Utah’s weird address system (and why I’m still confused)

This is what I stared at for quite a while when we first got to Park City, trying to figure out if I was lost or if Utah had given up on normal street names entirely.

Turns out Utah didn't give up—they just decided math was better than creativity. Most of the state uses a grid system for addresses, where intersections like this one tell you exactly where you are: 10 blocks north and 10 blocks west of the city center.

The system works like coordinates on a map. Every city has an origin point (usually Main and Center), and addresses tell you how far you are from that spot in each direction. So when you see an address like 809 N 1490 E, Heber, UT, you're looking at a location roughly 8 blocks north and 15 blocks east of downtown Heber City.

Here's where it gets interesting: Park City—being a former mining town with winding mountain roads—mostly stuck with regular street names like Deer Valley Drive and Empire Avenue. But venture over to Heber City (where we're also house hunting), and you're back to pure grid territory. Every address is a math problem waiting to be solved.

In Austin, I worried about Mopac traffic. In Park City, I worry about whether I'm standing at 200 South or 200 East.

The Mormon pioneers who planned Utah's cities were thinking long-term. Unlike street names, which eventually run out or get repetitive (how many First Streets can one state handle?), the grid system can expand infinitely in any direction. Need more city? Just add 1100 North, 1200 North, and keep counting.

It's brilliant in theory—precise, logical, and scalable. In practice, it takes a few grocery runs and several Google Maps double-checks before your brain stops treating every address like algebra homework.

I'm getting better at it, slowly. Someday I'll be able to give directions without waving vaguely and saying, "It's by that one coffee shop with the good scones." Until then, I'm grateful that GPS doesn't judge me for asking it to navigate to the same Walmart three times in one week.