78th Street (Manhattan)

The New York City borough of Manhattan contains 214 numbered east–west streets numbered from 1st to 228th, the majority of them created by the Commissioners' Plan of 1811. These streets do not run exactly east–west, because the grid plan is aligned with the Hudson River, rather than with the cardinal direction. Thus, the grid's "west" is approximately 29 degrees north of true west. The grid covers the length of the island from 14th Street north.

All numbered streets carry an East or West prefix (for example, East 10th Street or West 10th Street), which changes from one to the other at Broadway below 8th Street, and at Fifth Avenue at 8th Street and above. The numbered streets carry crosstown traffic. In general, but with numerous exceptions, even-numbered streets are one-way eastbound and odd-numbered streets are one-way westbound. Most wider streets, and a few of the narrow ones, carry two-way traffic.

Although the numbered streets begin just north of East Houston Street in the East Village, they generally do not extend west into Greenwich Village, which already had established, named streets when the grid plan was laid out by the Commissioners' Plan of 1811. Some streets in that area that do continue farther west change direction before reaching the Hudson River.

220th Street is the highest numbered street on Manhattan Island, but Marble Hill is also within the borough of Manhattan, so the highest street number in the borough is 228th Street. The numbering system continues in the Bronx, up to 263rd Street. The lowest numbered street in Manhattan is East 1st Street, which runs through Alphabet City near East Houston Street. There is also a First Place in Battery Park City.

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