Road Naming Guidelines (Revised 12-7-17)
Road Name Characteristics
The characteristics of all roads in the District, excepting highways, shall be that road names should not exceed 25 characters, including the space between elements. The elements of a road name, in proper logical order, are:
1. The primary street name: is the parent name of the road and should not exceed the USPS recommended maximum length of 15 characters, including spaces.
2. The suffix: indicates the road type (e.g., STREET, DRIVE, AVENUE, etc.), shall not exceed four characters when abbreviated per USPS and NENA standards.
3. A directional (Pre/Post): indicates the geographic region in which a road lies. It shall be limited to a two-character maximum and shall be one of the eight USPS and NENA approved abbreviated directional indicators (i.e., N, E, W, S, NW, SW, NE, and SE).
Naming Conventions
A. Each highway and road shall have only one correct official name.
B. For Federal or State highways under local jurisdiction, the official highway name shall be that assigned by local public transportation authorities; or, if no local name has been assigned, the official highway name shall be that assigned by Federal or State public transportation authorities.
C. Local public transportation authorities assigning names to Federal or State highways shall apply the “INTERSTATE HIGHWAY” (IH), “UNITED STATES HIGHWAY” (UH), or “STATE HIGHWAY” (SH) suffix according to the type of highway.
D. The official names of roads shall be those finally approved by local public transportation authorities as provided by State law.
E. A road name should be appropriate with a short one-word primary street name (so that it is easy to read and remember in an emergency) and may promote, tradition, history, geography and character.
F. Frivolous or complicated words or unconventional spellings should not be used for primary street names.
G. Where practicable, each continual road shall have the same primary street name and suffix throughout its entire length, irrespective of the boundaries of local political subdivisions.
H. Proposed or new roads that are obviously on alignment with existing named roads shall bear the assigned name of the existing road.
I. Alias road names are not permitted.
J. Special characters are not permitted in road names (i.e., hyphens, periods, apostrophes, etc.).
K. A primary street name should not be an USPS suffix or directional (e.g., COURT ST or NORTH AVE).
L. The alteration or inversion of the proper, logical order of road name elements (e.g., AVE OF CEDARS or BLVD BLUE) shall not occur.
M. Single letter primary street names should never be assigned. Single letter names are easily misinterpreted.
N. Roman numerals shall not be used in a road name.
O. Numeric street names should not be spelled out, but abbreviated per USPS standards. (i.e., 8 TH ST instead of EIGHTH ST).
P. Route numbers shall not be used as road names.
Q. There shall be no duplication of road names within a geographic region, except, in extenuating circumstances, one short cul-de-sac and one short loop (either less than 1000 feet in length) that intersect no other street than the parent street, may bear the primary street name of the parent street, but with a different suffix.
Examples of duplicate road names are:
1) CATHY LANE N compared to KATHY LANE N;
2) LAKE VIEW ROAD SW contrasted to LAKEVIEW ROAD SW;
3) JONDO STREET E compared to JONDO CROSSING E;
4) PINE TREE LANE N vs. PINE TREES LANE N vs. PINE’S TREE LANE N;
5) MAIN NW in contrast with MAIN STREET NW
R. Where applicable, road name shall have a directional corresponding to a geographic region.
S. Where applicable, road name shall have a corresponding standard suffix that complies with NENA and USPS standards.
T. Where a private restricted road is an aligned extension of a public access road, substantially continuing the same level of service as the public road, it may be preferable to have the private road carry the name of the public road, if there is no obvious demarcation (i.e., an intersection, cattle guard, permanent gate) to easily indicate a change in road status.
U. When a road crosses the boundary of a geographic region, the prefix will change to reflect the location of the road.
V. Inevitable changes or modification to a road name should occur only at a major intersection or similar demarcation.
W. Road names memorializing living individuals or politicians shall be avoided.
X. Road names that are obviously offensive, libelous or derogatory in spelling or pronunciation are prohibited.
Roads Requiring Names
A. All publicly maintained roads shall be named.
B. A public access road, or private road exceeding one-quarter mile (1320 feet) in length, providing easement to two or more properties, upon which exists or potentially exists, more than two buildings shall be named.
