Snake Alley
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Nicknamed the "Crookedest Alley in the World," Snake Alley, located in Burlington, Iowa, was constructed in 1894 as an experimental street design. The original intention of Snake Alley was to serve as a direct link between the downtown business district and the neighborhood shopping area located on North Sixth Street.
Three German immigrants conceived and carried out the idea of a winding hillside street, similar to vineyard paths in France and Germany.
The alley is composed of limestone and blueclay bricks. The constantly changing slant from one curve to the next necessitated a complicated construction technique to keep the high grade to the outside. Snake Alley consists of five half-curves and two quarter-curves over a distance of 275 feet, rising 58.3 feet from Washington Street to Columbia.
