Eric Johnson (left) and Tom Reep of T&L Dirtworks, Lowry, are busy giving each and every Rock County road a name. They're pictured at the intersection of County Road 6 (also 60th Ave) and Pipestone County Road 1 (also 251st Street) near Jasper. The crew started in the northwest corner of Rock County Monday and expect to make their way southeast toward Kanaranzi in a couple of weeks. Individual home address signs will go up this fall. Photo by Lori Ehde
By Sara Strong
Rural Rock County residents will have a specific address this fall - making emergency services, parcel delivery and locating homes or businesses easier.
This week, contractors started putting up street signs in the northwest part of the county, and theyÕre working toward the southeast, township by township.
In about four weeks those should be finished, and individual address markers will be installed by mid-October.
Residents will then be notified what their specific addresses are. The U.S. Post Office will honor both old and new addresses for a full year so everyone has a chance to get their addresses changed.
The cost of installing the 540 street signs is estimated at $70,000. That cost, and most of the individual markers are covered by $100,000 in restitution recently awarded to Rock County in the Global Ventures bank fraud plea agreement.
The individual markers will be advertised for bids so the cost isn't set yet.
The signs follow what Nobles and Pipestone Counties have installed. About half of Minnesota counties have rural address signs in place.
The primary reason for naming rural roads is for emergencies.
With enhanced 911, computers can bring up the residents' names and addresses, along with directions to their homes.
Rock County's current 911 system doesn't correlate to each residence.
Dispatchers update the system as much as possible, but some phone companies don't alert law enforcement departments to address changes if they aren't numbered by street or avenue.
When individual addresses are assigned, dispatchers can use a mapping system to locate callers, even if they are unable to give their name or address.