What's the difference between a boulevard, street, avenue, and lane if there is one?

Question

I just want to know whats so different about them. Why they must have different names.

Answer 1

From what I've seen over the years in New England, most "boulevards" have at least a section that is divided, with a grassy island separating the two directions.

Other than that, it's just names.

Answer 2

"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."

"A street is a public thoroughfare in the built environment. It is a public parcel of land adjoining buildings in an urban context, on which people may freely assemble, interact, and move about. ... The word "street" is still sometimes used colloquially as a synonym for "road", but city residents and urban planners draw a crucial modern distinction: a road's main function is transportation, while streets facilitate public interaction."

"Traditionally, an avenue is a straight road with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each side, which is used, as its French source venir ("to come") indicates, to emphasize the "coming to," or arrival at a landscape or architectural feature. ... In US and Canadian urban or suburban settings, "avenue" is often simply a street name used to differentiate some streets from others, along with "way", "road", etc. Thus a community might have a "Maple Avenue" and a "Maple Street" to avoid confusion between addresses. In some cities in the United States (most notably in Manhattan, New York City), there is a convention that "avenues" run in a north-south direction, while "streets" run in an east-west direction, or vice versa."

"The word lane has several meanings, including and especially:

   1. a narrow road or street, usually lacking a shoulder or a median; this is typically applied to roads in the countryside, but can also be applied to urban streets or areas that used to be streets, such as Drury Lane in London, the Brighton Lanes, or the Cathedral Lanes in Coventry.

   2. a portion of a paved road which is intended for a single line of vehicles and is marked by white or yellow lines.

In Northern America and Australia, the term also may refer to rear access roads which act as a secondary vehicular network in cities and towns. Large cities in the U.S. states of Nevada and Texas tend to apply the term to many arterial roads."