Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Rue Maurice Berteaux

Remember when I mentioned that there's a little ring road around St.-Aignan? It goes around the eastern side of town so that northbound traffic can get down to the river and over to the bridge to continue north. The town's main street is one-way south.

The two-way ring road, rue Maurice Berteaux, with absolutely no traffic. It was a holiday, after all. Looking north with the town center on the left.

But the little ring road is a two way street. Through traffic is encouraged to go around town rather than through it because the little southbound street is narrow. Trucks are required to use the ring road.

I suppose calling it a ring road is a bit of a stretch. It's just a normal street that was built on a filled-in drainage ditch (like a moat) that existed in the town's medieval history and which bypasses the town center. Before it was named for Maurice Berteaux (an early twentieth century French Minister of War), the street was known simply as the rue des Fossés, or Ditch Street.

5 comments:

  1. I love knowing where the names of streets comes from. I like that, in Paris, they often have a little comment under the street name (in the blue box) about who so-and-so is that the street is named after, and when he/she lived. I also think it's fun when the name is something as simple and direct as "Ditch Street".

    Judy

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  2. It appears, in your picture, that the road just suddenly drops to nowhere.

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  3. Lovely external wiring !!!

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  4. Re: hedge trimming. What would happen if you just stop trimming it and left it natural?

    BettyAnn

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  5. judy, stay tuned, there's more to come!

    starman, it heads down to the river and the main road. St.-Aignan is built on a steep riverbank.

    jean, in the center of town it's all underground, of course, but there are still wires up around the edges.

    bettyann, they'd become a wild, unruly mess. And they'd take up way too much room.

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