BREWER – When an accident occurs, city officials don’t want emergency crews to have to think, “Was that Prospect Street or Prospect Avenue?”

To clear up any possible confusion, the city formed a committee to come up with ways to eliminate similar sounding street names and streets with the same name that aren’t connected, and to change addresses containing letters or fractions.

Driveways with more than one home attached also were given official names.

As a result, approximately 480 addresses in Brewer will be changed.

“We had 11 streets that had similar sounding street names, and those 11 streets now have a new street name,” City Assessor Mary Lynne Hunter said via e-mail Friday. “We have 28 new private [driveways] that have been named.”

A mass mailing to those affected by the changes is planned for sometime this week, Postmaster Michael Mitchell said. The new addresses go into effect Feb. 1.

“This is all about safety for residents so that the emergency responders – fire and ambulance personnel – know where they’re going,” he said.

When the state started dealing with addresses through the Enhanced-911 telephone system in 1996, Brewer was one of the first communities to sign up. This made addresses of those who called 911 during an emergency show up on a screen for dispatchers to read. E-911 officially came to Maine in 2001.

“We had numerous cases where an alphanumeric or fractional number was used as part of the property address,” Hunter said. “The state E-911 system does not accept alphanumeric or fractional numbers, so to start with we had to fix all of these problems.”

Hunter said Brewer had plenty of street names that are similar: Penobscot Avenue, Penobscot Square, Penobscot Street, Prospect Avenue, Prospect Street. “The state system did not want similar sounding street names, so we had to address this problem.”

About 50 apartment buildings also will get new addresses. New street signs are sitting at Brewer Public Works and will be mounted by the changeover date.

“There was extensive community involvement in many of the name changes,” Mitchell said. “The residents were polled and were given a chance to make suggestions. I believe all but one or two of the private ways were named by the resident or the owner of the driveway.

“It was kind of nice to be able to do that,” he said.

Residents affected by the name changes have one year to let people they correspond with through the mail know their address has changed.

“A change-of-address form is not requested, and please don’t submit one,” Mitchell said. “We will still deliver at the old address for 12 months. Sometime in the next 12 months … we stress changing your address with the people who send you mail.

“After 12 months we will attempt to eliminate the old address,” he said.