Two thoughts:

What most people call "alleys", we called "back lanes" in Winnipeg. That would be the small passageways behind properties that allowed access to your garage, and was where the garbage trucks picked up garbage. They must be a recent invention because there is no evidence whatsoever of back lanes here in St. John's.

The word "lane" reminds me of a Newfoundlandism for roads which is "line". Here is what the Dictionary of Newfoundland English has to say (long, I know):

line2 n Cp OED ~ sb2 26 'track, course, direction; route: e.g. line of communication'; SMITH County of Kerry (1756), p. 169 [They have greatly improved this estate, by cutting a new road from Abbey-feal ... to Castle-Island ... which roads are carried in direct lines, over mountains, through bogs, and morasses ... ]. MASON Survey of Ireland (1814-19) i, 298 'a great line of road ... has been long projected.' W SCOTT Rob Roy (1818) i, 57 I should have been glad if I had journeyed upon a line of road better calculated to afford reasonable objects of curiosity. LEWIS Disturbances in Ireland (1836), p. 289 '[They] mostly reside on the line of road between Kilcommon and Borrisaleigh.' O Sup2 ~ 26 e Chiefly Canada and N Z 'a settlement road, a bush road'; cp DC ~ 3 b, c 'a settlement road in Upper Canada' (1828-), 'a road, esp one built through the bush' (1830-) and other listed senses; 1880 EDS No. 7, p. 63 ~ 'the new roads are so called' N I; SEARY 147-8.
   1 In phr line of road, ~ of street: a way or path planned and cut through rough country by surveyors and crews.
   1835 Journ of Assembly 147 [This forms] part of a main line of road, which [extends] from Topsail along the Southern Shore of Conception Bay. 1836 [WIX]2 193 [From Petty Harbour] I walked ... by the new line of road through the woods to St John's, on which the road commissioners have lately expended [£52]. [cl837] 1882 TALBOT 2 [In St John's] there were some good shops and stores in the line of street along the water's edge, and some few detached private residences ... along the side of the hill. 1846 TOCQUE 125 This clearly points out the necessity of having a line of road between these places. 1887 Colonist Christmas No 16 The opening of the main lines of road is also worthy of notice, as they not only afforded necessary employment during the season of depression, but opened communication for traffic.
   2 A road planned and cut across rough country by surveyors, often between coastal settlements; freq in road-names.
   1835 Journ of Assembly 147 Brookfield road ... would form part of a new line to Topsail. [1843] 1846 TOCQUE 148 [They opened] up its interior by means of good roads and communications upon lines carefully surveyed and carried through lands. [1848] 1971 SEARY 227 Indian Meal Line. 1850 Nfld Almanac 43 Road Commissioners: Tickle Cove to Main Line from King's Cove. 1901 Christmas Review 10 The charred skeleton of the horse was found the next summer four miles in on the Holyrood line. 1911 Tribune Christmas No You can take a horse and carriage and drive into the village over the Salmonier line, through beautiful scenery that well repays you for your visit. P 148-65 Where do you belong to, the back line? P 148-65 The road from Old Perlican to Lead Cove was built in the 1920's to replace the path along Trinity Bay, which was hard on the horses. Mr A tracked it out; there were no surveyors for a job like that [at that time]. It is still called the new line. 1977 RUSSELL 26 Almost half the men in Pigeon Inlet used to go in over the line every fall as soon as fishin' was over, and come back just in time to get ready for fishin' again.

****************

According to the above, this usage is also found in NZ (hi Max & Pfranz!). Anyway, here we have street names like Ruby Line, Back Line, Salmonier Line, Higgins Line. Most lead from one distinct area to another (rather than being fully contained within one community). We found the names strange when we first came.