By Liz Beavers
lbeavers@newstribune.info
tribune managing editor

KEYSER — The Mineral County Commissioners say they are unsure of how well some of the proposed name changes are going to be accepted once the Mineral County Street Addressing and Mapping Project is complete.
They hope, however, to have the finalized list ready for approval in January.
Dennis McGann, coordinator of the project, presented the officials with an updated list of road names Tuesday, telling them he had removed any similar sounding street names at their request. He also named any roads which had not yet been named.
“I have gone in and looked at every road, and anything that may have been unknown is now known,” he said.
As the commissioners looked down over the list, however, they picked out a few names which they felt might not find favor among the residents living there.
Although McGann had suggested naming state Route 93 from Claysville to the Grant County line Greenland Gap Road, Commission President Janice LaRue noted that it had historically been referred to as Laurel Dale Road.
“What’s wrong with that?” she asked.
McGann noted that there was already a Laurel Dale Post Office Road in the area.
The officials then expressed their opinion that the road, which crosses into Grant County and extends up to Scherr, should have the same name in Mineral and Grant counties to eliminate confusion.
Mineral County Office of Emergency Management Director Marc Bashoor therefore got on the cell phone with his counterpart in Grant County, who informed the group that their county commission had adopted the name Laurel Dale Road.
“Laurel Dale Road it is,” LaRue said.
McGann also suggested U.S. Route 220 from the Keyser city limits to U.S. Route 50 be named Mollohan Highway in honor of Congressman Alan Mollohan. Once the highway runes into Route 50, however, it would become the Northwestern Turnpike, which is the name most states have adopted for Route 50.
Again referring to tradition, LaRue noted that most people have called the road from Keyser to Route 93 New Creek Road.
“Don’t you think that’s what the people would want to continue calling it?” she said.
Once the commissioners look over the entire list, which includes only those roads located in the unincorporated areas of the county, they hope to approve it during a meeting in January.
In the meantime, McGann will provide regionalized lists to the post offices and fire companies throughout the county. Each list will be broken down into the separate fire districts in order to be “less confusing and more relevant.”
The entire updated list will be included on the Mineral County Street Addressing and Mapping website at http://www.mcwvaddressing.com.