Canal Street has evolved from drainage channel to major thoroughfare

If you stand at the crest of Canal Street, right around Mulberry, and gaze down the crowded channel of concrete, you might be able to imagine the conditions that gave the arterial its name. At either end, the street curves subtly toward the river, recalling the natural bend of the drainage canal that once existed there. Always a street oriented toward functionality, Canal has evolved in lockstep with the rest of downtown New York.

Canal Street provides a grand entrance to the Manhattan Bridge

There would not have been a Canal Street without the Collect Pond. Known as Kalch-Hook by New York's original Dutch settlers, the pond was Manhattan's main source of drinking water since before the 17th century, when Native Americans were the island's only residents.

The 48-acre spring-fed pond was located around what is today Foley Square (at Pearl and Centre Streets), which was far north of the original colonial settlement and therefore part of a pastoral setting that drew nobility, fishermen, and ice skaters alike. Lower Manhattan would draw international attention in the late 18th century for legends that the first steam engine was tested on the pond, and that Prince William (later William IV of England) was once saved from drowning there.

Canal Street complex is a major transportation center for downtown

Because the area was home to a number of natural springs, filling the Collect Pond and its drainage canal made the land even marshier. So when tenements and other buildings were erected in the neighborhood -- which was known as the Five Points for the five-pointed intersection of Anthony, Orange, and Cross Streets (now known as Worth, Baxter, and Mosco Streets) -- they soon began to sink and fall into disrepair.

The idyllic townhouses that once stood along Canal Street soon became memories as the street began to transform into its present-day, more utilitarian state as a thoroughfare and hub of commerce.

High-visibility crosswalks are a recent improvement

Today, Canal Street is one of Manhattan's busiest crosstown roadways, home to hundreds of retailers and restaurants. For pedestrians, it's the cheapest place to buy virtually anything -- handbags and perfume, fresh fish and art supplies. For drivers, Canal is the arterial that can get them -- via the Manhattan Bridge and Holland Tunnel -- from Long Island to New Jersey with the fewest tolls.

The result of Canal Street's form and function is simple: traffic, which may be what it's best known for. Add the fact that Canal's width makes it an ideal site for underground utilities, and suddenly the street becomes even more crucial as a duct for electric cables, phone lines, sewer pipes, and, once again, water lines.

"Canal Street is both a main street -- meaning a through street -- and a destination," says Gerry Bogacz, planning director for the New York Metropolitan Transportation Council (NYMTC), a group that studies areas in need of transportation improvements, and determines how best to handle them.

Traffic officers work to keep congestion at bay

"Canal impacts areas all around itself as a major corridor for east-west movement," Bogacz says. "CATS is a way to determine what the street needs to be more efficient. Our goal is to get there by building consensus among community members and collaborating agencies."

Already the study's "Track 1" has resulted in short-term improvements such as high-visibility crosswalks, enhanced street lighting, and energy-efficient pedestrian signals. "Track 2," an in-depth study that will explore more significant environmental factors over the next three years, is just getting off the ground; it will likely factor into the DOT's plans to rebuild most of Canal Street -- everything from utilities to curb lines -- in 2007.

Fresh, inexpensive seafood is one of the street's hallmarks

A walk down Canal Street today shows that the city is doing its best to keep the bustling street orderly: All six of its lanes have been resurfaced recently, lane markers have been repainted, and traffic signals were retimed. And beneath those repaved lanes are the new water mains and miles of new underground pipes and cables that promise to keep Canal from being repeatedly reopened for the next few years.

Between its practical, cultural, and commercial functions, Canal Street is one of those classic urban roadways that has too many shops, too many people, and too many subways -- and that's exactly why most people love it.