The completion of the new 127 Bypass has brought about another needed round of address changes to several residents along the new bypass route where roads were literally “split” and will require new road names and specific address changes in the near future.

Clinton County Fiscal Court recently approved a list of new road names that will be created as a result of the bypass construction and according to 911 Mapping and Addressing Coordinator Andy Davis and Director of Emergency Services Lonnie Scott, all residents should be reminded of the need to post their specific addresses where visible to emergency personnel and others.

Residents who will be affected with a new road name and given a new physical address due to the bypass will be receiving written notifications sometime next month, according to Davis.

(A listing of the roads–with current and new names–is published elsewhere in this week’s Clinton County News.)

“Some new road signs may start going up before (affected) residents receive written notification,” said Davis, but residents will be allowed to keep using their old addresses for about a year for receiving mail and so forth. However, once they are assigned a new specific road name, they should begin contacting all persons they get mail from, i.e. utility companies, and all other locations they receive bills or mail from, of their new address.

Scott also noted that following the notifications to the bypass area residents affected, there will be some “renumbering” of areas in downtown Albany, especially a couple of streets where addresses actually overlap, those being Rainbow Drive and Clinton Street.

“At first, when the mapping and addressing for the 911 system began, we didn’t do the city, as there was no need at the time,” Scott said. However, some numbers of homes overlap, causing confusion and may cause delay for emergency personnel to find the exact address they are looking for.

Scott said that Albany Mayor Nicky Smith had given the go-ahead to make the necessary numbered address changes in the city limits, where necessary.

Although all homes and structures in the city and county are in the 911 computer system, there is concern that not near enough residents have their actual physical addresses posted in a high visibility area, with officials saying only around 40 percent of residents do.

After the changes are made to the bypass road areas, the re-naming of addresses in some areas of the city will begin and city residents affected will also be notified by mail in advance of the change.

Posting specific addresses near homes or driveways is important in many ways, primarily for emergency services personnel to locate a home more quickly.

“Most local people, such as mail carriers and emergency personnel, know where everyone is, but people not familiar with the area, such as UPS drivers, FedEx delivery personnel, etc. may not be able to locate people unless their address is posted near their homes,” Davis noted.

It is also important to remind new residents of the county as well as people who live here but move and change their address, to notify the 911 Mapping and Addressing office of the change. Persons who fall into these categories, or persons who have any questions about their addresses, can go by the Mapping and Addressing office located in the emergency services building, or call 387-8636.