BASTROP COUNTY, Texas — Bastrop County leaders had a discussion Monday that focused on a policy regarding street name signage on private roads.
A "private road" is defined as a road not maintained by the county. According to Bastrop County Engineer Carolyn Dill, this could include roads maintained by a road district, homeowner's association or a property owner's association.
Dill said people will sometimes put up street signs with names that are easier to refer to in order to provide a unique house number and road name, rather than just a unit number. Of particular concern are the named private driveways.
Right now, if residents want a second street name sign, it's the resident's responsibility.
Dawn Adams, the director of the Bastrop County Emergency Communications Center, said she was at the meeting Monday to give input. One of the potential concerns was the possibility of a first responder having trouble finding a caller because private street signs don't always show up on maps.
“Someone has a private road that intersects a main highway or another roadway that is a county road, then they may see a collision or something like that and refer to that private road name that a citizen has just named and put a sign up thinking its official," Adams said. "Well, we don’t have that kind of thing on our maps.”
She said it's not a big deal in Bastrop County right now but could potentially be in the future.
“If we can’t locate the street that they’re referencing, you know, we would rely on the cellphone data, the GPS coordinates, etc to try to locate them," Adams said. “I think it’s a nice move to prevent things in the future.”
The item will be brought up again at a future meeting and action could possibly be taken, according to Dill.
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