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Readers outside Australia need to know the following particulars:
 | In Australia, properties are numbered sequentially on alternating sides of
the street, usually with odd numbers on the left side and even numbers on the right.
Numbering begins with 1 and 2 but no numbers are skipped to keep numbers
opposite each other related, or to confine the 100s to the first block, the
200s to the second block, etc. (If redevelopment results in properties being
"inserted" between, say, numbers 42 and 44, these new properties
become
42A, 42B, etc.)
Odd and even numbers soon become out of sync.
Number 86 may be opposite number 115, the 600s opposite the 800s, etc.
Therefore property numbers on street name signs need to identify
addresses on both sides of the named street, for example, 12-20 and 9-15.
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On long roads numbers sometimes stop and start again, so the same address
can exist in more than one place on that road, kilometres apart in different
suburbs. In Sydney, numbers rarely exceed three digits.
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| In Australia it is common practice to name only one of the streets at
intersections. The relevant standard, AS 1742.5, Manual of uniform
traffic control devices:
Street name and community facility name signs, says that it is not
necessary to name the major street at all its intersections with minor
streets. Often a driver emerges from a side street onto a main road with no
indication of what that main road is. It may be necessary to then drive on
it for five or six blocks, or even more, before a street name blade
identifying that road can be found. Frustration caused by these missing
signs, and a desire to eventually change the Australian Standard to reflect
the need for signing both streets at all intersections, was the impetus for
the 1998-99 Epping trial project dubbed "Navigator’s Paradise."
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| Australian drivers are well served by comprehensive, readily available
street directories for all large cities. These books of detailed maps
include a street index which locates any street in any suburb. For the
directory to be of use, however, the motorist must be able to pinpoint his
own position. For this he needs the names of two intersecting streets. In
metropolitan areas, he also needs to know what suburb he is in. |
Page created 28 September, 2001. Last updated
19 August, 2003 04:39:36 +1000 
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