A few years ago when mandatory mapping and addressing came about due to 911 service requirements, a lot of roads were named or renamed and everyone received numerical addresses to aid in several services, including mail delivery, emergency services and more.

Now, with the completion of the new Albany/127 Bypass, the number of added roads into the county road system is requiring similar work in making sure all off roads from the bypass, no matter the size, will be required to have a specific name and, where residents are located, a special address attached with their homes or business.

During last week’s meeting of Clinton County Fiscal Court, 911 Mapping and Addressing coordinator Andy Davis discussed those mapping and addressing issues with court members. He showed them on computer, several added roads off the bypass that will require specific road names and addresses mandated to be placed on the county’s official mapping system.

The maps revealed specific roads that will be the responsibility of the state to maintain, as well as roads that are now in the county road system, as well as private driveways.

Davis told the court he had tried to go around to all the roads to see what name should be attached, saying some were done but there were several yet to go. He asked the magistrates’ assistance in speaking to their constituents to come up with a consensus for road names in each district affected, most of which will be those connected to the town voting precincts in districts one and five. In areas where residents can’t agree on a name, the mapping and addressing office will assign one.

Judge/Executive Lyle Huff noted the state, due to the bypass, has turned over several former state roads to the county and it will be the county’s responsibility to keep up with the roads, and where applicable, maintain them. However, the state does reimburse counties some funding for maintenance based on the number of miles in the county road system.

Some magistrates are concerned about the cost of having to maintain the extra number of roads that will now be in the county road system, especially areas that are short in length and come to dead end areas.

The Department of Transportation’s District 8 office in Somerset recently forwarded an “Official Order (with number) making specific changes in the State Primary Road System and County Road System relative to all the roads.

In a memorandum from Bruce Neely with the Kentucky Department of Transportation, it noted the highway commissioner and legal services had accepted the official order “that will accept the newly constructed US 127, including the Bypass, and the alignment and/or relocation of several State Routes into the State Primary Road System.” “Also, this officially will eliminate and transfer to the Clinton County Fiscal Court…listed roads that were reconstructed and/or bypassed as part of the US 127 reconstruction project.”

The lengthy document detailed roads in the State Primary System, State Secondary System and Rural Secondary System that will continue to be maintained by the state as well as about 30 roads, or roadways off the bypass that the county will now have in its system.

At last week’s meeting, it was decided that each magistrate would look at effected county roads in each respective district and try to get an official road name for the mapping and addressing and possibly take up the issue again at next month’s meeting since the work needs to be completed as soon as possible.

The revised listing of the State Primary Road System for Clinton County, which incorporates the official order changes, is located on the Division of Planning’s Web page at http://transportation.ky.gov/Planning/Pages/State-Primary-Road-System-Listings aspx.