Austin or Travis County residents, departments, or emergency response agencies (such as Fire, EMS or Police) can request address changes to ensure accurate and timely emergency response or location services. Addresses are assigned in an orderly fashion by sequencing them in a way that makes locating a property quicker. Address changes can be initiated two ways: property owner initiated or 911 initiated.
Two of the most common reasons for address changes are out-of-sequence addresses and odd/even number issues. Below are some reasons why these can cause serious problems for both the disorderly address and their neighbors.
Assigned addresses increase in an orderly fashion as one moves along the road, most often in increments of two, four, or eight digits. In Travis County, the addressing along most roads increases as one travels away from the center of the County. The addresses should proceed sequentially along the road. An example of an orderly progression of addresses is 202 Sam Street, 206 Sam Street, 210 Sam Street and 214 Sam Street.
An out-of-sequence address may cause the responders to turn around before reaching the caller’s address. In the rural areas of the County, the emergency responders can travel quite a ways before they recognize that there is an out-of-sequence problem, turn around and proceed back toward the caller’s location.
Odd/Even Number Issue:
Each side of every street in Travis County has an odd-address side and an even-address side. Sometimes, we will find that a property or structure is using an odd address on the even side of the street, or vice versa. When emergency services respond to a call, they will be looking at the side of the street indicated by the address. If the odd address they are searching for is on the even side of the street, the caller runs a risk of being missed as emergency services searches for the caller's address on the correct side of the street.
Address Change Database
The address change database includes City of Austin and Travis County address changes processed by the City's 911 Addressing division. The database is updated on a monthly basis and includes address changes from 1969 to present.