CIVIC ADDRESSING in the RM of Portage la Prairie
The signs appearing at the end of the rural driveways in the RM of Portage are the new numbering for dwellings and other structures. These numbers are assigned in accordance with the Provincial guidelines for addressing and are tied to the new road naming scheme.
Roads that run east/west have been assigned a name based on distance from the Canada-U.S. border. The road which forms the south boundary of the municipality is 54 miles north of the international border, so it is given the name: Road 54N. The first road north of Road 54 would be Road 55N, the next road north would be Road 56N, and so on.
Roads that run north/south have been assigned a name based on distance from the Principal Meridian. The road which forms the east boundary of the municipality is 18 miles west of the meridian, so it is given the name Road 18W. The first road west of road 18W would be 19W, and so on.
The numbering for structures is based on two factors: the "block" of the road segment and the distance that the driveway is located along that road segment. A rural address comprises a number and a road name, just the same as in any community (e.g. 123 Main Street). The accompanying map demonstrates examples of rural addressing for 4 structures within a square mile.
Example 1: The point shown on Road 33W is 760 meters north of the intersection with Road 61N. The point is, therefore in block 61, so the first two digits of the address is "61". The distance along the road segment determines the last three digits, in this case: "076" (address numbers increase every 10 meters).
Example 2: The point shown on Road 61N is, 110 meters west of the intersection with Road 33W. The point is, therefore, in block 33, so the first two digits of the address is "33". The distance along the road segment determines the last three digits, in this case: "011".
On east/west roads the Provincial guidelines recommended that addresses on the south side of the road are even and the addresses on the north side are odd. Similarly, the north/south roads have even addresses on the west side and odd addresses on the east side. Note the examples shown in the map follow this convention.
Once the address system is understood, it is relatively easy to locate any addressed property on section roads anywhere in the province. This system is extremely useful for emergency responders, such as fire, police and ambulance, to find the incident location even if they are unfamiliar with the local area.