Local: Navigating Around Edmonton
The names of Edmonton's streets follows a number of simple conventions:
[ Quadrants |
Trails |
Building Numbers |
Nearby Communities ]
Quadrants
Most of the streets and avenues in Edmonton are numbered rather than named, making it easy to find addresses. Avenues run east-west, and Streets run north-south.
The geographical center of the city is at the intersection of 100 Street and 100 Avenue. In the downtown core, locals drop the hundred from the address, for example "I'm at the corner of Sixth and Jasper" really means the corner of 106 Street and Jasper Avenue.
As the city has grown to the south and east, down past 1 Street and 1 Avenue, a quadrant system has been adopted. This system places most of the existing city into the North West (NW) quadrant with Quadrant Avenue and Meridian Street as the quadrant divisions.
Most residents however, generally distinguish between "northside" (north of
the River) and "southside" (south of the river).
The area around West Edmonton Mall, west of the River wher it bends south, tends to be called "West Side".
"Streets" run North-South, and "avenues" run East-West. Most of Edmonton's streets and avenues are numbered beginning at Centre and Centre. Those closest to the core have the lowest numbers.
To approximate distance, it's about 10 streets to the mile or 15 avenues to the mile.
Trails
Major roadways in Edmonton are called "Trails". The most important are: the
east-west Yellowhead Trail (also known as Highway 16), which is part of the Trans-Canada Highway;
St Albert Trail, to the northwest, which continues as part of the Alaska Highway; and Gateway Blvd (formerly Calgary Trail), which leads to the International Airport, and appropriately enough to Calgary. Another important east-west roadway in the Southside is Whitemud Drive, which is the fastest way from Calgary Trail in the south to the West Edmonton Mall.
Building Numbers
Building numbers generally indicate the street and avenue numbers. To figure
the nearest cross-street (or avenue) take off the last two digits of a
building number. For example, 12425 117 Ave NW, will be close to 124 Street on
117 Avenue NorthWest, and because both are over 100, northwest of downtown as well).
Higher numbers, after removing the street number portion, the numbers count up from the cross-street. Incdentally, as to building numbers, even numbers are on the West side of "Streets", and on the north side of "Avnues".
In newer neighbourhoods, where all the streets are named not numbered, kiss these rules
good-bye.
Nearby Communities
Edmonton has a number of nearby cities that have their own municipal governments and substantial populations. In the northwest are St Albert and then Spruce Grove. To the east are Sherwood Park and Fort Saskatchewan. To the south are Leduc (by the International Airport), and Beaumont. Many people live in these communities and commute to work in Edmonton.
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