The Champs Élysées in Paris, France.

Boulevard (French, from Dutch: Bolwerk – bolwark, meaning bastion) has several generally accepted meanings. It was first introduced in the French language in 1435 as boloard and has since been altered into boulevard.

In this case, as a type of road, a boulevard (often abbreviated Blvd) is usually a wide, multi-lane arterial thoroughfare, divided with a median down the center, and "roads" along each side designed as slow travel and parking lanes and for bicycle and pedestrian usage, often with an above-average quality of landscaping and scenery. The division into peripheral roads for local use and a central main thoroughfare for regional traffic is a principal feature of the boulevard. Larger and busier boulevards are also called Dual Carriageways.

France

Baron Haussmann made such roads well-known in his re-shaping of Second Empire Paris between 1853 and 1870. The French word boulevard originally referred to the flat summit of a rampart (the etymology of the word distantly parallels that of bulwark). Several Parisian boulevards replaced old city walls; more generally, boulevards encircle a city center, in contrast to avenues that radiate from the center.

Boulevard is sometimes used to describe an elegantly wide road, such as those in Paris, approaching the Champs-Élysées.

Famous French boulevards: Avenue Montaigne, Montmartre, Invalides, Boulevard Haussmann

Germany

Karl Marx Allee in general view

A notable Boulevard in Berlin, the capital of Germany, is Karl-Marx-Allee, which was built primarily in the 1950s in Stalinist Classicism architecture with decorative buildings. One section of the Boulevard is more decorative while the other is more modern. In the center of the boulevard is the Strausberger Platz, which has buildings in wedding-cake style. The boulevard is divided into various blocks. Between 1949 and 1989, it was the main center of East Berlin.

The historically most important Boulevard in Berlin is Unter den Linden.

United States and Canada

In many places in the United States and Canada, municipalities and developers have adapted the term to refer to arterial roads, not necessarily boulevards in the traditional sense.

In California, many so-called "boulevards" extend into the mountains as narrow, winding road segments only two lanes in width. However, boulevards can be any divided highway with at-grade intersections to local streets. They can commonly be abbreviated Blvd. Some celebrated examples in California include:

• Sunset Boulevard in San Francisco, which has rows of trees on both sides of the thoroughfare, and is bisected by a tree-filled median. It connects local streets throughout the Sunset District.
• The Los Angeles area's more famous Sunset Boulevard; Santa Monica Boulevard; Wilshire Boulevard; and Hollywood Boulevard.

In Chicago, the boulevard system is a network of wide, planted-median boulevards that winds through the south, west, and north sides of the city and includes a ring of parks. Most of the boulevards and parks are 3–6 miles from The Loop.

The Cross Bay Boulevard in the Howard Beach neighborhood of Queens, and Roosevelt Boulevard in the Northeast section of Philadelphia are both referred to as "The Boulevard". A section of the Côte-Saint-Luc in Westmount, a suburb of Montréal, Québec, is also referred to as "The Boulevard".

Kansas City, Missouri is famous for having more "boulevards" and avenues in the world than any city (if the term is used lightly) except Paris, France.

Parkways, such as Brooklyn's Ocean Parkway are also sometimes referred to as boulevards.

Gallery

A typical boulevard in Valencia, California.

Charleston Boulevard in Las Vegas, Nevada with the illuminated arterial roadways aligned in a checker-board pattern.

The Las Vegas Boulevard, also referred to as "The Strip" is perhaps one of the United States' most famous boulevards.

Alternative meanings

Median

Main article: Central reservation

Some people also use the term boulevard to refer to the division or central reservation in such a road, whether specifically in a "boulevard" in the above sense or not. It can consist of anything from a simple thick curb of concrete, to a wide strip of grass, to a thoroughly landscaped space of trees, shrubs, and other foliage; in urban areas, boulevards can also contain public art or memorials. Wide boulevards also sometimes serve as rights-of-way for trams or light rail systems. Kansas City, Missouri has more "boulevard" miles than the city of Paris^{[citation needed]} (if the term is used lightly). One such famous boulevard is Ward Parkway, which features fountains, statues, and vast quantities of grass and trees in the center.

Tree Lawn, or Boulevard, in Oak Park, Illinois

Tree lawn

Main article: Tree lawn

Another use for the term boulevard is for a strip of grass between a sidewalk and a road, and located above a curb. Though in Europe the two are often adjacent, many residential neighbourhoods in the United States and Canada feature strips of grass or other greenery between the sidewalk and the road, placed in order to both beautify the street and to provide a buffer between vehicles and pedestrians.

Australia

Melbourne has at least 4 roads named "the Boulevard". These are generally long roads with many curves which wind alongside the Yarra River. In addition, the spelling of boulevard with an extra 'e' is common, for example the Southlands Boulevarde shopping centre in southern Sydney.

Israel

Tel Aviv, established in 1909, was originally designed along the guidelines set out by architect Sir Patrick Geddes. Geddes designed a green or garden ring of boulevards surrounding the central city, which still exists today and continues to characterize Tel Aviv. One of the most famous and busy streets in the city is Rothschild Boulevard.

United Kingdom

Due to city planning and physical geography the U.K has a lack of boulevards. After the Great Fire of London, London was supposed to be formed of straight boulevards, squares and plazas which are seen in mainland Europe, but due to land ownership issues these plans never came to light. Boulevards in London are rare but examples such as Blackfriars Road do exist.

Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire is one of only a handful of examples where boulevards are a key feature. This is due to Milton Keynes being built as a modern new town in the 1960s.

Elsewhere

Boulevards in their various forms appear throughout the world.

Books

• Jacobs, Allan B.; Elizabeth Macdonald, Yodan Rofé (2003). The Boulevard Book. The MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-60023-4. 

References

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