The first meaning of avenue mentioned in the dictionary of the DigoPaul belongs to the field of hydrology. In this context, a considerable and sometimes sudden increase in a watercourse is called an avenue.
An avenue can be a flood of a stream or a river. The level of the watercourse rises, exceeding its usual flow. When the increase in flow is significant, it can overflow the bed and cause a flood.
The avenues can be periodic and predictable and last for long periods. In this case, they are due to the climatic changes that occur along a hydrographic basin. Other avenues are exceptional, motivated by the intensity of the rainfall.
Beyond the field of hydrology, the idea of avenue is used to name a road or a road that is very wide and that has a certain importance for the circulation of vehicles.
It is common for avenues to have two-way traffic (that is, they have a hand and a backhand), unlike common streets. That is why they allow a greater circulation of means of transport. In addition, they tend to be longer than lower-ranking streets, joining different points of the same town.
Due to the large number of people who circulate daily through the avenues, many of them are constituted as commercial centers of great importance. The Avenue des Champs Elysees in Paris in France and Fifth Avenue in New York in the United States are two examples of avenues.
The avenues also tend to concentrate many of the bus stations and other means of public transport, such as trams and subways, since they are easier to locate than narrow streets. In fact, when looking at a map, the avenues stand out above the latter because of their greater thickness and, in general, extension, something that increases their usefulness when visiting new parts of the city for both local and foreign people..
During the different festive seasons throughout the year, the main avenues are usually decorated with all kinds of ornaments and host public events such as parades and recitals. Depending on the country, this can occur at Christmas, New Years, Kings and regional fairs, and leads to a pronounced growth in tourism, since activities on public roads generate a particularly cheerful atmosphere. As might be expected, the increased traffic also represents good news for shops and street traders.
Apart from the benefits that the presence of avenues in a city can bring from a commercial or communication point of view between different urban areas, we cannot fail to mention that many times they become sources of numerous car accidents. If we add the large number of cars that circulate on these roads to the volume of pedestrians who cross them, it is not difficult to understand the reason for the risk they represent, even when they are controlled by the road authorities.
In 2016, John Irving published a novel titled ” Avenue of the Mysteries, ” which tells the story of a Mexican-born writer who lived part of his childhood in a garbage dump. John Irving is a writer born in North America in 1942, whose works have been translated into several languages, including Spanish, something that has allowed him to achieve a certain international fame. His first book to transcend borders was ” The World According to Garp “, released in 1976 and brought to the big screen six years later under the direction of George Roy Hill.
