Tusayan Fire Department<br>glad to have street names

TUSAYAN — Tusayan now has streets.

Well, this unincorporated community south of Grand Canyon National Park always had streets, but now there are names to go along with them. From R.P Drive to Coyote Lane, locals can now be more precise about where it is they live.

"It's going to help with everything," said Robbie Evans of the Tusayan Fire Department. "It's going to facilitate emergency situations, cutting down on response time ... and it will enhance the 911 system once they put the addresses in."

For example, Evans said, the department received a call once from South Rim Mobile Home Park, which could be anywhere and the truck had to drive up and down the street searching for the right place. Now, there's a specific address to go to.

On top of the obvious advantages with emergency response, delivery services like United Parcel Service will have an easier time with delivery, instead of receiving instructions like, the place across the street from McDonald's.

"We had a roundtable discussion amongst all the property owners," said Ann Wren, who sits on the Tusayan Fire District's board, the group which named the streets. Others on the board are Brenda Halverson, John Thurston, Debra Wilkerson and Mike Bashlor.

Tusayan first had to be mapped out with aerial photos that were taken. When it came time to name the streets, a process which began last November, Wren said the board wanted to keep the street names simple, eliminating any possible confusion.

In all, 36 signs went up. Evans said the signs were all installed to code and are break-aways, which means they will go down easily if wrecked into by a vehicle.

Wren said naming the streets reduces the fire rating for Tusayan, which has a positive financial impact on the district.