City of Spokane

Spokane Municipal Code

***Note: Many local criminal codes can now be located under Chapter 10.60 SMC while others are now cited under the Revised Code of Washington (RCW), which was incorporated into the municipal code in 2022. (See SMC 10.58.010). Code Enforcement, including Noise Control and Animal Regulations are located in Chapters 10.62 through 10.74.

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Title 17D
Chapter 17D.050A
Section 17D.050A.060
 

Title 17D City-wide Standards

Chapter 17D.050A Roadway Naming and Addressing

Section 17D.050A.060 Roadway Naming Standards

All new, unnamed, or renamed roadways within the City of Spokane shall be named pursuant to this chapter and the following criteria:

  1. Roadway names shall be easy to read and pronounce.

  2. Roadway names shall not contain vulgarity or vulgar innuendo, nor insult to any person, group, or class of persons, or institution.

  3. Roadway names shall not sound similar to other roadway names within the City of Spokane, whether existing or currently proposed. (e.g., Links, Lynx)

  4. Duplicate roadway names will not be allowed.

    1. Any roadway name shall not duplicate any county roadway names unless the new roadway is in alignment with the existing county roadway.

    2. Roadways with the same root name but different suffix (that are not in reasonable alignment with the existing roadway) will be considered as a duplicate roadway name, e.g., Chesterfield Drive or Chesterfield Lane and thus disallowed.

  5. Roadway names shall conform to the most current M.U.T.C.D. and City of Spokane Standards for maximum letter usage, font style, font height, font stroke, and layout.

  6. Roadway names shall be based on the Modern English alphabet and shall not contain special characters (periods, dashes, underscores, apostrophes, quotes, diacritic, etc.) or have frivolous, complicated, or unconventional spellings, with the following exception:

    1. Alpha streets shall include quotation marks (e.g. “A” St.)

    2. Roadway names may contain a single space to separate two words (e.g. “Mount Spokane Dr.”).

  7. Roadway names should not include abbreviations (e.g., “St Charles” vs. “Saint Charles”).

  8. Articles (e.g., “The”, “A”, or “An”) shall not be used to begin roadway names.

  9. Roadway names duplicating commercial or private facilities shall not to be used (e.g., “Bowling Alley” or “Tennis Court”).

  10. Numbered or alphabetical roadway names shall continue in sequence (e.g., 1st adjacent to 2nd, and not adjacent to 3rd).

  11. Numbered Avenues shall be spelled out from First to Tenth. Numbered Avenues starting at 11th shall display numbers with an ordinal suffix, in lower case letters.

  12. A proposed roadway which is a continuation of, within one hundred twenty-five feet of another already existing and named roadway, or in alignment with an existing roadway, shall continue the roadway prefix direction, roadway name, and roadway type of the existing roadway whenever possible. If the proposed roadway will terminate at a cul-de-sac, the roadway type for the block containing the cul-de-sac may be Court (Ct).

  13. Roadway name integrity should be maintained for the entire length of the roadway whenever possible. Roadway names shall only change when there is a substantial intersection or significant “visual geometric cue.” Generally continuous roadways shall not be subdivided into segments with different names.

  14. Roadway names shall not include a directional prefix (e.g., “W. West Washington Rd.”).

  15. Roadway names shall not include words used as roadway types (e.g., “Circle St.” or “Avenue Way”).

  16. Roadway names shall not include the word highway (e.g., “Highway 2” or “Old Sunset Highway”).

  17. Alleys should not be named or assigned addresses, except as permitting in the Downtown.

  18. Roadways which meander from one predominant direction to another shall be assigned a directional prefix in one direction throughout the roadway length according to which general direction of such roadway is the predominant direction of travel.

  19. If a roadway forks into two roadways, the fork with the highest projected traffic volume should continue the same name.

  20. Two uniquely named roadways should not intersect more than once (e.g., Main St. should not intersect Pine Ln. at 200 W. Main St., and also intersect Pine Ln. at 400 W. Main St.). Loops and Circles will be reviewed on an individual basis and require approval from the Administrator.

  21. All proposed new or renamed roadway names which deviate from this document shall be subject to a review by the Addressing Authority and the E911 Director, or designee, for ease of use within E911 computer-aided dispatch systems, and verified against the Regional Public Safety Spatial Database.

Date Passed: Monday, November 14, 2016

Effective Date: Thursday, December 22, 2016

ORD C35452 Section 2