Avenue vs Boulevard: Difference and Comparison

Avenue and boulevard can both be seen in an urban area. These are types of roads, just like lanes, and alleys. Many of us do not know the difference between the various types of roads.

Key Takeaways

1. An Avenue is a straight, tree-lined road that runs between two points, while a Boulevard is a wider road that often has a central median or Boulevard with trees and flowers.
2. An Avenue is found in residential areas, while a Boulevard is often in commercial areas.
3. A Boulevard often has multiple lanes and is designed to handle heavier traffic flow than an avenue.

Avenue vs Boulevard

An avenue is a wide road lined with trees and running perpendicular to the blocks in a city. A boulevard is a wide and landscaped street characterized by a median or central reservation, offering more space for pedestrians, greenery, and recreational areas, creating a more scenic and leisurely environment.

Avenue is a single, straight road that has buildings on its sides. Avenue leads North to South which is opposite of the street as the street runs from East to West.

A boulevard is a wide street and thus fulfils more than one function. It has multiple lanes that are divided with the help of the median.

Comparison Table

Parameters of Comparison	Avenue	Boulevard
Definition	Avenue is a public road in a town or city with buildings on the sides. Usually, an avenue runs North to South.	Boulevard is a wide street, with vegetation on both sides, it also has a median that splits up the lanes of traffic.
Median	An avenue may or may not retain a median.	A boulevard has a median.
Sides	The sides of an avenue have buildings.	Generally, the sides of a boulevard possess long lines of trees and vegetation.
Lanes	It is a straight road.	It is a multi-lane road with multiple usages.
Traffic	Cars and other vehicles move fast on an avenue.	Vehicles are supposed to drive slow on a boulevard.

What is Avenue?

Avenue is one of the most common roads in an urban area. It is a straight road with buildings on one or both sides. Traffic is not common here, so vehicles run fast here.

A street runs East to West, and an avenue runs, on the contrary, North to South. Avenue des Champs-Élysées of Paris, Fifth Avenue and Madison Avenue of Manhattan, and La Brea Avenue of Los Angeles are a few instances of famous avenues.

Evidence of avenues can be seen from the 17th century. In the late 18th century, England adapted new landscaping for its roads, and thus this aesthetic form of the road came into fashion and replaced the old design of roads.

What is Boulevard?

Boulevard is a typical multi-lane road which can be seen in urban areas. It is a broad and wide street with multiple lanes. These lanes are split up with a median.

A boulevard commonly has vegetation on one or both sides. This successfully makes a boulevard visually delightful and bestows a graphical look upon it.

It is a multi-purpose street, and it has several functions, it accommodates both vehicles and pedestrians, controls the movement of traffic accordingly, and also holds a green space in the urban city.

Main Differences Between Avenue and Boulevard

1. An avenue is a straight, single road, while on the contrary, a boulevard is a multi-lane road with multiple purposes and functions.
2. On an avenue, vehicles move fast; however, on a boulevard, cars and other vehicles are supposed to drive slowly with caution as vehicles of different sizes use it. It is used by pedestrians as well.

References

1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/215088
2. http://apps.azdot.gov/ADOTLibrary/publications/project_reports/PDF/AZ180.pdf