Route Fifty created a ranking system to judge the "gravitas" of each of the avenues in the nation's capital named after the 50 states in the Union.
Michael Grass describes the idea behind a recent exercise in evaluating the streets of Washington D.C.:
"What if you could rank the 50 states based on the location and characteristics of their corresponding state-named avenue in the District of Columbia? Essentially, this would be a measure of state identity gravitas—if that is something that could be indeed measured."
It's no secret that some state avenues intersect with some wildly attractive real estate—but they can't all front the White House, can they Pennsylvania Avenue? Here are the metrics that contributed to the ranking:
- How many quadrants does the state avenue pass through?
- Is the state an "Original 13" colony?
- Is the state-named thoroughfare in the original L’Enfant-designed city?
- Does the state avenue radiate from the White House or U.S. Capitol building?
- How many important junctions—traffic circles, squares and other potentially monumental intersections—does the state avenue connect?
- How many intersections are there with other state-named thoroughfares?
- Is the state-named thoroughfare physically interrupted?
- Is the state-named thoroughfare not technically an Avenue?
- Does the state-named thoroughfare cross the state line into Maryland and retain its name?
- What is the state-named thoroughfare’s length in miles?
After running all of the avenues through the methodology, Grass determines that the state at the top fo the list is Massachusetts, followed by Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Bringing up the rear is one of the state-named public right of ways that didn't warrant the title "Avenue": California.
Given California's position at the very, very bottom of the list, Grass begins the article with some discussion about whether a state of such prominence as California is worthy of an Avenue more reflective of its contributions to the Union.
Hat tip to David Alpert at Greater Greater Washington for sharing the news about the ranking.
FULL STORY: How Do the 50 States Stack Up According to Their ‘State Avenue Gravitas’ in D.C.?
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