Parkway Abbreviation: Pkwy

Parkway abbreviation forms at a glance

Mail will usually still arrive with a variant, because sorting software maps common spellings to PKWY. Using the preferred form simply removes any doubt.

What is the abbreviation for parkway on an address?

On an envelope or label, put the house number, the street name and PKWY on one line. Capitals and no punctuation are the post office's preference.

Online forms often have a single "Street address" box. Typing "2250 River Bend Pkwy" there is fine, since the software standardizes it for you.

Why the short form drops letters the way it does

Most street suffix abbreviations hold on to the strong consonants and let the vowels go. Parkway keeps P, K, W and Y, which sound out "P K W Y" closely enough to read at a glance. You can see the same pattern in Blvd for boulevard and Hwy for highway.

This is a clipped spelling, not a set of initials, so you never say it letter by letter. People read Pkwy aloud as "parkway." The consonant habit is laid out step by step in how to abbreviate.

Periods, capitals and plurals

• Period: leave it off in postal addresses. In sentences, Pkwy. with a period is the usual American style, though many writers skip the abbreviation and write the word.
• Capitals: use PKWY in all caps on mail. In normal text, write Pkwy with a capital P, since the road's name is a proper noun.
• Plural: when you mention two roads, write the word, as in "the Lakeview and Garden State parkways." Short plural forms like Pkwys are rare.
• Lowercase: when parkway just describes a kind of road, keep the whole word in small letters: "We took the parkway to the beach."

Using Pkwy in sentences

• "The office is at 800 Commerce Pkwy., Suite 200."
• "Turn left on Meadow Pkwy and look for the blue sign."
• "The scenic parkway closes at dusk in the winter."
• "Return address: 31 Oak Hill PKWY"
• "Traffic on the parkway was slow after the game."

In the third and fifth lines, the word is a common noun, so it stays spelled out and lowercase. Only use the short form when it follows a street name.

Suffixes that get confused with PKWY

Street suffixes look alike on a crowded sign. A few to keep straight:

• PK means park, as in a road named Lincoln Park. It is not a short parkway.
• PL is place, a short or dead end street.
• PIKE is a turnpike style road, and the post office keeps it spelled out.
• EXPY is expressway, a larger, faster road.
• CIR means circle, a loop street.

For other everyday short forms, from apartment to suite, head over to the common abbreviations hub for the full set.