Differences of street, road, avenue

[calpol357]

someone asked me out of the blue about the difference among street, road and avenue. i was surprised at myself because actually, I DON"T KNOW! the answer i gave was "these words can be used interchangeably" or is it otherwise?

[Alan]

Hi calpol357,

You asked:

the difference among street, road and avenue

You can use all three together with names and they all mean the same as in: Downing Street - Great North Road - Fifth Avenue. The differences as individual words are traditionally: street suggests a line of houses close together - road is very much the route for traffic as in: The roads are always busy at this time of the day and avenue suggests a line of larger houses, which is usually tree lined.

Alan
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[Guest]

well played alan mate.

[a blind alley]

Hi,
a blind alley
well this one may be definitly quite important,
and:
,a blind street
,a blind road
,a blind avenue.
Is it also a option or they are all three wrong in use?
Regards
Jan