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about|type of road A Boulevard ( French language|French , from lang-nl|Bolwerk & ndash; bolwark, meaning bastion), often abbreviated Blvd , is type of road , usually a wide, multi- lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the centre, and roadways along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery. The division into peripheral roads for local use and a central main thoroughfare for regional traffic is a principal feature of the boulevard. Larger and busier boulevards usually feature a highway median|median . It was first introduced in the French language in 1435 as boloard and has since been altered into boulevard.
International usage
Americas
Argentina
Avenida 9 de Julio in the heart of Buenos Aires , capital city of Argentina , is as wide as 7 lanes in each direction, with 4 further lanes flanking the main boulevard in parallel roads on either side.
Dominican Republic
In the Dominican Republic, more specifically in Greater Santo Domingo there is the Winston Churchill and 27 de Febrero Boulevard in Downtown Santo Domingo and Las Americas Boulevard in Santo Domingo Este . These boulevards are known for their wide median with plazas and trees on it.
Mexico
Paseo de la Reforma (English: "Reform Promenade") is a 12 kilometer long boulevard in Mexico City , Mexico that runs in a straight line, cutting diagonally across the city. It runs from Chapultepec Park , then passes alongside the Torre Mayor (currently Latin America's tallest building), continues through the fashionable Zona Rosa and then to the Zócalo by Juárez Avenue and Francisco I. Madero Street. One of the most famous monuments of the Paseo is El Ángel de la Independencia – a tall column with a gilded statue of a Nike (mythology)|Winged Victory on its top and marble statues at its base depicting the heroes of the Mexican War of Independence .
The Paseo de la Reforma was designed in the 1860s during the Second Mexican Empire by the Austrian military officer and engineer Ferdinand von Rosenzweig on the orders of Maximilian I of Mexico . He wanted to connect his imperial residence, Chapultepec Castle , to the National Palace (Mexico)|Palacio Nacional in the city's center. When it was inaugurated, it was named the Paseo de la Emperatriz (The Empress's Promenade), after his consort, Empress Carlota of Mexico . The name now commemorates the liberal reforms of 19th century president Benito Juárez .
United States and Canada
In many places in the United States and Canada , Local government|municipalities and Real estate developer|developers have adapted the term to refer to arterial roads, not necessarily boulevards in the traditional sense. In California, many so-called “boulevards” extend into the mountains as narrow, winding road segments only two lanes in width. However, boulevards can be any divided highway with at-grade intersections to local streets. They are commonly abbreviated Blvd. Some celebrated examples in California include:
Sunset Boulevard (disambiguation)|Sunset Boulevard in San Francisco , which has rows of trees on both sides of the thoroughfare, and is bisected by a tree-filled median. It connects local streets throughout the Sunset District .
The Los Angeles area's more famous Sunset Boulevard ; Santa Monica Boulevard ; Wilshire Boulevard ; and Hollywood Boulevard . Many important thoroughfares in Los Angeles are boulevards.
In Chicago , the boulevard system is a network of wide, planted-median boulevards that winds through the south, west, and north sides of the city and includes a ring of parks. Most of the boulevards and parks are 3–6 miles from Chicago Loop|The Loop . Seattle also features a network of boulevards that connect most of the city's public parks to each other, a design recommended by the Olmsted Brothers .cite web|url= http://www.seattle.gov/parks/parkspaces/olmsted.htm |title=Seattle Parks and Recreation: Park History - Olmsted Parks |publisher=Seattle.gov |date=2011-07-21 |accessdate=2012-01-27 In Philadelphia it includes the Benjamin Franklin Parkway known as the Museum District, the arterial roadway of the Roosevelt Boulevard and the Southern Boulevard Park|Southern Boulevard Parkway built as a connecting median of two urban parks that now also serves as the west roadway entrance of the world class centralized Philadelphia Sports Complex and gatehouse entrance of the Philadelphia Navy Yard in South Philadelphia .
Sometimes, the word "Boulevard" is used as a standalone name, as is the case in Boulevard (Atlanta)|Atlanta , and Roosevelt Boulevard (Philadelphia)|Roosevelt Boulevard in the Northeast Philadelphia|Northeast section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia is sometimes referred to as simply "The Boulevard". The section of Côte Saint-Luc Road that is located in Westmount , a suburb of Montreal , is also referred to as "The Boulevard," as was the majority of Broadway (New York City) in the 19th century. In Pittsburgh , "The Boulevard of the Allies" runs through and connects major areas of the city.
