By Joel Stottrup

A proposed development and street improvement plan has led to the city deciding to correct a confusing array of road names concerning Smith System Road, Northland Drive and Old County Road 18.

Old Elk Lake Road could even be thrown into the mix.

Old Elk Lake Road was what Old County Road 18 was once called, according to Princeton city Development Director Jay Blake.

City hall is looking to adjust some road names in that area so there is more consistency. The area of concern goes from Rum River Drive along Northland Drive and Smith System Road on the west, past the hospital and then at then northeast along Old 18 until it hits Ninth Avenue South.

The city council, after a brief presentation by Blake last Thursday, set a public-input meeting for Thursday, Feb. 25, between 6 and 7 p.m. in city hall. Business people and residents who want to have a say on any street name changes in that part of the city are invited.

“There is a little consistency issue with the roads in that area,” Blake told the council.

Now a development that would consist of assisted-living and memory care rental units is being proposed just south of the intersection of Northland Drive and Old Highway 18. The city is using the development as a chance to make what is now a sharp-angled intersection at Northland Drive and Old 18 into a gradual arc. That has prompted staff members, like Blake, to look at the names of the streets in that area.

When the Highway 169 bypass was completed around Princeton in 1980, the south end of Old 18 South was cut off at that intersection. Before the bypass completion, Old 18 South had continued south along the east edge of the industrial park to continue along what is now Sherburne County Road 45.

Then, not long before Fairview Northland Medical Center was completed in 1993, the new Northland Drive was completed. It became the new road to get to Old 18 South. Smith System Road had been the road to get to Old 18 South before.

With the construction of Northland Drive, parts of Smith System Road became orphaned. It now goes for about two blocks from Rum River Drive on east to end at the west edge of the high school.

If that is not confusing, Blake noted that a plat map shows Tenth Street South oriented below the axis of Northland Drive and Smith System Road.

Also curious is the sign at the intersection of Northland Drive and Rum River Drive. It says Northland Blvd.

And is it Old County Rd. 18 or Old Hwy. 18 that goes through the city’s oldest industrial park and past the school bus bar? It has been called both.

No one likes to have to change letterheads often and so the purpose of the Feb. 25 is to try to reach some consensus on those street and road names, Blake said.

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