A paper street or paper road (also known as an ''Unformed legal road'') is a

street A street is a public thoroughfare in a city, town or village, typically lined with Building, buildings on one or both sides. Streets often include pavements (sidewalks), pedestrian crossings, and sometimes amenities like Street light, streetligh ...

road A road is a thoroughfare used primarily for movement of traffic. Roads differ from streets, whose primary use is local access. They also differ from stroads, which combine the features of streets and roads. Most modern roads are paved. Th ...

that appears on maps but has not been built. Paper streets generally occur when city planners or

subdivision Subdivision may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Subdivision (metre), in music * ''Subdivision'' (film), 2009 * "Subdivision", an episode of ''Prison Break'' (season 2) * ''Subdivisions'' (EP), by Sinch, 2005 * "Subdivisions" (song), by Rush ...

developers lay out and dedicate streets that are never built. Commercial street maps based only on official subdivision and land records may show streets which are legally public

rights of way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...

though usually undriveable. Paper roads may exist only on paper, never having been developed, but they have a legal existence and have the same legal status as a formed road. They are especially common in

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, where they were created primarily for future access in rural areas (though in some cases, their layout was determined without checking whether the topography was acceptable for a road). Some districts are reputed to have as many paper roads as actual, formed roads. An estimated of paper road exists in New Zealand. Walking Access map

Controversies sometimes arise about ownership or use of paper roads. Property owners may feel that an abutting undeveloped paper road is part of their property, but other property owners may have rights to access via that road, access which could be developed in the future if the need arises. The presence of a paper road can affect property valuation since there may be required building setbacks from the road, which might limit development opportunities. Paper streets (and, by extension, paper towns) may be deliberately included in published maps as

trap street In cartography, a trap street is a fictitious entry in the form of a misrepresented street on a map, often outside the area the map nominally covers, for the purpose of "trapping" potential plagiarists of the map who, if caught, would be unable ...

s, forming a

copyright trap Fictitious or fake entries are deliberately incorrect entries in reference works such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, maps, and directories, added by the editors as copyright traps to reveal subsequent plagiarism or copyright infringement. There ...

. A

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

on the phrase is found in

Chuck Palahniuk Charles Michael Palahniuk (;, , born February 21, 1962) is an American novelist of Ukrainian and French ancestry who describes his work as transgressional fiction. He has published 19 novels, three nonfiction books, two graphic novels, and two ad ...

's novel ''

Fight Club ''Fight Club'' is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel ''Fight Club (novel), Fight Club'' by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays The Narrator (F ...

'', as well as the film based on that book, where the protagonist lives in a house on "Paper street". Paper towns play a large role in

John Green John Michael Green (born August 24, 1977) is an American author and YouTuber. His books have more than 50 million copies in print worldwide, including ''The Fault in Our Stars'' (2012), which is one of the List of best-selling books#Bet ...

's novel ''

Paper Towns Paper Towns may refer to: * ''Paper Towns'' (novel), a 2008 novel by John Green * ''Paper Towns'' (film), a 2015 film based on the novel * ''Paper Towns'' (soundtrack), the soundtrack to the film * Paper towns or phantom settlements, settlemen ...

''.

References

External links

NZ Walking Access Commission information sheet on unformed legal roads (paper roads).2015 Scoping Study on reopening of a Waikato paper road:estimated at $50,800 for {{convert, 3.5, km.
Cartography Legal fictions Fictional streets and roads Fictitious entries Human geography Real property law Types of roads Roads in New Zealand Property law of New Zealand

See also

References

External links