Three segments of Tyler roads could get renamed.

As Sunnybrook Drive and Palace Street have been reconfigured to help with traffic flow, three segments of once continuous thoroughfares were broken in areas, yet retained their original names. 

Tyler has begun the official zoning process to rename those roadways. The matter was discussed in a Planning and Zoning work session on Tuesday, and will officially be brought before the commission in October.

The city is looking to change the name of those spots to help avoid confusion for emergency services and 911. 

“It’s more for public safety, because if you can’t get to a street named Sunnybrook off of Sunnybrook, it can slow response times,” said Kyle Kingma, planning manager. “It’s never happened, but if you know about that kind of issue, you don’t want to wait until it happens (to fix it). We are being proactive.”

Less than a mile of roadway and a total of 16 homes will be affected by the name changes. 

Two areas will now be named “Old Sunnybrook Drive.” They are leftover from a realignment of the road, which was done in the 2000s to prepare for the construction of Earl Campbell Parkway.

The main portion of Sunnybrook, which will retain its name, runs from east to west, from Old Bullard Road to Frankston Highway. The portions that will be renamed include a section that runs from West 8th street, past West 9th street, and deadends close to the main portion of Sunnybrook. The two do not intersect, but are close geographically.

The second portion that will be renamed to Old Sunnybrook connects to West 7th Street and extends to the three-way intersection of Frankston Highway, Sunnybrook Drive and Earl Campbell Parkway. The three segments meet near Tyler ISD’s administrative offices and a Walmart Neighborhood Market, which opened in the spring. On a map it runs parallel to Vine Avenue. 

The other segment that will be renamed is on Palace Street.

There’s two South Palace Streets, and they run parallel to each other. The city is renaming the shortest one, which runs east of Vine Street, to “Old Palace Street.”

The segment that will retain its name – Palace Street – is part of a complex intersection on West Houston Street, where Palace becomes Vine Avenue. 

The spot is close to the historic McClendon House and a Food Fast gas station. 

Twitter: @TMTFaith