Quick Tip: Using the Direction Which Traffic Flows To Know Where You Are

A quick tip for knowing where you are and getting around Manhattan is to use the direction in which traffic flows. As a general rule of thumb, all the traffic on even streets go East and all the traffic on odd streets go West. A quick way to remember this is Even for East. Knowing which way is East and which way is West, makes it quite easy to know which direction is North and which direction is South. This can come in quite handy especially when it might be too far too see what the next street is and is much quicker than taking out your phone for directions (especially when just emerging from a train station).

One exception to this rule is that all the major crosstown streets such as Houston, 14th street, 23rd street, 34th street, etc. have traffic running in both directions. This rule also doesn’t apply south of Houston Street, where all the streets are pretty much random and each do their own thing. In this case, you will have no choice than to either ask a stranger on the street or whip out your trusty phone. Just like a tourist =) Welcome to New York!