Running or going across a town or city from one side to the other, rather than along its main axis.
Compound of 'cross' (from Old English) and 'town' (from Old English 'tūn'). Emerged in American urban planning vocabulary in the early 20th century as cities developed horizontal transit routes.
In New York City, the famous crosstown buses (especially the M42) became iconic precisely because they solved the problem of getting across Manhattan without using the crowded north-south subway lines—it's an elegant solution to urban geometry that other cities have copied worldwide.
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