There is supposed to be a system to the naming of streets in King County, which includes Kirkland, Seattle, and many suburbs. Everything is supposed to be based on a street grid. "Streets" run one direction and "avenues" run perpendicular to the "streets." If you know the orientation of the grid and the direction of "streets" and the direction of "avenues," you should be able to know your way around and know how to go where you want to go. That's the theory.
This picture of an intersection not far from us illustrates the reality.
On the signs - The street running north-south - to the left it is called 6th Street S. The same street only to the right is called 108th Ave NE. Intersecting with this north-south street is NE 68th Street.
In Kirkland "streets" supposedly run north-south and "avenues" run east-west. Here at this one intersection we have "streets" going three directions as well as a street/avenue combination. NE before a street/avenue name means one thing and something else when it comes after the street.
We can't find any explanation for the street grid used by Kirkland. This wikipedia article tells about the grid system used in Seattle and King County - in most cities, but not Kirkland.
If you look at a map of Kirkland and zoom out to surrounding communities, you'll see that "streets" and "avenues" are oriented differently in Kirkland than in the rest of King County. We wonder how and why that happened. Was it deliberate?
(The intersection in the picture is marked by Houghton Center, Starbucks, Bella Cleaner on the Google map.)
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