2009 Rural Addressing Program

HISTORY
McLeod County Rural Addressing began in 1991 changing from rural routes to Street and Avenues.  With rural addressing, new red address number and green street intersection signs were erected. 

18 years later, many of these signs are faded or the posts are bent and leaning.  The need to improve the address signs is here.  Most counties in Minnesota used blue signs for their address number and this has become the standard. 

TODAY
McLeod County has chosen to adopt the standard and will be installing new blue signs.  McLeod County is also following the lead of other counties of placing the sign at the entrance instead of the mailbox.  Many mailbox supports do not meet the breakaway standards as set forth by Minnesota Statute 169.072.   A 2 inch or less diameter pipe or a 4 x 4 inch wood post (maximum size) is accepted.  The minimum spacing between multiple box supports is 30 inches.  By placing the sign at the entrance, emergency services will be able to quickly determine the entrance to use.  Often times, mailboxes are clustered or not near the entrance.  For the purposes of uniformity, all blue address signs will be placed at the entrance. 

McLeod County has chosen to place the blue address signs beyond the edge of the shoulder of the road.  This placement will reduce the number of hazards near the road, will reduce maintenance of these signs from accidents and vandalism, and where appropriate mark the culverts of driveways.   

For those homeowners who share an entrance the old red signs will be left for the homeowner to mount however they like farther up their driveway to further help identify which home is what number.  This is not mandatory but only an option if the homeowner choses to use the sign.  If they do not wish to use the sign, they can recycle it with their aluminum.  These signs will be left at the new post installation in a bag for the homeowners to use.  Again, this is only for those addresses who share a single entrance. 

The replacement program was completed in 2009, and used Sentence to Serve staff as well as staff from other programs to install over 4200 replacement signs in the county.  This staff was selected as part of a budget neutral effort, as these programs have no cost to McLeod County. 

Blue signs are installed up to 25' from the edge of traveled lane.  Signs are not placed on the edge of the road for crash safety purposes.  Residents should not move the address sign nor tamper with the markings for utility locates which is a misdemeanor under Minnesota Statute 160.2715.