That raises concerns about public safety, Eliot said.

"When it comes to (emergency medical services) responding to heart attacks and those kinds of things, if a street in American Fork has eight different names, it lends itself to problems."

In all, Utah County has 23 street coordinate systems, Eliot said. The 21 major roads in the north end of the county combine to have 51 different names.

Central Utah County has 18 major roads with 42 names or coordinates, and the south end of the county has 19 major roads with 47 names.

"It's easier (to get around in south Utah County) by counting barns than using (road) signs," Eliot said.

Take, for example, the highway that runs from I-15 in Spanish Fork to Santaquin. The road changes names nine times as it runs through Spanish Fork (U-156, Main Street and U-198), Salem (State Road), Payson (100 North and 100 West) and Santaquin (State Road, Main Street and U.S. 6).

"We don't have many city limits signs, and yet our street coordinates change names every time you cross a border," Eliot said.

In addition to cost, MAG transportation planners and city engineers will study whether the countywide grid should follow Provo's numbering system or the county's.

With Provo's numbering system, which is about 11 blocks to the mile, a large chunk of homes and businesses wouldn't be required to change addresses, Eliot said.

Using the county's system, which is about eight blocks to the mile, addresses for homes and businesses outside of Highland, Cedar Hills and the unincorporated area would have to be changed, he said.

Any changes recommended by the technical advisory committee would need to go before the respective city councils for approval.

If city and county officials agree to move forward with a countywide numbering system, it likely would be a long process in which cities are phased into the grid, Eliot said.

That's all the more reason to get the process under way, said Kent Millington, who sits on the governor-appointed state Transportation Commission.

"Unless we get started now, it'll be terribly confusing (in 20 to 25 years) because of all the new developments that will come along," he said. "If we begin to implement the (numbering system) now, all of those new developments will fall into that pattern."

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