of the states, plus Puerto Rico Avenue. How do these avenues resemble the states or territories for which they’re named?
You can learn about how these roads got their names, including why two aren’t Avenues while the rest are. (Quick: can you name them? Answer at the bottom). You can learn which one’s the best, at least according to one ranking (my home state!)
I started thinking not about which is best, but which is most like its state, based on this unflattering tweet about Florida Avenue and the state of Florida:
Florida Ave in DC, or its namesake state? Or, really, both? https://t.co/Yd3tGn6buA
— Aimee Custis (@AimeeCustis) May 16, 2019
I asked people for their nominations for ways the avenues resemble the states. Here are some more I came up with:
- Connecticut: Full of banks
- Pennsylvania: Connects two centers that don’t like each other much
- Puerto Rico: The average person couldn’t find it on a map
- Maine: Buy fish here
- Oregon: Full of trees
- Alabama: Not designed as though black lives matter
And here are some from others on Twitter:
- New Jersey: More trees than you’d think but also about as bleak and desolate as you’d think - Nick Burger
- Louisiana: Held hostage to Big Oil - Daniel Ridge
- South Dakota: I know it’s up there but I don’t really have a reason to go - Drew Ackermann
- Maryland: Drivers go way too fast - Daniel Ridge
- Ohio: Wll the best people from there are somehow anywhere *but* there when you meet them - Aimee Custis
- Indiana: Ample parking for cops - Daniel Ridge
My favorite, though, is another one from Daniel Ridge:
Georgia: occupied during reconstruction
— cars are like smoking (@DR_6B09) May 17, 2019
Which ones can you come up with? And, which state is most like its avenue? Florida might still be tops on that one so far.
Answer to the top question: The two that aren’t Avenues are California Street, in Adams Morgan, and Ohio Drive, the loop around Hains Point.