I’m hoping to get some feedback. According to the Waze Wiki on Road Types https://www.waze.com/wiki/Road_Types_(USA)#Dirt
Dirt Roads are, obviously, roads that are not paved. However, it further states that marking a road as ‘dirt road’ will have the following consequences: 1. The road name will NOT display in the client and 2. Routing will be restricted to avoid this road if user has disabled the use of dirt roads in client settings.
There are many townships in PA that have a majority of the roads that are dirt roads. I’m not referring to roads that look like the one in the Waze Wiki picture with grass growing in the middle of the road and that likely doesn’t receive regular maintenance. I’m referring to roads that receive regular, daily traffic and often have more people in total living on the dirt road than do on the paved roads. These roads also receive regular maintenance including plowing and cinders in the winter.
I consider ‘oil & stoned’ roads to be paved as I have never seen an actual asphalt paved road in my hometown in PA. However, if I were to list all the other, non oil & stoned roads as ‘dirt’ which would be technically accurate then any Waze user regularly traversing said roads would not have the road name displayed in the client nor would the names of any intersecting (dirt) roads display in the client.
So, do I list all these dirt roads as streets so the names display in the client for users or do I list them as dirt which affects usability since users won’t even know what road they are driving on nor what roads are intersecting their route? There are dirt roads that do not receive winter maintenance and very little if any other yearly maintenance. Obviously I would set the type of those roads to the dirt type. I understand that some users (obviously not residents of these areas) could be routed on some dirt roads even though they may have their client set not to use them if I do mark some dirt roads as streets but I think the benefit to the area residents outweighs the risks to the outsiders.
Well, its tough to say. Personally, what I do would do is any road that is not regularly maintained (snow removal/pot holes filled by DPW or PennDot) should definitely be considered a dirt road. You don’t want Wazers who are unfamiliar with the area driving on dirt roads that could potentially cause them to bottom out or get stuck. Ultimately its probably safe to leave them marked as streets with the exception of roads that you know are very rocky or have deep pot holes (require an SUV or truck)
Thanks, that’s what I was thinking but wanted some additional input. There are definitely some roads with minimal maintenance performed and no winter maintenance which I would mark as dirt, even though they are named roads. However, the vast majority of the roads may not be paved but are regularly maintained including grading etc as needed. They are starting to oil and stone the most heavily used roads now that they are finally receiving some money from the state/county from all the natural gas fracking. Therefore as time goes on more and more roads will actually be paved (per se) but they can only afford to do so many roads per year.
Just a note, You had this road as a primary road. I changed it to Minor Hwy, any road that is a State Routes should ALWAYS at least be a Minor Hwy. Please be sure to make the appropriate changes to any other roads that are State Routes. SEE: State Routes in PAPermalink
Also, any roads with T### (T286) should have the roads true name in the alternate road name field, it is good editing practice to swap the TXXX (current road name) with whatever the actual road name is (usually) in the alternate road name field. It looks better in the client seeing Main St instead of T286.
I’m not at my computer right now but if memory serves me there was a reason I marked it as a primary road instead of a minor highway. I think based on the PA Waze Wiki it had to do with the number of numerals (2 or 3 vs 4) in the state route number. I’ll check on that later.
Regarding the Txxx vs the road name I am aware and have not been able to change them all yet. Also my two-mile limit of areas on which I have driven is limiting me at this time.
Ok, so I go to the PA Wiki to find where I read about the number of numerals in a PA state route having to do with whether to list it as a minor highway and I can’t find it… anywhere. I’m losing my mind so I check the main Waze wiki thinking maybe I read it there… nope. At this point I am very confused because I have a very clear memory of reading that somewhere. Ugh. So finally I decide to check the PA Waze wiki History. So there it was in the history. Gah! Please inform me next time that I was in fact not crazy and it was in the wiki before you go ahead and change the wiki or at least right after. lol
I will say the wiki is much clearer now regarding the use of minor highways on state routes. Thank you for that. I feel odd marking a two-lane road as a minor highway.
Ok, so I go back to editing the Ridgebury Township area with this new information. Looking into the PennDOT Ridgebury Township map I realize how many other roads this impacts. For example Doty Hill Rd and Thompson Hill Rd among others. Despite their state route designation, both roads travel across the ridge of a mountain/hill and neither road has painted yellow lines. In fact, Thompson Hill Rd was only paved (oil and stoned) for the first time within the past 10 years or so even though it’s been a state route as long as I can remember. I’m not sure Doty Hill is paved now.
The Berwick Turnpike is very clearly the main road through Ridgebury and I have no argument declaring it a minor highway. But I cannot in good conscience declare all the state routes in Ridgebury as such. Some would qualify somewhat. Most would not. Would it be acceptable to name those questionable state routes as Primary Streets instead?
If it has a yellow line down the middle of it, then list it as a Minor Hwy. If it doesn’t then I’d list it as Primary BUT, this is where local knowledge comes into play. If you know the road is not maintained or RARELY traveled upon, definitely don’t want it anything higher than a Street.
