Lynn Lau
Northern News Services

Tuktoyaktuk (May 06/01) - Ever wonder if there's any rhyme or reason to street numbers? Of course, in some towns, it seems like it all took place randomly.

But in Tuktoyaktuk, planners are now working on a new numbering system.

And it turns out, there's more than one way to put a number to a place.

The conventional system, say No. 3 Beaufort Drive, would just pair numbers with street names.

"If you look at a typical Southern town, there's streets and then numbers on the houses," explains land use planner Ken Johnson, with EBA Engineering Consultants in Edmonton.

Johnson is helping the hamlet with its street-naming and house-numbering project.

The conventional system is simple, but it doesn't work well if you don't know where the street names are.

Also being proposed is a sequential system, in which planners start at one end of town and number all the way to the other end.

This way, it's easy to guess where an address is just by the house number, but it also has a downfall.

"Where the sequential numbers fall apart is if you didn't allow for enough empty lots between houses," Johnson says.

"If you have to start inserting house numbers, it completely screws up the whole system."

Which brings us to the third system, called block numbering, which is widely used by the RCMP for communities without full street addresses.

In this system, the town is sectioned off into blocks. In each block, all addresses would start with a certain number -- say 400 to 499.

The advantage of this system is that once you know where the blocks are, you have an idea of where an address is, even if you don't have a street name.

"As simple as that sounds, it becomes pretty critical to make sure there's sufficient numbers for any vacant areas so you don't run out of numbers," Johnson says.

The agencies that most rely on street numbers -- the RCMP, hamlet, nursing station and others, have all been asked to select their preferred numbering system, and the results will be ready soon, says hamlet economic development officer Tonya Skanes.

If all goes well, houses will be sporting new numbers by the middle of June.