Anyone know why Lamar Blvd north of 183 in Austin is a ‘minor highway’? I don’t think anyone would consider it a highway any longer, other than the highway-like intersection at 183. Since it’s a highway it gets special skinning on the map that looks odd since it’s the only street in Austin marked like that.
Any objections to changing the road type to ‘primary street’?
I figured out why Lamar is labeled as a ‘minor highway’: it has a state loop designation (Loop 275) on that section. Since it’s in the city, all that means is who pays for maintenance (the county, I think). Functionally, it’s a ‘primary street’ in the middle of the city.
There are two other sections like this in Austin:
South Congress south of US 71 (Loop 275)
Airport Blvd north of US 183 (Loop 111)
I think it would be less confusing on the map to change these roads to ‘primary streets’. Thoughts?
Have you read Road Types (USA) in the Waze wiki?
Also, how does TX DOT classify the road on their Federal Functional Classification Maps?
Yes, and based on the descriptions it could be either one. I think the differentiator here is that these roads are no longer highway-like thoroughfares between the city and other locations (e.g.: suburbs, other cities), they are completely within the city with people traveling to destinations all along the road. Since, according to the wiki, Waze prefers highways significantly more, this could affect routing.
The northern portion of Loop 275 is mostly designated as ‘Urban Principal Arterial’, with a small portion designated as ‘Urban Collector’. Other arterial designated roads in the city are currently marked as ‘primary streets’ on the map.
I guess I should also link to the road in question. It’s the light yellow road in the center of this map: Lamar Blvd.
Well, the Urban/Rural designation went away in 2009, but that’s not a big deal in this case.
HOWEVER, there are 3 types of Principal Arterial Roads: PA-Interstate, PA-Expressway or Freeway, and PA-Other. Typically PA-Other is considered a Minor Highway in Waze, the Minor Arterial classification, is the one that gave us the most grief trying to translate to Waze type, and can go either way (Minor/Primary), BUT in all the places we’ve dug into, Minor seems to be a better fit. Collector Roads are typically classed as Primary Streets.
Can you provide a link to the TX DOT maps and I’ll look at it here?
Sorry, I left off the ‘other’, it’s marked as “Urban Principal Arterial - Other”.
Here’s a link to the right area, but you’ll have to select the ‘Functional Class’ map to the left near the bottom. Lamar is the mostly red road just west of IH-35 labeled “275”. Here’s a Waze link to approximately the same area. Quite a few of the main roads in the area are marked primary arterial-other. There seem to be few minor arterials on the map in comparison, though it’s hard to tell because that pink and red are so similar.
Further research has turned up another loop in town, Loop 343, that is actually mostly Lamar Blvd south of downtown Austin (link to TXDOT map). It’s currently a primary street in Waze, which is what I’m suggesting for the other loops.
I also want to be clear i’m not advocating for all loops everywhere to be primary streets - just the few in the Austin area that have been assimilated by urban development and aren’t improved over any other primary street within the city (northern loop 275, loop 111, maybe southern loop 275). The only reason they appear to be labeled a minor highway is because they’re loops, and they’re still loops only because the city hasn’t taken over maintenance of them yet.
Now I know why Waze keeps wanting me to use North Lamar on my commutes. I understand that the way the state designates it may merit the Minor Highway type, but functionally it’s a Primary Street.
It’s more related to “major roads or boulevards used to get across a neighborhood or city” than a “route that can be followed to get from one city/town/neighborhood to another.” source: Road Types (USA) (emphasis added)
I won’t go changing it to suit my whims, but I’m posting here to see if it’s been considered more since the above conversation.
If you don’t mind providing the info, what part of Lamar does it want you to take and what alternate route do you use instead?