The Paris Traveler

Street Facts

by Lynn on August 5th, 2007

With all the streets that I mentioned in my last post, I thought it would be fun to give you a few facts about some of them. For example the distinction between streets, boulevards, and avenues in Paris is that streets don’t have trees whereas boulevards and avenues do. There are, however, a few exceptions where some streets do have trees, such as the Rue d’Alésia, Rue de Tolbiac, and the Rue de la Convention. 

• The only avenue that doesn’t have trees is the Avenue de l’Opéra. The reason for this obviously was not to obstruct the view of the famous Opéra house by Charles Garnier. Too bad, I think trees would have added to the beauty of the avenue.
• The longest street in Paris is the Rue de Vaugirard which goes from the 6e to the 15e and is 4.360 m (2.7 miles).

• The shortest street is Rue des Degrés in the 2e arrond. which runs only 5,75 m (almost 19 feet).
• The widest avenue in Paris is the Avenue Foch in the 16e which is 120 m (131 yards).
• The shortest is the Avenue de Selves in the 8e which is 110 m (120 yards).
• The steepest street is the Rue Gasnier-Guy in the 20e with an inclination of 17%.
• The narrowest street is disputed (by whoever disputes these things!) between the Rue du Chat-qui-Pêche in the 5e where the narrowest point is only 1,80 m (5′9″), the Sentier des Merisiers in the 12e which is a little under 1 m (3′3″), and last, but not least…well actually yes, the least (!) the Passage de la Duée in the 20e, with it’s narrowest point only 80 cm (2′6″), but some say it doesn’t count because the passage has been boarded and fenced.

If anyone has more street facts to add, don’t hesitate to let me know!

Photo Credits: Flickr

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POSTED IN: Miscellaneous, Things To See & Do, Uncategorized