C. Any road, regardless of length, that provides easement to more than two properties will be named under the following circumstances:
a. the location or arrangement of the buildings hinders address assignment from a named road.
b. a named road intersects the road, but due to topography or distance, buildings along the unnamed road are not easily located from the named intersecting road.
c. naming of the road is necessary to adequately direct emergency responders to a building(s).
d. any road that leads to one or more roads that provide easement to buildings shall be named.
D. A private road may not require naming, and will be treated as a driveway when the road is: a. less than one-quarter mile in length; and, b. the easement to a singular property; and, c. is entered from a named road, allowing address assignment at that intersection.
E. A driveway need not be named if the driveway only serves two buildings and the buildings are visible so that one or both can be addressed from a named road intersecting the driveway.
F. Vanity addresses shall be discouraged where possible.
Naming of Roads
A. The naming of public access roads and private roads usually occurs through the process of approved subdivision platting, or as otherwise provided by State law and local government rules, regulations and guidelines.
B. Persons desiring to name a new or previously unnamed public access road or private road shall contact the proper authority:
a. if road lies in the County without traversing any City boundary – County Commissioner’s Office.
b. if road lies entirely within the municipal or extra-territorial jurisdiction boundary (ETJ) of a City – City Clerk’s Office of appropriate city.
c. If a is private and lies outside municipal and (ETJ) boundaries of a City – Potter Randall Emergency Communications District (roadPRECD).
C. The proper local public transportation authority according to its procedures shall name new and unnamed roads.
D. Proceedings to name an unnamed existing public access road may be initiated by Potter Randall County Emergency Communications District (PRECD), any affected local public transportation authority, USPS, or by petition of landowners along the road.
E. Naming of a new or previously unnamed restricted road may be initiated by PRECD, a local public transportation authority, or by petition of landowners along the road.
F. A local transportation authority receiving a request to name a road shall:
a. Present the request to PRECD for review of compliance with these guidelines prior to commencement of any formal action on the request; and,
b. Certify to PRECD the status of the road as a public access road or a private road.
G. The local authority having majority jurisdiction shall handle the request in an expeditious manner according the local authorities’ policy.
Renaming of Roads
A. Reasons to rename an existing road are:
1. to eliminate duplication and confusion for Emergency Responders
2. to enhance ease of location for Emergency Responders
3. when a permanent gap occurs in a previous continuous road
4. when non-continuous roads bear the same name
5. to change the classification, type or status of a road
6. to correct misspelling
7. to establish continuity
8. to improve or maintain continuity and parity of street numbering
9. to provide a required suffix or directional
10. to recognize a person or organization
11. to favor neighborhood association with its location, history or area characteristics
B. If an existing road requires renaming because of duplication within a geographic region, because of non-compliance with these guidelines, or for one or more of the other reasons listed in Road Renaming Procedures, Paragraph “A”, the Road Renaming Procedures shall be followed.
Road Renaming Procedures
A. Renaming of a public access road may be initiated by PRECD, any affected local transportation authority, USPS, or by petition of a simple majority of landowners along the road, by request to the proper local transportation authority.
B. Renaming of a private restricted road may be initiated by PRECD, a local transportation authority, or by petition of landowner along the road, by request to the proper transportation authority.
C. The proper local public transportation authority according to its procedures shall name roads requiring renaming. If a road requiring renaming is under the jurisdiction of more than one local public transportation authority, the jurisdiction within which lies the greater portion of the road shall have final naming responsibility.
D. Persons seeking to rename a road shall submit the request as follows: a. if road lies in the County without traversing any City boundary – County Commissioner’s Office. b. if road lies entirely within the municipal or extra-territorial jurisdiction boundary (ETJ) of a City – City Clerk’s Office of appropriate city. c. If PRECD). road is private and lies outside municipal and (ETJ) boundaries of a City – Potter Randall Emergency Communications District (
E. When considering recommendations for a change to a road name, PRECD will use Part “A” in the Renaming of Roads section as a guideline.
Assigning Road Names
A. Road names shall comply with the provisions of the standards and conventions of these guidelines.
B. The naming or final approval, of a privately maintained road by the County or a City shall not constitute nor imply acceptance of the road for public maintenance.