FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

McDowell County to Get New Addresses

New addresses to be of major assistance to Emergency Crews

Today's Date -- March 4, 2004

The West Virginia Statewide Addressing and Mapping Board  

(WVSAMB) was created in 2001 by the Legislature. The Board will enable city-type addressing to be established across the state for 9-1-1 services.  

           The addressing phase of this statewide project is about to be  implemented. The WVSAMB is providing long needed assistance to counties, and where necessary, to municipalities, for the creation of city-type addresses where none currently exist. Since its inception, the Board has worked diligently to find a project manager—Michael Baker and Associates, and a mapping contractor—BAE, Systems, Inc.—who could handle the magnitude of this unprecedented undertaking for our wonderful, yet rural, state.  

          The Legislature’s goal to establish city-type addresses for the prompt and accurate dispatch of emergency services will ensure that our citizens receive the full benefit of   9-1-1 service by having emergency response agencies know precisely where help is needed, thus being able to respond more quickly.  

          Aerial photography of the entire state was completed by BAE late last spring and is now being processed for digitalized maps. This state-of –the-art geographic data will eventually be available to all 55 counties.

           In December of 2003, the board successfully negotiated a contract with an addressing vendor, microDATA GIS, Inc. Now that microData has been selected, they will begin the arduous tasks of identifying and naming all unnamed roads and assign the structures on those roads numbers.  

Roads that already have a name will not be changed unless absolutely necessary (ex: duplicate names or confusing names).  

          Mr. Jimmy Gianato, McDowell County 9-1-1 Director and co-chairman of the WV SAMB would like to announce that a kick-off meeting with microDATA and key participants of the project will be held on March 16^th, at 10:00 A.M. , on the first floor of the 9-1-1 Center.  

          As Mr. Gianato and the Mapping Department prepares for the contractors to begin their work in our county they want to invite your input.  

 If you would like to be a volunteer for the project or if you would like to suggest a name(s) to be considered for one of our forgotten paths or misnamed streets, send those suggestions to:  addressing@citlink.net; or visit their website at www.mcdowell911.org . The Center’s mailing address is: McDowell County 911 Center, Addressing/ Mapping Department, 257 Virginia Ave, STE 201 , Welch , WV 24801 . The phone number is 436-4106.

           Mr. Gianato asks that you keep the following WV State Guidelines for Road Naming in mind as you submit your suggestions:

     1)     Avoid duplicate road names with different suffixes Ex: Maple             Rd,Maple Lane, Maple Street

2)     Avoid sound-alike names. Ex: Beech and Beach, Gray and Grey

3)     Avoid family names or individual names, especially living persons or politicians

4)     Avoid road names longer than 22 characters

5)     Avoid numbers (ex: Third Street ) or Directions(Ex: North Street

6)     Use historical considerations

           For further information or updates on the project, or if you have any questions about the road naming guidelines, contact them at the phone numbers or addresses listed above.

For More Information Contact:

McDowell County 911
257 Virginia Ave, STE 201
Tel: 304-436-4106
FAX: 304-436-4108
Internet: jgianato@mcdowell911.org

Send mail to jgianato@mcdowell911.org with questions or comments about this web site.
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