Kansas City, Missouri is famous for having more boulevards and avenues in the world than any city (if the term is used lightly) except Paris, France.citation needed|date=March 2011 In Charlotte, North Carolina , Independence Boulevard (Charlotte)|Independence Boulevard connects Charlotte center city|Uptown to the southeastern section of the city, although the westernmost segment is actually a freeway.
Nineteenth century parkway s, such as Brooklyn's Ocean Parkway (Brooklyn)|Ocean Parkway , were often built in the form of boulevards and are informally referred to as such. In some cities, however, the term "boulevard" does not specify a larger, wider, or more important road. "Boulevard" may simply be used as one of many words describing roads in communities containing multiple iterations of the same street name (such as in the Ranchlands, Calgary|Ranchlands district of Calgary , where Ranchlands Boulevard exists side-by-side with Ranchlands Road, Ranchlands Court, Ranchlands Mews, etc.) Nowadays boulevards can be found most anywhere and their original structured meaning has lost almost all meaning.
Lake Shore Boulevard , a six-lane thoroughfare runs along the lakefront in Toronto from Woodbine Avenue in the east to the city limits in the west. The section between JamesonAvenue and the Humber River (Ontario)|Humber River (the original section), as an example of urban planning, was laid out to provide a pleasant drive with a view of Humber Bay on Lake Ontario and easy access to the park lands by automobile. It was later expanded for commuting.
A famous American example is Las Vegas Boulevard in Las Vegas Valley|Las Vegas , Nevada .
Uruguay
In Montevideo , Artigas Boulevard is an important avenue (40 m wide) that encloses the central area.
Asia
Cambodia
Phnom Penh has numerous boulevards scattered throughout the city. Norodom Boulevard , Sisowath Quay|Sisowath Boulevard , Monivong Boulevard , and Sothearos Boulevard are the most famous.
Israel
Tel Aviv , established in 1909, was originally designed along the guidelines set out by architect Sir Patrick Geddes . Geddes designed a green or garden ring of boulevards surrounding the central city, which still exists today and continues to characterize Tel Aviv. One of the most famous and busy streets in the city is Rothschild Boulevard .
India
New Delhi 's premier boulevard is Rajpath Boulevard in the heart of the city of New Delhi . Tree lined road with lakes and fountains designed by British Architect Edwin Luyten from 1912 to 1930. Another Boulevard is in Marine Drive, Mumbai.
Philippines
Roxas Boulevard is a boulevard in Metro Manila in the Philippines . The boulevard, which runs along the shores of Manila Bay , is well-known for its sunsets and stretch of coconut trees . The divided roadway has become a trademark of Philippine tourism, famed for its shopping malls, parks, yacht club, luxury hotels, restaurants, and commercial buildings. Originally called Cavite Boulevard, it was renamed Dewey Boulevard in honor of the American Admiral George Dewey , who under his command defeated the Spanish navy in the Battle of Manila Bay in 1898. The boulevard was again renamed to Roxas Boulevard in the 1960's to honor President Manuel Roxas , the fifth president of the Republic of Philippines.
The boulevard is also an eight-lane major arterial road designated as Radial Road 1 that connects the center of Manila with Pasay City and Parañaque City . The arcing road runs in a north-south direction from Luneta in Manila and ends in Parañaque City , at the intersection of Ninoy Aquino International Airport Road or NAIA Rd. Beyond its southern terminus, starts the Manila-Cavite Expressway, also known as the Coastal Road.
