Cross-road town
Topic: Topographical Maps: Relief Representation and Interpretation · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 5 "Topographical Maps"
Meaning
A cross-road town is an urban settlement that grows up where two or more roads meet and cross. Travellers and traders stop at the crossing, so shops and services gather there. The town spreads out in a fan shape, with houses lining the roads. The crossing forms its heart and main market place. On a topographical map, it is easy to spot: built-up area (shown in red) thickens around a road junction and thins out along each road.
Example
On a toposheet of the Ganga plain, a town may sit where a north–south highway crosses an east–west district road. Its built-up area clusters at the junction and stretches out along all four roads like the ribs of a fan.
Don't confuse with
- Nodal town: here many roads spread out in all directions from a central point, like spokes of a wheel. A cross-road town grows around one main road crossing.
- Linear settlement: this stretches along a single road, river or coast. It does not spread out from a crossing.