Editing Philadelphias Grid Plan (section)

== Diagonal Streets ==

While the grid plan dominates Center City, several diagonal streets cut across it, following routes established by the [[Lenape People|Lenape]] and early European settlers before Penn's arrival. These include Ridge Avenue, running northwest from the Delaware River toward [[Roxborough]]; Germantown Avenue, running from Northern Liberties through [[Germantown]] and [[Chestnut Hill]]; and Passyunk Avenue in South Philadelphia. These diagonal streets, based on ancient [[Lenape Trails|Lenape trails]], create irregular intersections and oddly shaped blocks where they cross the grid, including the famous triangle at 9th and Passyunk that houses the [[Italian Market]] area. Rather than obliterating these pre-existing routes, Penn's surveyors accommodated them, allowing indigenous geography to coexist with the imposed European order.<ref name="weigley"/>

The coexistence of grid and diagonal streets gives Philadelphia a distinctive character among American cities. The regular grid provides navigational clarity and efficient lot division, while the diagonal streets create visual interest, traffic shortcuts, and quirky corner buildings. The small parks at five-way intersections, such as the one at Ridge and North Broad, result from the intersection of diagonal and grid streets. This layering of indigenous trails, colonial planning, and later development creates a palimpsest of urban history visible in the city's street pattern—a physical record of the different peoples and eras that have shaped Philadelphia.<ref name="reps"/>