Published: April 15, 2009 09:57 am      

County getting 411 on 911

Rural roads get new names

Some of the roads have no names.

Other roads have names — but the names are identical to others in the county.

Still other roads have a multitude of names for no apparent reason, other than that’s what the local residents have always called them.

That’s just some of the problems facing those who are putting together street addresses for every single residence in Pittsburg County as part of the Enhanced 911 System which is being planned for the area.

When it’s completed, Enhanced 911 should allow dispatchers to immediately pinpoint where an emergency call is originating from throughout Pittsburg County.

Darren Hibbard, of InterAct Public Safety systems, and Lisa Sutterfield, who is helping plan the county’s enhanced 911 system, gave Pittsburg County commissioners on Monday the locations of roads which have presented problems.

“We have completely mapped the entire county,” Hibbard said.

During the mapping, Hibbard said between 200 and 300 road name issues were identified.

Those include everything from the previously mentioned roads which need to have a name assigned, to roads where the spelling needs to be verified or roads with names that sound similar.

Hibbard also recommended the commissioners follow the recommendations of the National Emergency Number Association, which includes avoiding hyphenated names.

Commissioners were asked to make any needed corrections, revisions, and road-naming, and to have it all ready by May 1.

That doesn’t mean the process is near completion.

“By the end of January 2010, all of the mapping and addressing will be taken care of,” Hibbard said. All of the data will be submitted to the post office and the telephone companies to change their records,” he said.

Since every address in the county must include the name of a road or street, some people’s mailing addresses will be changed. For example, a number of rural addresses now are designated by rural routes and highway contract route numbers, along with mailbox numbers.

Once the post office has the records changed, they will send a certified letter, informing the recipients of the mailing address changes, according to Hibbard.

District 1 Commissioner Gene Rogers will have the most roads to check. His district includes the myriad of developments and lakeside homes around Lake Eufaula.

Several cases arose of roads in different parts of Pittsburg County bearing identical names.

For example, there’s a Pine Hollow Road in the southern part of the county in District 2 and one that’s more to the north in District 3. The roads aren’t connected and they were given their names independently.

Having two roads in different parts of Pittsburg County could present a problem in dispatching emergency assistance — so the commissioners needed to settle on only one Pine Hollow Road.

So which district will get to keep the Pine Hollow moniker? Both commissioners figured their constituents would not like giving up a road name that has been used for years.

“Do you want to wrestle for it?” District 2 County Commissioner Kevin Smith quipped, as he and District 3 Commissioner Donald Mathis pondered the quandary.

However, the two talked about a compromise and how they would approach the matter with those who live on the roads in their respective districts.

“Instead of saying ‘you don’t live on Pine Hollow anymore,’ we’ll say ‘you live on South Pine Hollow and you live on North Pine Hollow,’” Smith said.

Another problem in District 2 is Pounds Valley Road. The relatively long stretch of county road in District 2 is known locally on both ends as Pounds Valley Road — but in the middle, it had several other names, Smith said.

Smith resolved that by having the entire stretch officially named Pounds Valley Road.

“For ambulance and fire, I left it all one road,” Smith said, referring to giving the road a single name which will be easier for emergency responders to find.

The commissioners were advised to try and avoid naming roads and streets for politicians —or any other people for that matter, such as people who live on the roads. A number of rural roads in Pittsburg County bear the names of someone who lives near the road.

However, the commissioners aren’t necessarily being asked to change the names of those roads which are already named for someone, according to Hibbard.

Contact James Beaty at jbeaty@mcalesternews.com.