About 50 people turned out to see what their street name will be when the Craig County Board of Supervisors had a discussion on the road-naming process for the new E-911 system at the March 16 meeting.
The county has identified and named more than 350 roads. Some sport names like “White Pine Drive” while others are “Artesian Lane,” “Blue Jay Lane”, “Jockymoore Drive”, “Meadow Brook Lane”, Nimrod Road” or Turkey rail Drive.”
But many people are upset about the names of Virginia State Rts. 42, 311, and 615. “Cumberland Gap Road” is the name given to Rt. 42. Folks from Sinking Creek think it ought to be called “Sinking Creek” Road or something similar.
Virginia State Route 42 changes number and name when it hits New Castle and becomes Rt. 615. Then it is called Alleghany Avenue to the Botetourt County line.
The same road is called “Craig Creek Road” in Botetourt County, and the name should continue on into Craig County, the supervisors were told. This would lessen confusion for emergency services personnel in both counties.
Joe Looney, who lives just outside of New Castle, objected to naming Rt. 311 “Paint Bank Road” from New Castle to paint Bank. He said e doesn’t live in Paint Bank and folks visiting him for the first time will get lost.
Supervisors listened patiently to concerns and had representatives on hand from MSAG Data Consultants, Inc., and Kimball and Associates. These companies are assisting the count with the project.
Chairman Lyndall Keffer told people who are unhappy with the proposed name of their road to petition their neighbors and bring in suggested changes to the county administrator’s office. He promised the supervisors would take all reasons for change into consideration. The supervisors have the final say-so over the road name, though.
Many folks could not understand why they couldn’t just keep route numbers on the roads. The consultants said that a valid street address is necessary in order to implement the system.
The route system established by the Virginia Department oof Transportation will remain in place and the route numbers are not changing. The signs will stay up to. However, street nae also will be used when the system goes online July 1.
The E-911 project is funded through a $340,000 grant from the Virginia Wireless E-911 Services Board, which the county received in 2002. Craig is one of five counties in the state that does not have the enhanced emergency services system in place and one of four to receive full state funding to implement the system.
When the system is implemented, emergency service workers will have new updated maps, and all roads will be named and numbered. The enhanced services allow the dispatcher to send out emergency personnel even if the person calling cannot speak or otherwise identify the location.
The new E-911 service will allow a call to the dispatcher in the Sherrif’s Office to be tracked and will bring allocation up on a screen. The person making the call doesn’t even have to say what the problem is. The call will automatically be plotted using a database. The information is tied into the computers with a Geographic Information System or GIS. The dispatcher will be able to access multiple layers of information related to the call.
Not only will the dispatcher be able to find the caller’s location, but the location will also be plotted on a map, complete with reference notes that’ll give health conditions, such as diabetes, or the number of children in a house, so emergency workers have more information available to them as they run a call.
The county will use the mile marker system to develop the address. That means that each individual structure in the county will be assigned an address based on one address number for every 5 feet or so. There about 1000 addresses per mile.
Road numbers increase from south to north and west to east. Even numbers are used on the right side as the numbers increase. This system allows emergency service personnel to anticipate how far a structure is from specific points.
The U. S. Postal Service will use the information to create addresses. The mile marker system is approved by the Postal Service and is an accepted method of street numbering.
A public hearing on the final road names will be held April 20 at 7 p.m. in the Criag County Courthouse. Maps showing street names are available in the county administrator’s office and several maps have been taped to the walls at various locations within the Craig County Courthouse.
-Prepared by Shelly Koon