Europe
France
Baron Haussmann made such roads well known in his re-shaping of Second French Empire|Second Empire Paris between 1853 and 1870. The French word boulevard originally referred to the flat summit of a Defensive wall|rampart (the etymology of the word distantly parallels that of Architectural glossary#B|bulwark which is a Dutch loanword bolwerk). Several Parisian boulevards replaced old city walls; more generally, boulevards encircle a city center, in contrast to street name|avenue s that radiate from the center. Boulevard is sometimes used to describe an elegantly wide road, such as those in Paris, approaching the Champs-Élysées . Famous French boulevards: Avenue Montaigne , Montmartre, Invalides, Boulevard Haussmann . Frequenters of boulevards were sometimes called boulevardiers
Germany
The historically most famous boulevard in Berlin and arguably in all of Germany is Unter den Linden : location of the Berlin State Opera , Berlin Cathedral , the former Berliner Stadtschloß|royal palace , Humboldt University , the Neue Wache state memorial, the Germany Historical Museum housed in the Zeughaus|old arsenal and Brandenburg Gate being the boulevards focal point. Most famed for its classy shopping facilities is Berlin's Kurfürstendamm . In the 1920s it was considered one of the most cosmopolitan places in Europe, being not only an elegant residential area but also a major centre of nightlife and leisure. Ku'damm retained this air throughout the Cold War becoming the hub of free West-Berlin . Still today it is the city's most frequented shopping district. A notable boulevard in Berlin's East is Karl-Marx-Allee , which was built primarily in the 1950s in Stalinist Classicism architecture with decorative buildings. One section of the boulevard is more decorative while the other is more modern. In the center of the boulevard is the Strausberger Platz, which has buildings in wedding-cake style . The boulevard is divided into various blocks. Between 1949 and 1989, it was the main center of East Berlin . The Königsallee in Düsseldorf is known for its many famous fashion stores and showrooms.
Ireland
As in the UK, Ireland also has a lack of Boulevards, but O'Connell Street in Dublin is one of Europe's widest streets and is very like a Victorian boulevard. In recent housing developments in Dublin, the boulevard is becoming more and more common in addresses (e.g. Tyrellstown Blvd, Park Blvd, Bayside Blvd).
Italy
Florence 's historic centre, for example, is surrounded by the Viali di Circonvallazione , a series of 6-lane wide streets; the boulevards follow the outline of the ancient walls of Florence, that were demolished since 1865 to make Florence, then the capital of Italy (for 5 years, 1865–1870), a modern and big city like the other European capitals. The Viali were inspired by the similar Parisian boulevards.
Russia
The dictionary defines boulevard as a wide green strip in the middle of a city street or on the Embankment (transportation)|embankment .cite web | url= http://www.vedu.ru/ExpDic/enc_searchresult.asp? S=2395 | title=Boulevard (lang-ru|???????) Historical Boulevard Ring in Moscow emerged on the site of the former Bely Gorod|White City walls (demolished in 1760s and 1770s) before the Fire of Moscow (1812)|Fire of 1812 , starting with Tverskoy Boulevard in 1796.cite web | url= http://www.bulwar.ru/ | title=Boulevards of Moscow (in Russian) The whole ring was replanted and rebuilt after the fire, in 1820s; together with the embanknments of Moskva River the boulevards form the second centremost city ring. Green boulevards of that period were terminated with corner hotel and shop buildings, most of them eventually demolished to make way for street traffic. Garden Ring , developed in the middle of 19th century, had traditional median boulevards in its western part and side gardens in the east (streets with side strips of green, even those separating main traffic and frontage road s, are not usually considered boulevards).
Street names of Saint Petersburg evolved differently: median greens of major avenues were called boulevards , but the avenues themlselves typically were and still are called prospekts (i.e. Bolshoy Prospekt of Vasilievsky Island ).
United Kingdom
Due to city planning and physical geography, the U.K. has only a few boulevards. Glasgow's Great Western Road is a good example, a mostly dual carriageway road running to the outer suburbs passing through the fashionable West End district, with many shops and bars dotted along the route. After the Great Fire of London , London was supposed to be formed of straight boulevards, squares and plazas which are seen in mainland Europe , but due to land ownership issues these plans never came to light. Boulevards in London are rare but examples, such as Blackfriars Road , do exist. Milton Keynes , Buckinghamshire , is one of only a handful of examples where boulevards are a key feature. This is due to Milton Keynes being built as a modern new town in the 1960s. Nottingham also has an extensive network of Boulevards. Furthermore, the north west town of Warrington in Cheshire has a large number of Boulevards - some more recent than others. Lining the Gemini Retail Park in Warrington is Europa Boulevard with the traditional tree lined pavements and 2 laned traffic. Also, on the recent housing development, Chapelford - built on the old Burtonwood Airbase site, are a number of boulevards such as Boston and Santa Rosa Boulevard, built in reference to the American history associated from World War 2 on the site.
