For the first time in about five years, the Andalusia Area Chamber of Commerce has new maps for Covington County and the three largest cities within it - and quite a few things are different about this one.

"There were a lot of changes, especially in the county" said Bette Reynolds, executive vice president of the Chamber.

The changes came about, not only because of new growth, with roads being added for subdivisions and other things, but also because many of the old roads now have brand new names.

"It's been a few years since we updated the map," said Reynolds. "We knew the 911 changes were coming and we purposefully did not reorder maps until that was complete."

Because E-911 had its own restrictions to observe, the planning stage of the map lasted about a year, with each new addition or change waiting for E-911 verification. During that time, the map committee had the opportunity to add some improvements, as well as some street names.

"It now has inserts with Florala and Opp city streets as well as Andalusia," said Reynolds. "And there is, for the first time, an index for the county roads on the back. The index on the city side has the streets for Opp and Florala, too."

The new maps also contains street plans for Heath and River Falls, legends and other useful information, including the advertisements that helped pay for the publishing costs.

Reynolds said representatives from each of the areas were invited to participate in the planning procedure, including members of the Opp and Tri-Cities Chambers of Commerce.

"They have their own street maps, of course," said Reynolds of Opp and Florala. "We just wanted them all to have some input."

The maps are not perfect, however, Reynolds confesses. Somehow in the planning, emailing and proof reading process, a few errors were missed, including the omission of Baisden Street from both the map and the index.

The maps are available in various locations, and some have already been delivered to those designated to receive them.

"The hotels have theirs, and the delivery services," said Reynolds. "We're still working on getting the rest of them out."

Those who purchase advertising in the map are entitled to a certain amount, but anyone can get a new map by going to the Chamber of Commerce office on the West Bypass.