Streets named after Martin Luther King Jr. can be found in many cities of the United States and in nearly every major metropolis. There are also a number of other countries that have honored Martin Luther King Jr., including Italy and Israel. The first street in the United States named in his honor was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Chicago in 1968. [1] The number of streets named after King is increasing every year, and about 70% of these streets are in states which were members of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, and Texas. King's home state of Georgia had the most, with 75 streets as of 2001; [2] this had increased to 105 as of 2006. [3]
As of 2003, there were over 600 American cities that had named a street after King. [2] By 2004, this number had grown to 650, according to NPR. [4] In 2006, Derek Alderman, a cultural geographer at East Carolina University, reported the number had increased to 730, with only 10 states in the country without a street named after King (Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont). [3] In 2014 he estimated that there were over 900 streets named after King in 41 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico. [5] In 2019, National Geographic published an interactive mapping of more than 1,000 streets around the world named after King. [6]
Business owners in the affected parts of cities have objected, claiming that naming a street after Martin Luther King is bad for business. [7]
The following is a list of streets named after King in the United States.
The "Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. memorial highway" includes various portions: [31]
Also:
As of April 2021 Kansas City, Missouri is no longer the largest U.S. city without a street named in honor of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
After a three-year battle, the city’s parks board unanimously agreed to give Blue Parkway the MLK name Tuesday.
New York State Route 440 (NY 440) is a freeway located entirely on Staten Island in New York City. The route acts as a connector between the two segments of New Jersey Route 440, running from the Staten Island community of Richmond Valley in the south to Port Richmond in the north. NY 440 is connected to the two New Jersey segments by the Outerbridge Crossing to the south and the Bayonne Bridge to the north. It is one of several signed New York State routes that are not connected to any others in the state, and one of only two NYS routes that is the middle section of another state's highway bearing the same number. From the Korean War Veterans Parkway to Interstate 278 (I-278), it is known as the West Shore Expressway. North of I-278, it is named the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway. NY 440 is the southernmost state route in the state of New York.
Interstate 395 (I-395) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the US state of Maryland. Known as Cal Ripken Way, the highway runs 1.98 miles (3.19 km) from I-95 north to Howard Street and Camden Street in Downtown Baltimore, where it provides access to the Inner Harbor and the Baltimore Convention Center. The Interstate also serves the Camden Yards Sports Complex, which contains M&T Bank Stadium and Oriole Park at Camden Yards, homes of the Baltimore Ravens and Baltimore Orioles, respectively. I-395 also serves as the southern terminus of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, an urban arterial that provides a western bypass of Downtown Baltimore and connects I-95 with U.S. Route 40 (US 40), US 1, and I-83. The Interstate is maintained by the Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) and, like all Interstates, is a part of the National Highway System.
State Road 60, or Route 60 is an east–west route transversing Florida from the Gulf of Mexico to the Atlantic Ocean. The western terminus of SR 60 is at the Sunsets at Pier 60 site in Clearwater Beach. The eastern terminus is in Vero Beach near the Atlantic Coast just past State Road A1A.
A street name is an identifying name given to a street or road. In toponymic terminology, names of streets and roads are referred to as odonyms or hodonyms. The street name usually forms part of the address. Buildings are often given numbers along the street to further help identify them. Odonymy is the study of road names.
Figueroa Street is a major north-south street in Los Angeles County, California, spanning from the Los Angeles neighborhood of Wilmington north to Eagle Rock. A short, unconnected continuation of Figueroa Street runs just south of Marengo Drive in Glendale to Chevy Chase Drive in La Cañada Flintridge.
Highway 180 is a state highway of 1.723 miles (2.773 km) in Fayetteville. The route begins at I-49/US 62/US 71 and runs east through Fayetteville to School Avenue. Highway 180 is designated as part of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail as well as Arkansas Heritage Trails System designations as the Butterfield Trail, Trail of Tears, and Civil War Trails.
State Road 115 is a state highway in the U.S. state of Florida.
The Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway is a 7.1-mile (11.4 km) long expressway running along the eastern and northern edges of Downtown Jacksonville, Florida. It carries U.S. Route 1 Alternate from near its southern terminus to an interchange with US 1/US 17. US 1 follows the expressway to its northern terminus, an intersection with US 23. Despite its name, it is not a parkway in the conventional sense, as it has no limits on truck use and is not located near parks or other beautified areas.
The oldest part of Denver, Colorado, now the neighborhoods of Auraria Campus, LoDo, much of downtown, and Five Points, is laid out on a grid plan that is oriented diagonal to the four cardinal directions. The rest of the city, including the eastern part of downtown, is laid out primarily on a grid oriented to the cardinal directions. In this larger grid, from east to west, there are generally 16 city blocks per mile, except between Zuni Street and Lowell Boulevard in west Denver. From north to south, there are typically eight blocks per mile, although there are many areas with more blocks per mile. Addresses follow a decimal system, with addresses advancing by one hundred at each cross street.
The Paseo is a major north–south parkway in Kansas City, Missouri. As the city's first major boulevard, it runs approximately 10 miles (16 km) through the center of the city: from Cliff Drive and Lexington Avenue on the bluffs above the Missouri River in the Pendleton Heights historic neighborhood, to 85th Street and Woodland Avenue. The parkway holds 223 acres (0.90 km2) of boulevard parkland dotted with several Beaux-Arts-style decorative structures and architectural details maintained by the city's Parks and Recreation department.
Prospect Avenue is one of the major north-south streets in Kansas City, Missouri and the Kansas City metropolitan area. It begins in the north at E Reservoir Drive in the Pendleton Heights neighborhood of the Historic Northeast and stretches south for 10.5 miles to its southern terminus at Blue River Road. It runs closely parallel to U.S. Route 71 from Swope Parkway to 75th Street.
The Memphis Parkway System is a system of parkways that formed the original outer beltway around Memphis, Tennessee. They consist of South Parkway, East Parkway, and North Parkway. Designed by George Kessler, the Parkway System connects Martin Luther King Jr. Riverside Park with Overton Park. The system was put on the National Register of Historic Places on July 3, 1989.
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is an east-west thoroughfare in Los Angeles, California. It stretches 7.1 miles (11.4 km) from Obama Boulevard in Baldwin Village to South Alameda Street in Central-Alameda. Prior to 1983, the boulevard was known as Santa Barbara Avenue.
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard is a prominent street in Savannah, Georgia, United States. Located to the west of Montgomery Street, at the western edge of Savannah's downtown, it runs for about 2.48 miles (3.99 km) from West River Street in the north to Exchange Street in the south. Originally called West Broad Street, it was renamed for Martin Luther King Jr. in 1991. A memorial bust of King Jr., designed by Italian sculptor Franco Castelluccio and approved by his family, was officially unveiled at Martin Luther King Jr. Park in Savannah's Plant Riverside District on January 15, 2022. The memorial is located at the northern terminus of the boulevard, overlooking the Savannah River.
Motorist will be detoured via US 90 (Fruge St), LA 14 (S. Martin Luther King Hwy) and LA 3020 (Opelousas St).
It was named the Martin Luther King Jr. Expressway east from Downtown by the Oklahoma Highway Commission in 1984