Bob Walsh Street

Overview

Bob Walsh Street (Georgian: ბობ უოლშის ქუჩა) is a street in the north-west of Tbilisi, in Dighomi. According to OpenStreetMap (OSM), it is about 2.46 km long. It starts at Georgian-American Friendship Avenue (Kartul-Amerikuli Megobroba Avenue) and runs almost straight north towards Patara Dighomi.

The street was named on 25 July 2017. Under Tbilisi City Council decision No. 286, an unnamed street next to the territory of the Embassy of the United States, in the Saburtalo district, and its 1st and 2nd Lanes received the name of “public figure Bob Walsh”. The site previously used the transliteration “Bob Uolshi Street”; the correct English form of the name is Bob Walsh.

Location

According to OSM, the southern end of the street is at Georgian-American Friendship Avenue (about 41.7869° N, 44.7810° E). The northern end is at about 41.8087° N, 44.7845° E, where the street turns into a dirt track. The approximate midpoint is at 41.7976° N, 44.7822° E.

Bob Walsh 1st and 2nd Lanes and Kukuri Gogiashvili 1st Lane join the street. In OSM, the southern section is mapped as a tertiary road and the northern section as a residential street.

The 2017 decision places the street in the Saburtalo district, and OSM address data also puts it in Patara Dighomi, Saburtalo district. In OSM, the bus stop at its southern end belongs to Dighomi Massive in the Didube district.

Based on OSM coordinates, the nearest metro station is Sarajishvili, about 2.1 km in a straight line from the middle of the street.

The name: Bob Walsh

The decision calls Bob Walsh only a “public figure” and gives no biography. The public figure of this name whose work is linked with Georgia is Robert (Bob) Walsh.

According to English Wikipedia, he was born on 20 September 1940 in Winthrop, Massachusetts, and died on 23 January 2017. He was a television producer, marketing and sports executive, business consultant and humanitarian. From 1973 to 1976 he was assistant general manager of the Seattle SuperSonics basketball team. With Ted Turner and Soviet state agencies, he organised the 1990 Goodwill Games in Seattle.

Wikipedia also says that Walsh carried out humanitarian work in Belarus, Russia and Georgia. He brought the first major Western investment to Georgia, which led to the Marriott Tbilisi and Courtyard Marriott hotels, office buildings and an ice-cream factory in Tbilisi. Former Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze named him an Honorary Citizen of Georgia.

The Georgian name ბობ უოლში is simply the Georgian spelling of “Bob Walsh”. The older English form “Bob Uolshi Street” was a letter-by-letter transliteration. The correct forms are Bob Walsh Street and, in Russian, улица Боба Уолша, as also used in OSM.

Nearby places

• Embassy of the United States — 29 Georgian-American Friendship Avenue; according to OSM, about 0.44 km in a straight line from the southern end of the street.

• Georgian-American Friendship Avenue — the main road where the street begins.

FAQ

1) Where is Bob Walsh Street?
In the north-west of Tbilisi, in Dighomi. It starts at Georgian-American Friendship Avenue and runs north towards Patara Dighomi.

2) How long is the street?
About 2.46 km, according to OpenStreetMap.

3) When was the street named after Bob Walsh?
On 25 July 2017, by Tbilisi City Council decision No. 286.

4) What was it called before?
It had no official name. The decision describes it as an unnamed street next to the territory of the US Embassy.

5) Who is Bob Walsh?
The decision calls him a “public figure”. The well-known public figure of this name who worked in Georgia is the American producer and humanitarian Robert (Bob) Walsh (1940–2017).

6) Why “Bob Walsh” and not “Bob Uolshi”?
“Uolshi” is a letter-by-letter transliteration of the Georgian form. The person’s actual name is Bob Walsh, so the English name is Bob Walsh Street (Russian: улица Боба Уолша).

7) Does the street have side lanes?
Yes. The same decision gave Bob Walsh’s name to the 1st and 2nd Lanes next to the street.

8) Which district is it in?
The 2017 decision and OpenStreetMap place it in the Saburtalo district (in Patara Dighomi, according to OSM).

9) What is the nearest metro station?
Sarajishvili, about 2.1 km in a straight line from the middle of the street.

10) What is near the southern end?
The US Embassy (29 Georgian-American Friendship Avenue), about 0.44 km in a straight line from the southern end.

Sources

• Tbilisi City Council decision No. 286 of 25 July 2017 (naming the street after Bob Walsh) — Legislative Herald of Georgia (in Georgian)

• Bob Walsh Street (southern section) — OpenStreetMap

• Bob Walsh Street (northern section) — OpenStreetMap

• Embassy of the United States in Tbilisi — OpenStreetMap

• Bob Walsh (sports executive) — English Wikipedia