Navigating Ames
From Rofflehaus
Ames is a metropolian area,1 yet isn't much harder to get through than a typical small town. The city is about 25 square miles and nestled in between Highway 30 and Interstate 35.
Contents |
[edit] Main Areas
Ames has several areas that are referred to by name:
Downtown is the historic area of Ames and an area of town not often frequented by students. They have some crappy stores, some bars, and some restaurants. The area of town you're probably interested in is Campustown and, specifically, Welch Avenue for bars, restaurants and late-night activity.
[edit] Main thoroughfares
These are the main streets in Ames. Knowing them would be the first place to start in navigating Ames. After knowing them, it should be easy to get anywhere in Ames.
[edit] North/South
- Interstate 35
- The north-south interstate that takes you through Iowa. Chances are you took this highway to get into town.
- Duff Avenue (mainly South Duff)
- Main north-south street in East Ames. South Duff has lots of restaurants and shopping. Duff goes north through a residential area and magically deposits you at the mall.
- Grand Avenue
- Main north-south street north of Lincoln Way in Ames which takes you to North Grand Mall. The Lincoln Center Hy-Vee is at the South end.
- Elwood Drive
- Connects the Iowa State Center with Highway 30. Continues north to the north end of campus.
- Stange Road
- A street on the northwest part of Ames which will take you right to Lago and Kildee Halls.
- Welch Avenue
- Main street in campustown. The road directly south of the intersection by Friley Hall, People's Bar and Grill, and Copyworks. While not a main thoroughfare, it is still a very important street for students.
- Dakota Avenue (North Dakota and South Dakota)
- Main north-south street in west Ames. Goes north from Lincoln Way to Ontario Street and south to Highway 30. This area of Ames is largely residential.
[edit] East/West
- Highway 30
- Highway 30 runs East-West south of Ames. The fastest way to get from Interstate 35 to campus is by taking the Elwood Drive exit on Highway 30. (use exit 111B to get from 35 to 30 in the correct direction).
- Mortensen Road to Elwood Drive to South 16th Street
- Although it's not as seamless as 13th and Ontario Streets meeting, this route connects Sterling University Plains with South Duff Avenue without taking 30.
- South 3rd Street/South 4th Street
- Connects South Duff with the Iowa State Center. Also the "back way" to the Lincoln Center Hy-Vee.
- Lincoln Way
- Main east-west street in Ames that has most of the restaurants are and where shopping can be done.
- 13th Street/Ontario Street
- Takes you from Interstate 35 to the Boone County line past the north side of campus by Frederiksen Court. It goes by the hospital.
- 24th Street
- Goes from Duff Avenue to the University Village area. A handy way to get to North Grand Mall.
[edit] Transportation
[edit] Finding an Address
We are lucky that the Ames city planners are so anal. This stuff is accurate about 99% of the time, so don't bitch about that 1%. Or better yet, edit this article and point out the few places it's wrong, I dare you.
There are two things you need to understand:
[edit] North/South/East/West street names
The city of Ames is divided by Lincoln Way and Duff Avenue. Remember that.
L-Way runs East to West, so any street with North in the name is North of Lincoln Way. Any street with South in the name is South of Lincoln Way. Still with me? Some times though, you will not see a North street. You'll just have the plain vanilla name north of Lincoln Way, and a South version below. Example:
- Sheldon Avenue is North of Lincoln Way.
- South Sheldon Avenue is South of Lincoln Way.
Duff Avenue works the same way. Anything West of Duff is West, and anything East of Duff is East, but I bet you already figured that out, right? Duff is way over on the East side of town, so you will not see many West streets, they just have the plain vanilla name, and the part East of Duff is given the East name.
- 13th street is West of Duff Avenue.
- East 13th Street is East of Duff Avenue.
[edit] Street groupings
Ames has a cool system of naming their streets in groups. Groups of anything, actually. Authors, fruits, precious gemstones, you name it.
Say you have a name of a street, (Poe Street, for example) and you don't know where it is, but you DO know where Steinbeck Street is. With this magical grouping system, you can say, "Hey, Poe is an author, and Steinbeck is one too! I'll bet they're close together!" And you would be right; Poe intersects with Steinbeck! It's fun AND educational!
There are several of these neighborhoods around Ames.
- In northwest Ames, there are streets named after U.S. States and Canadian territories. (East of South Dakota and south of Ontario Street).
- In southwest Ames, there is a neighborhood with streets named after American authors. (Steinbeck, Poe, Dickenson, Twain, etc)
- In southeast Ames, south of Highway 30 and east of Duff, the streets are named after gemstones. (Ruby, Emerald, Diamond, etc)
- In southeast Ames near 16th Street, the streets are named after fruits. (Apple, Mulberry, Strawberry, etc)
- North of Veenker Golf Course, the streets are named after trees (Aspen, Evergreen, Cypress, etc)
There are plenty more, try to catch 'em all!
[edit] Odd/Even house numbers
When you're looking for a house (building, apartment, hobo, whatever) number, remember:
NOW you SEE.
- Numbers that are odd are on the North or West side of the street.
- Numbers that are even are on the South or East side of the street.
Isn't that goddamned handy?
[edit] References
- [1]: The article, City’s new status generates more funding, in the 05/21, 2002 edition of the Iowa State Daily is still unavailable due to a change in the Daily's website and general laziness of Rofflehaus contributors. If you'd like to help fix a broken link like this, check out Template talk:ISUD to find out how. Thank you for your patience. (D: 05/21/2002)
