Freeway vs. Major Hwy vs. Minor Hwy (US)

[scruffy151]

From what I've pieced together, I think the current priorities are like this (or at least they had been at some point):

1. Freeway and Ramps
2. Major and Minor Hwy
3. Primary Street, Street, and Service Road
4. Private Road
5. Parking Lot Road

Anything at the same level is equal. It is possible that Freeway is the same as major and Minor.

I have seen evidence to indicate major and minor are at seperate levels. Jason H and I recently redid us-49 from Jackson to I-10. At one map update Hattiesburg was still minor hwy but the rest was done. Routing choices at that time gave us-49, to I-59, to us-98, to us-49, to I-10 or us-49, to I-59, to us-98,to us-49, to sr-67 to I-10, going through H'burg was not an option. After Hattiesburg was all major hwy the options were to bypass H'burg or go through H'burg.

Also between those test routings I changed sr-67 from minor to major and added many junctions, it was basically only connected at the ends.

[mapcat]

Where is that data coming from? If it's a US Highway, it's part of the National Hwy System.

No, not all US highways are part of the National Highway System.

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/nhs/

[R4CLucky14]

That doesn't look like a major highway to me. No shoulders, and trees right up to the edge. I'd only call it major if it was a relatively short stretch of 129 of that between two long stretches of significantly better (wider, safer) road.

Other sources are mixed:

Rand McNally road atlas and one other one: major
National Hwy System: not part of it
Tennessee DOT map: red (what red & black mean aren't defined)

Using this TDOT map ( http://www.tdot.state.tn.us/longrange/maps/co05.pdf ), which is a "Long Range Planning Division - Functional Classification Map."

It is classified Rural Minor Arterial, which is under Rural Interstate and Rural Principal Arterial. Seeing as Blount County has no Rural Interstate, it is one tier down from the highest level.

On the NHS map, it appears to be "Other Roads."

Is this the road known as "The Dragon"?

Part of that is the Dragon, specifically beginning right after Tellico Lake.

The entire road is pretty much only two lanes (one lane each direction) from US 411 until the Carolina border. That is roughly 32 miles. I have no idea about the road after it reaches the border.

[WeeeZer14]

The thing about the roads in the mountains is that this road is 100 times better than the other choices. Most other roads don't have shoulder markings. Many don't have a center line. If you are lucky one side will get a second lane to serve as a passing lane. When you are building in the mountains there isn't much room for a road.

Sometimes I wonder if for Major vs. Minor we should consider trucks. If you couldn't or shouldn't take a truck, then the road shouldn't be Major. And you can't take trucks on the Dragon (prohibited, but rarely enforced unfortunately).



The Dragon is a fun and beautiful drive. Just watch yourself. It is dangerous and police enforcement can be extreme at times.

Anyway, I'm starting to like the NHS as a baseline. I'd have no problem with the Tail of the Dragon being Minor highway at the best.

[mapcat]

Great video. And I like the idea of no trucks=no major.

Here's a trucker's organization's list of restricted routes.

I've done a fair share of driving mountain highways and realize that sometimes a narrow two lane is the best road there is. That's why there are lots of minor highways in the mountains. There's nothing inherently wrong with a minor highway being the best way to get from X to Y, is there?

[WeeeZer14]

There's nothing inherently wrong with a minor highway being the best way to get from X to Y, is there?

No, but the problem is if we would say that those mountain highways don't even qualify as Minor

But seriously, if we wish the avoid highways option to evolve into avoid freeways, then there may be some benefit in making sure there is always a Major path available.

[mapcat]

But seriously, if we wish the avoid highways option to evolve into avoid freeways, then there may be some benefit in making sure there is always a Major path available.

I'm not sure I understand why this would be important. Avoid freeways will just avoid freeways, correct? To me that means the route would include anything--major, minor, non-highways--other than freeways.

[WeeeZer14]

Correct, it would use the other choices. But if one road is "better" than the others, it would be preferable to give it a higher type. Same as in a non-mountainous area where we would use Major, Minor and Primary to indicate preference. If we give ourselves a ceiling, that limits our ability to indicate differences.

It may not be an issue though if we only have one Minor Hwy in the mountains and the other highways get set as Primary Street instead.

This all assumes that the road type weighting would come into play of course.

[mapcat]

Correct, it would use the other choices. But if one road is "better" than the others, it would be preferable to give it a higher type. Same as in a non-mountainous area where we would use Major, Minor and Primary to indicate preference. If we give ourselves a ceiling, that limits our ability to indicate differences.

It may not be an issue though if we only have one Minor Hwy in the mountains and the other highways get set as Primary Street instead.

This all assumes that the road type weighting would come into play of course.

Why do we need to indicate preference, though? What am I missing? If there are 40 minor highways between X and Y, Waze ought to route me onto the one(s) that will get me to Y the fastest. No?

[WeeeZer14]

Why do we need to indicate preference, though? What am I missing? If there are 40 minor highways between X and Y, Waze ought to route me onto the one(s) that will get me to Y the fastest. No?

Can we just expand that thought? If there are 40 roads (of all types) between X and Y, Waze should just use the quickest combination with no care of the types. Right?