Changing road name has ripple effect

A lot more goes into changing the name of a road than a couple of street signs.

The Acadia Parish Police Jury learned that this past week and is expected to introduce an ordinance dealing with the many aspects when it meets on Wednesday.

Mary Richard, director of the parish 911 Emergency Center, told Road and Bridge Committee members recently that a number of agencies had to be notified after the jury changed the name of a parish road.

“We had to change our maps. We had to notify Acadian Ambulance, the sheriff’s office, fire departments — all of these agencies need to know where to go in the event of an emergency,” Richard said.

“It simply can’t be done as quickly as y’all did it. We wouldn’t want an emergency to come up and one of these agencies not be able to find the road.”

Richard pointed out that Acadia Parish currently has no guidelines for changing the names of roads. She presented committee members with copies of guidelines adopted by the St. Landry and Evangeline parish governments, pointing out that those two parish also assess a fee to change the name of a road if it at the request of a citizen — “to pay for the new signs, the labor that goes into changing maps, etc.,” she explained.

At the request of Beth Benoit, a resident of Pear Road, jurors in October approved changing the name of Pear Road to Roman Drive in honor of a family member that had passed away.

Benoit presented a signed petition from landowners along Pear Road consenting to the change.

Juror A.J. “Jay” Credeur recommended that the old road signs remain posted for “about six weeks” until all the required notifications can be completed.

Jurors are expected to introduce an ordinance dealing with name changes.

Richard also noted that jury action to abandon a parish road also has a similar ripple effect and asked that the new regulations address that issue also.