Cabell County is responding to legislation enacted to establish city-type addresses throughout all of West Virginia for Enhanced 9-1-1 service. The service is called Enhanced 9-1-1 because it displays the address of the caller on a computer screen at a call answering center. Starting in the Fall of 2007 continuing into 2008, Cabell County 911 will begin the process of readdressing roads and streets that have structures that do not have physical address, or addresses that don't run in order. We will also ensure that any road or driveway that has two or more structures occupied will be named and addressed.

Primary Benefits

• A property number and road name will be displayed on a computer screen at a call answering center when dialing 9-1-1 in an emergency, thus providing the greatest benefit from Enhanced 9-1-1 service.

• Because a 9-1-1 address identifies the physical location of a caller on a road, law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical service personnel are able to locate the caller much easier and quicker in an emergency, saving precious time and often lives.

• When a 9-1-1 address is used as a mailing address, the US Postal Service will no longer have to change rural route mailing addresses when adjusting carrier routes.

• Utility company personnel will be able to better locate a structure in case of trouble.

• Home and business owners will receive quicker and more reliable deliveries by UPS, FedEx, and other delivery services, because those services require a street address for deliveries.

Project Goals

In order to provide the exact location of a caller, each telephone number must be linked to a city-type address. A city-type address is a unique address that clearly identifies where a property is located, such as 911 Country Road or 98 Pine Lane. A rural route mailing address, such as RR1 Box 889, is not considered a city-type address.

Creating city-type addresses requires naming all roads with unique names and assigning numbers consistently to all properties. Once the road names and property numbers are assigned and adopted by our county/community, the new city-type addresses will be used primarily for 9-1-1 service. The US Postal Service, utilities, delivery services, and others will also use these addresses. Recently, our county assigned an Addressing Coordinator to work with the state to create the city-type addresses recommended for 9-1-1 service. Public meetings were held and we will be contacting residents to seek their comments during this addressing process. Citizen suggestions will specifically be sought in the renaming of roads, if necessary, to eliminate duplicate or similar sounding road names and to name all public and private roads that are currently unnamed.