[Talk-us-massachusetts] Need Help with Street Name Conflicts

[Greg Troxel]

"Wayne Emerson, Jr. via Talk-us-massachusetts"
<talk-us-massachusetts at openstreetmap.org> writes:

> Well its just a long term trend I have noticed over the years that
> most street signs that used to have periods and apostrophes now have
> them removed. But you can still find a few that still have them. I was
> just wondering if it was an official state policy of
> standardization. One example I can cite is in Braintree, the street
> sign says B.V. French St but the assessors database has B V French
> St. If it is an official policy it might speed up resolving some of
> these name conflicts.

If you are local I would be inclined to visit the town clerk, or the
highway department head, and ask about the change and the law.  It might
be that name with punctuation is official and the sign vendor won't make
it that way.

I looked at MGL and was unable to find anything.  But I didn't find the
requirement to have house numbers posted for the fire department, so I
don't think my negative search counts for much.

The second link seems promising, if you read everything that's referenced.

https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2014/03/geography-apostrophe.html
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/massachusetts-law-about-roads-and-streets#massachusetts-laws-