Why Is It That...

[trt]

When you watch American movies or sit-coms the houses have such large numbers, like 30486 etc, surely the roads or avenues are not that long?

[society]

It's a combination of the street number and house number.

[Eve]

Maybe because it's more of a grid system over there (blocks) and longer roads because of it.

US TV shows annoy me with the amount of advert breaks they throw in - mind you even Game of Thrones the other night seemed to have and advert every few minutes.

[Canary42]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_numbering

[trt]

thanks folks

[Clanad]

Additionally, here in rural U.S. a movement was begun several years to even give remote rances and farms street numbers for the purpose of dispatching fire fighters and ambulances. They could enter the address on GPS units and find them, whereas trying to find such a remote place as "17 miles west on route 43 thence 6 miles north, just past the second cattle guard and upt the lane by the big cotton wood tree" would be a real challenge.

In doing so, we now have avenues and streets (the "grid system") that are numbered thusly ... "139600, Avenue 136 North East" (as opposed to the one on Avenue 136 SouthWest)...