By MONROE ROARK
mroark@thecitizennews.com

Three streets on the southern end of Fayetteville now have new names.

The City Council Monday night voted unanimously to rename three dead-end spurs created by recent highway improvements, and in doing so they honored the requests of local residents and recognized names of families who have lived in those neighborhoods for several generations.

The southernmost end of South Lee Street will now be known as James W. Dixon Drive. A dead-end stretch of what used to be Ga. Highway 92 has been changed to Dennis Drive, and a road that once connected Hwy. 92 and Jimmie Mayfield Boulevard has been renamed Bradley Drive.

The multiple realignments of what were originally South Lee Street and Hwy. 92 created several problems that necessitated the name changes. As South Lee Street is no longer connected with Lee Street and old Hwy. 92 is not connected to the new stretch of highway, the duplicate street names brought about the potential for confusion among local emergency services personnel.

City officials recommended several possible names for the streets, but longtime residents of the streets in question and their relatives came forward and suggested family names as more appropriate choices.

Councilmen Al Hovey-King, who made the motion for the new names, and Walt White said at the meeting that they had inquired locally about the proposed names and received positive comments about all three of them.

Some names on the list compiled by the city were rejected by Fayette County's 911 department, and no reason was given for their decision. King suggested that the county provide more information in the future when such decisions are made.