What do you call a street that’s more like a parking lot than a street?
What do you call a street that’s less a street than a private parking lot? There are lots of roads in the District of Columbia where there’s more space for car storage than for travel. These three examples show how some of the most egregious are on blocks near the US Capitol.
Pennsylvania Avenue, between First and Third Streets NW. All images from Google Maps. Click through for interactive versions.
While the public can easily travel down any of these streets, parking is limited to those who have permits from the Senate Sergeant at Arms. Congress gets this restricted street parking in addition to the infamously abundant (and perhaps illegal) surface parking available for its employees.
Louisiana Avenue NE, between North Capitol and Columbus Circle.
Sometimes, especially on weekends, tourists take advantage of the very convenient (and free!) spots, failing to see (or choosing to ignore) their restricted nature.
The relationship between the District of Columbia and the various federal entities who lay claim to so much of its land is fraught, and dedicating so much road space to car parking feels dubious in a city where land is at a premium.
Delaware Avenue NE, between D Street and Columbus Circle.
But while these are important and worth debating, my main issue is this: does this kind of street have a name?
Recently, urbanists have done a good job diagnosing issues in the built environment through an inventive (and portmanteau laden) lexicon. The terms “stroad” and “sneckdown” immediately come to mind. Creating specific and evocative terms for these kinds of phenomena means that they can be identified, categorized, debated, and, ideally, resolved.
So, what do we call this? A streeking lot? How about a diag-o-road? A parkway? (Actually, that’s kind of confusing). Leave your best ideas in the comments.