Getting Around Metro Phoenix

New to town? Getting around the Valley of the Sun is easy, once you get the hang of it. Eventually, you might be able to get around using landmarks like Camelback Mountain, Pinnacle Peak, Papago Mountain and a few others…

Until then, just know that Metro Phoenix is essentially laid out like a giant grid. Use this “cheat sheet” as your guide to drive, bike or walk around “The Core” (inside of Loop 101 & North of the Loop 202 South):

Important details to remember:

• Going N/S, Central Ave splits the Phoenix metro area in half–
  • Going east, 1st STREET, 2nd St, 3rd St….
  • Going west, 1st AVENUE, 2nd Ave, 3rd Ave…
  • The higher the number, the further you are from Central Ave.
• The letter immediately following the street address (N/S/E/W) is important. N/S refers to north or south of Baseline Rd. & E/W refers to east or west of Central Ave.
• Every 8 streets makes up roughly 1 mile. If you walked from Central Ave east to 8th St., that’s 1 mile. Do the math when you’re trying to figure out how far you’re going.
• When you look at street addresses:
  • ODD numbers are on the east side of numbered streets (N/S) & south side of the E/W streets.
  • EVEN numbers are on the west side of numbered streets & north side of the E/W streets.
  • Street address numbers ending in “00” refer to either a STREET or an AVENUE; numbers ending in *01 (south) or *02 (north) will side the numbered STREET
  • Example: 2402 E Camelback Rd. is on the north side of Camelback Rd, 24 blocks east of Central Ave. (Major cross street- Camelback Rd & 24th STREET)
• The layout of streets is specific to whether you’re east or west of Central.
  • Place, Street, Way- are EAST of Central Ave, in that order. If you’re at 32nd St., 32nd Pl is immediately west of 32nd Street & 32nd Way is immediatly east of 32nd St.
  • Lane, Avenue, Drive- are WEST of Central Ave, in that order. If you’re at 32nd Ave,  32nd Drive is immediatly west of 32nd Ave & 32nd Ln is immediately east of 32nd Ave.

These major streets and you can get to most places & cover most of The Valley:

E/W streets include: (north to south & south of the 101 Loop North)

• Union Hills
• Bell/Frank Lloyd Wright (they’re the same between Scottsdale Rd & Pima in NE part of the valley)
• Greenway
• Thunderbird/Cactus
• Shea/Peoria
• Northern
• Glendale/Lincoln (Glendale becomes Lincoln west of 21st St)
• Bethany Home
• Camelback
• Indian School
• Thomas
• McDowell
• Washington
• Buckeye
• Broadway
• Southern
• Baseline

N/S streets include (from west to east, between Loop 101W & Loop 101E):

• 83rd Ave
• 51st Ave
• 19th Ave
• 7th Ave
• Central Ave
• 7th St
• 16th St
• 24th St
• 32nd St
• Tatum/44th St (44th St runs into Tatum, north of McDonald & 44th St turns into an interior neighborhood street)
• 56th St
• 64th St/Invergordon (64th St becomes Invergordon in Paradise Valley between Shea & Camelback, but drops off north of Lincoln & south of Northern Ave when it runs into Mummy Mountain)

Commit these details to memory (it doesn’t have to be all in one day…) and you’re set!

Happy navigating!!