Short street names make sense in Cedar Rapids

Well, our dream to someday drive down Gazette Editorial Board Road is about to be dashed by the Cedar Rapids City Council.

The Gazette’s Grace Nieland brought us news last weekend that the City Council has given initial support to changes in the city’s road naming policy. Street names would be limited to 14 characters, including St., Ave., Rd. abbreviations, but quadrants don’t count as characters.

Current signs that do not do not fit the guidelines won’t have to change.

We wondered whether this is an issue the city needs to address. That’s likely because we’ve never had to maintain street signs.

The longer the sign, the more susceptible it is to wind damage. City crews then must spend time on maintenance and replacement signs. Cari Pauli, the city’s traffic engineer, told Nieland that longer signs also “might need to have multiple supports instead of just one, so it’s kind of a maintenance issue.”

Also, the ordinance prohibits street names that are abbreviations, acronyms, as well as signs with special characters, such as a hashtag. And different streets with names identical to other streets won’t be allowed. Also, street names must be easy to pronounce.

Officials hope the changes will help drivers’ confusion, as well as making it easier for first responders to respond to calls.

It’s most likely new streets in a developing subdivision with new streets to name.

The ordinance also changes the rules for naming a street after a person who “contributed positively to the city’s image” or anyone with a positive impact to the region, nation or world. Current city policy requires 10 years after death.

So, we support the city’s ordinance. The policy makes sense, and creating signs with manageable maintenance is good. The policy seems to still leave some room, but having a policy is good practice.

There are plenty of shorter names. Much shorter than Gazette Editorial Board Road.

(319) 398-8262; editorial@thegazette.com