City to rename a portion of Toledo St.

Toledo St., from 10th Ave. east, may soon be known as Pole Creek Crossing.

The city council voted on Tuesday to begin the process of a name change for what is now known as Toledo St. from 10th Ave. to Fort Sidney Rd.

At the council’s March 25 meeting it voted to name the yet to be constructed Toledo St. extension, as well as Virginia Ln., Pole Creek Crossing. The new portion of road will connect what is currently Toledo St. to Greenwood Rd. What was previously Virginia Ln. will connect the new extension with link 17J.

Last fall city staff suggested the possibility of a name change prior to construction of the Toledo St. extension.

“The whole idea behind this was to come up with a name that was more representative of the Sidney area, the Sidney community, Western Nebraska, which you can make the argument Toledo Street doesn’t fit that description,” said city manager Gary Person at a previous meeting.

When it asked the public for helped in re-naming the road, the city received 68 possible name suggestions from the local community.

There was some debate at previous council meetings about the name change for Toledo St. The city decided against changing the name from 10th Ave. to 15th Ave. because the 35 addresses located on that section of street expressed unanimous opposition to a name change.

Those opposed to the change argued that this major street should have a continuous name and that switching the name at 10th St. would be confusing.

From 10th Ave. east, only four addresses on the existing portion of Toledo St. would be impacted by the name change. None of these locations had any issue with a different name.

In previous discussions, councilman Roger Gallaway indicated a reticence to change the name starting at 10th Ave, for the sake of consistency, but has since changed his mind.

“Especially being an arterial road, it’d be nice, I think, to have a name where it reaches into the heart of the community,” Gallaway said.

This name will help integrate the new and old portions of the city, he added.

“I realize there would be inconvenience to property owners should we try and re-name the entire street,” Gallaway said.

Gallaway moved to re-name Toledo St. from Fort Sidney Rd extending west to 10th St. to Pole Creek Crossing. Gallaway, councilman Mark Nienhueser and councilman Joe Arterburn voted in favor of the motion to move toward a name change while Mayor Wendall Gaston and councilman Chris Gay voted against the motion.

Toledo St. from 10th Ave east to Fort Sidney Rd. won’t officially become Pole Creek Crossing until the council approves an ordinance doing so at a future meeting.