Municipal Addressing is the official regulatory authority on street names for the entire Municipality of Anchorage. Our Street Name Master List​ includes all known private and public streets. 

​Private streets are owned, maintained and named by the property owner. Approved private street names are often used in address assignments for the homes or businesses accessed by that private street. It is also the responsibility of the property owner of private streets to post the street signs. The Municipal Traffic Department has a guideline on private street signs.

Public streets are dedicated public rights-of-way that are owned and maintained by municipal or state government. Public streets are legally created on paper by plats, which are surveyed drawings of land subdivisions. When a proposed plat is under review, Addressing verifies all proposed street names to ensure they comply with code. No new street name is approved that duplicates the name -- in spelling or sound -- of any existing street within the entire municipality.

When the plat is officially recorded and applications for new construction permits are submitted, addresses are assigned using those new street names.​

According to Municipal Code 21.03.185, the request for a street name change can be submitted by a municipal agency or by any citizen. A citizen's request must be accompanied by a petition signed by 51% or more of the property owners along the street in question, and must show the existing street name and the proposed new street name, which must comply with code requirements. There is a fee of $945​.00 for this request. 

Addressing will review the proposal for code compliance, then contact all property owners along the street, informing them of the proposed change and inviting written comment for a period of no less than 21 days. If comments received are primarily in support of the change, the mayor then signs an executive order that officially changes the street name. At that time, the municipal clerk sends another letter to the property owners, describing how to appeal the street name change. If no one appeals within 30 days, the change becomes official, and Addressing mails out change of address letters to all affected property owners. We also notify the municipal street sign shop, the US Postal Service, 9-1-1 emergency response, Alaska DOT, municipal street maintenance, and all utility companies.

For more information on this process, or on how to format a petition for a street name change, please contact us!​