Stupid question - Blocks

OK... me again.

This time a really stupid question... how big is ';a block'; ?!?!

Everything about New York seems to quote 3 blocks away, 5 blocks away, etc but how big is a block !

LOL

Stupid question - Blocks

There are 20 blocks in a mile if that helps.

Stupid question - Blocks

20 blocks/mile is fairly accurate, except some blocks are longer than others. i.e. Crosstown blocks seem to be longer than uptown/downtown blocks...in certain places, such as between 5th and 6th AVenues.

Karen,

Do you mean the avenues? Each avenue is 2 blocks

A block is different if it%26#39;s a street block or avenue block. For example, to walk from 34th street to 35th street takes about a minute. From 42nd Street to 52nd Street about 10 minutes, and so on. Avenues (from 2nd to 3rd) are longer and thus take longer to walk. It would take about 3-3-1/2 minutes to walk an avenue block. Since most of Manhattan, especially midtown, is laid out in a grid pattern of streets and avenues, it%26#39;s easy to figure out how long it will take to walk from anywhere to anywhere. Just remember that streets run east-west and that avenues run north-south. Uptown is north, downtown is south.

So let%26#39;s see what you%26#39;ve learned. How long to walk from 57th Street and 5th Avenue to Grand Central Station at 43rd and Lexington? If you said 25 minutes to a half-hour--you%26#39;re on your way to being a New Yorker. If you answered ';I%26#39;d take the subway,'; you%26#39;re a Californian.

And by the way. It%26#39;s not a stupid question. Ask any native New Yorker how big an ';acre'; is and he won%26#39;t have a clue.

I was worried about blocks and street grids, but found myself referring to ';43rd off 5th'; within a day or so and at least I knew what I meant. We walked a lot because that%26#39;s what we liked to do and distances aren%26#39;t great, but the subway was easy too especially with a metrocard. Just don%26#39;t make your first trip fom central station which is a bit of a maze for newcomers. The lonely planet guide book is pocket sized and has good maps.

Hi,

I%26#39;ve driven in Milton Keynes in the UK which uses a grid system so I get the idea. Mind you the junctions in Milton Keynes are all roundabouts (circles in US speak) so I think that would flumox a lot of Americans !! ;) Directions there tend to be along the lines of ';straight over 8 roundabouts, right at the ninth, left at the 2nd roundabout ';!

Anyway, back to New York, I%26#39;m not sure I understand this about street and avenues.

You said ';streets run east-west and that avenues run north-south'; and you also said ';a block is different if it%26#39;s a street block or avenue block';...

So I assumed you meant that a block is actually a rectangle of approximately 1 min walk by 10 minute walk.

And when you said ';to walk from 34th street to 35th street takes about a minute'; you meant I%26#39;d be walking along an avenue and there would be a junction with a street every 1 minute ?

So if that was the case what did you mean when you said ';from 42nd Street to 52nd Street about 10 minutes';. Did you say street and mean avenue or have I completely lost the plot ???!!!! LOL

%26gt;%26gt;So let%26#39;s see what you%26#39;ve learned. How long to walk from 57th Street and 5th Avenue to Grand Central Station at 43rd and Lexington?%26lt;%26lt;

And what avenue is Lexington ??? LOL I%26#39;m guessing from 57th to 43rd is about 14 minutes walk along 5th avenue, then turn and Lexington is another 10-15 mins along 43rd street.

BTW it always amazes me in London how many tourists get the tube for the simplest shortest journeys... Leicester Square to Covent Garden... Hyde Park Corner to Victoria... Westminster to Waterloo

Thanks for your help.

Mark

You%26#39;re almost there.

When New Yorkers say something is 4 blocks away, they are not talking about the entire rectangle. What they mean is that if you are on 3rd Avenue and 36th Street and you are going to 3rd Avenue and 40th Street, you are going 4 blocks. Since it takes about one minute to walk one street block, you should walk from 36th to 40th in four minutes.

Now, let%26#39;s say you%26#39;re on 36th Street and 1st Avenue and you are going to 36th Street and 3rd Avenue. A New Yorker will tell you it%26#39;s two blocks (from 1st to 2nd to 3rd), but because there is more distance between avenue blocks than between street blocks, it will take you longer. Figuring 3-1/2 minutes per avenue block, a walk from 1st Avenue to 3rd will take 7 minutes even though you are going only two blocks, while the four-block walk from 36th Street to 40th Street took only four minutes.

Now, while streets are numbered for the most part, many avenues have names, such as Lexington, Park, Madison, Broadway, etc. Once you get a look at a street map this will all come very easy for you.