Valley 101

If you drive downtown Phoenix, it's likely you have turned down Van Buren Street, Roosevelt Road or another roadway named after a President. Phoenix famously has a grid system for its roads. Roads running North to South are numbered and roads running East to West are named streets.  But one of our listeners asked why the streets in Central Phoenix are named after United States Presidents. They grew up on Portland Street, one street over from Roosevelt and always wanted to know why names of past Presidents adorned the street signs of Phoenix.  In today’s episode of Valley 101, a podcast from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we find out how this came to be and what it would take to continue it. Producer Amanda Luberto has more.