|
Direction: East/West
Western Terminus: West Street (NY 9A) in Manhattan
Eastern Terminus: FDR Drive in Manhattan
Houston Street is a major east/west street in Manhattan, passing through
Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side. It is the dividing line between
the named streets of Downtown Manhattan and the numbered street grid that
exists in the rest of Manhattan. Therefore, it could be thought of as being
the zero street in the street grid. Its name is pronounced as if it consisted
of the words "house" and "ton." It is not pronounced like the city in Texas that
is spelled the same way.
The street is marked on local street signs as West Houston Street from West
Street (NY 9A) to Broadway and as East Houston Street from Broadway to the FDR
Drive. This is different from most of Manhattan's numbered streets, which change
name at 5 Avenue. However, 5 Avenue does not exist this far south, so Houston
Street changes names at Broadway, as do the numbered local streets to its north.
The signage on the FDR Drive is simply for Houston Street, without a compass
direction.
Houston Street is a four-lane divided road with trees in the center for most of
its length. The westernmost section, from 6 Avenue to West Street (NY 9A), is a
westbound one-way street.
|