Turkey
Barbaros Boulevard is opened in 1958 due to new city planning in Istanbul. Ankara has also a lot of Boulevards.
Oceania
Australia
Melbourne has at least four roads named "the Boulevard." These are, generally, long roads with many curves which wind alongside the Yarra River . In addition, the spelling of boulevard with an extra 'e' is common, for example the Southlands Boulevarde shopping centre in southern Perth. Australia post officially abbreviates boulevard as "BVD". http://www.auspost.com.au/GAC_File_Metafile/0,,4099_2010_amas_handbook_15_19_v1_0,00.pdf dead link|date=January 2012
Several Melbourne thoroughfares not named as a boulevard do in fact follow the boulevard configuration of multiple lanes and landscaping. These include St Kilda Road , Royal Parade , Victoria Street, Melbourne|Victoria Parade , Flemington Road , and the outer section of Mount Alexander Road, Melbourne|Mount Alexander Road . Sydneys boulevards are Norwest Boulevard in Bella Vista, New South Wales|Bella Vista and Baulkham Hills, New South Wales|Baulkham Hills , The Boulevard in Kirrawee, New South Wales|Kirrawee , Brighton-Le-Sands, New South Wales|Brighton-le-Sands , Cammeray, New South Wales|Cammeray , Canley Vale, New South Wales|Canley Vale , Caringbah, New South Wales|Caringbah , Cheltenham, New South Wales|Cheltenham , Dulwich Hill, New South Wales|Dulwich Hill , Epping, New South Wales|Epping , Fairfield, New South Wales|Fairfield , Fairfield Heights , Fairfield West , Gymea, New South Wales|Gymea , Lakemba, New South Wales|Lakemba , Lewisham, New South Wales|Lewisham , Lidcombe, New South Wales|Lidcombe , Lilyfield, New South Wales|Lilyfield , Malabar, New South Wales|Malabar , Miranda, New South Wales|Miranda , Newport, New South Wales|Newport , Petersham, New South Wales|Petersham , Punchbowl, New South Wales|Punchbowl , Sans Souci, New South Wales|Sans Souci , Smithfield, New South Wales|Smithfield , Strathfield , Sutherland, New South Wales|Sutherland , Wiley Park, New South Wales|Wiley Park and Yagoona, New South Wales|Yagoona .
New Zealand
Construction began on the Orewa Boulevard in March 2009, the works are expected to be complete by February 2010. This boulevard will be approximately 400 m long with Pohutukawa and palm lined footpaths, a wide cycleway will be constructed on the beach side of the road and carparks on the business side. The Orewa Boulevard is a project commissioned by the Rodney District Council with the vision of connecting the Central business district|CBD to Orewa Beach.
Gallery
Alternative meanings
Central reservation : Some people also use the term boulevard to refer to the division or central reservation in such a road, whether specifically in a “boulevard” in the above sense or not.citation needed|date=October 2011 It can consist of anything from a simple thick Curb (road)|curb of concrete, to a wide strip of grass, to a thoroughly landscaped space of trees, shrub s, and other foliage; in urban areas, boulevards can also contain public art or memorial s. Wide boulevards also sometimes serve as rights-of-way for tram s or light rail systems. Kansas City, Missouri , has more “boulevard” miles than the city of ParisCitation needed|date=February 2007 (if the term is used lightly). One such famous boulevard is Ward Parkway , which features fountains, statues, and vast quantities of grass and trees in the center. Also of note, The Paseo in the city center was modeled after Mexico's Paseo de la Reforma .
Road verge : Another use for the term boulevard is for a strip of grass between a sidewalk and a road, and located above a curb. Though in Europe the two are often adjacent, many residential neighbourhoods in the United States and Canada feature strips of grass or other greenery between the sidewalk and the road, placed in order to both beautify the street and to provide a buffer between vehicles and pedestrians.
Bicycle boulevard , a road designed primarily for use by bicycles. Vehicles will be encouraged to travel at low speeds if they are allowed at all.
Books
cite book |first=Allan B.|last=Jacobs|coauthors=Elizabeth Macdonald, Yodan Rofé|title=The Boulevard Book | year=2003 | publisher= The MIT Press | isbn=0-262-60023-4
References
reflist Road types Category:French loanwords Category:French words and phrases Category:Types of roads