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ESCANABA -- A large-scale project is underway to help Delta County sort out deviations from its grid system that have caused or have the potential to cause difficulties for emergency services, according to Jen Peterson, the 911 director at Delta County Central Dispatch. An ordinance passed last year was revised on July 18.
Similar to naming systems employed in many cities, road names and addresses in Delta County reflect a grid; however, instead of counting city blocks, the section lines are marked for each mile. Roads are named for where they fall, and addresses are numbered not simply in order, but in such a way to designate at which point on a road they are located. Ideally, a first responder should be able to hear a whole address and know exactly where to find its location without even hearing the township name. However, there are some outliers, which prompted Central Dispatch to raise the matter at a county board meeting last year and pass an ordinance enabling them to rectify the inconsistencies.
That initial ordinance followed a few years of unofficial planning after dispatch became aware of the problem. On July 18, 2023, the committee returned before the board with some amendments to the policy, mostly in regards to verbiage.
The following is a new addition to Section 3E of the Delta County Street Naming and Addressing Policy:
"When a road has significant changes in direction, the road name must be modified to fit the county's grid model. For roads that fall in this category, it is beneficial to have a consistent name for the road and as additional grid designator. For example, a road could be called Delta P Rd, then at the Corner it would change to Delta 20th Rd, then at the next corner it would change to Delta P.5 Rd. By maintaining the name Delta throughout the length of the road, it's clear which road we're talking about, but the changing designator allows responders to determine which section of road it is based on the grid, and it allows accurate numbering."
Lettered roads run north-south; numbered roads run east-west. The prefix -- in the case of the above example, "Delta" -- is flavor text that is irrelevant to first responders, but tends to be how residents refer to their street. Often that name comes from a landmark on the road or a community it reaches. But the numbers and letters tell where the road falls on the grid and which direction it leads: the "P" section of fictional Delta runs north-south; "20th" is where it makes a 90-degree turn and stretches east-west; "P.5" is a north-south segment that lies half a mile east of the "P" section. Building addresses are assigned systematically based on yet another set of numbers on the grid.
In a monumental endeavor, every single structure in the county will be reviewed, township by township, to ensure that its address is in line with the policy. It's going to be tedious, but proper application everywhere is crucial because without consistency, the system fails. And accuracy is important so that emergency services can find a location as soon as possible when someone needs help.
"What we're going to be asking of people we recognize is difficult, because it's really inconvenient," said Peterson. "But, like we talked about at the board meeting, at the end of the day, safety has to be prioritized over convenience."
Two townships, Cornell and Ford River, have already been planned out. Soon, members of those communities can expect to hear about how to begin employing measures to adjust to any changes. Escanaba Township and Round Lake are under review currently, the latter because that area becomes difficult to access in the off-season. After the heavy lifting is done on the planning side, residents will be provided with instructions on when revisions go live and steps they will need to take.