Manhattan Street Grid Bicentennial

73rd Street between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues (photo taken on January 18, 2009)

First Avenue, viewed from Roosevelt Island Tram (photo taken on May 23, 2009)

The streets of Manhattan are for the most part arranged in a simple grid. The street grid system turned 200 the other day. On March 22, 1811, the city's street commissioners certified the grid plan, defining the way Manhattan has evolved.  In commemoration of the birthday of the Commissioner's Plan of 1811, the New York Times put together an interactive map where you can overlay the original plan with a modern map and see just how much of the original plan was carried out.