The wildly confusing roads in Scottsdale, Arizona


As an old marketing guy, and a graphic designer, I know that certain things happen with the best intentions. And making a loop around Old Town Scottsdale was definitely a good idea. But the confusing way that it was done almost seems as if they were trying to make things difficult for people who aren't familiar with the town, the tourists. But I'm sure they meant well!

If you haven't driven through old Scottsdale recently, I have good news and bad news. The good news is that Old Town Scottsdale has been preserved, and looks great. The bad news is how the loop was created, and named.

With best intentions, the loop honors two people who are important in Arizona history - Herb Drinkwater and Barry Goldwater. Unfortunately, having two streets that kinda sound like "Something-water" to people who are not familiar with these names is a bit of a mistake. If I were a tourist and someone told me to take Drinkwater, I would see the sign that said Goldwater and figure it was "Something-water". And it gets worse.

To get to Drinkwater, you look for Drinkwater, but to get to Goldwater, at least from the north (which is where most of Scottsdale is nowadays) you look for Highland. I wouldn't even want to try to describe it to an out-of-town visitor! So, to go south, you go west...

Of course, if you live there, it's no problem at all. That's how it works. The streets where people live could be the most complex gobbledy-gook in the world, and everyone who lived there would be fine. They would get used to it. I've lived in places like that, and it's just fine. But for people from out-of-town, it's a mess, and a headache.

If you're wondering if people coming from out-of-town are important to Scottsdale, all I can say is that they're the lifeblood of the city. Making things difficult for tourists is really not what you want in a city that relies so much on tourism. I'm just sayin'.

Presumably it's all made easy by GPS saying "turn left, turn right", especially if it's your Uber driver doing it, or the chauffeur for your limousine. And since I only visit Scottsdale in January, for the car shows, it really doesn't matter to me. I'm not driving, and I'm not giving directions.

I think you need to turn on Something-water!
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