Why does Broadway cut diagonally across New York?
New York's longest avenue has the strangest layout. Broadway cuts diagonally across Manhattan—a unique path in a city of right angles. Here's why.
Broadway’s unusual path
- Outside Lower Manhattan, New York’s streets and avenues form a perfect grid, intersecting at right angles. This orderly layout is one of the things that makes New York so distinctive. Broadway is the major exception. At 21 km (13 mi) long, it’s the city’s longest avenue, and it follows a completely different route.
- Instead of running straight down Manhattan like Fifth Avenue does, Broadway cuts diagonally across the island. It starts in the Upper West Side, crosses 10th Avenue, and heads toward Times Square and Madison Square Park, where it intersects Fifth Avenue. The avenue ends at Battery Park, passing Bowling Green and the Charging Bull.
Why does Broadway follow this unusual route?
- Broadway traces an ancient Native American trail that connected north to south. When Dutch colonists arrived in 1609, the path already existed. They settled around this established route and continued to use it. The road persisted through the centuries, even after the city adopted its famous grid plan in 1811.
- One more thing: “Broadway” is an English translation of the Dutch name “Brede weg,” which means “broad road.” You’ll have something interesting to share when you walk down Broadway.
