There is some dispute over classification of a US highway in Michigan. In Michigan, there are basically 2 major routes from southern Michigan to northern Michigan. They are I-75 and US-31/131. One handles the traffic on the east side of the state and the other handles the traffic on the west side of the state. US-31/131 is on the west side and is built to handle a large amount of traffic heading north/south every day. As is the case for most of Michigan, the highway is mainly 2 lanes even though it is the main route north/south.
The Wiki’s description of a major highway vs. a minor highway is what is in question here regarding this highway. The beginning of the major highway description states that it’s a major throughway, which this is. The rest goes on to use descriptions such as “typically” or “most often” or “may be” to say that in most cases, a major highway is a multi-lane limited access highway. The minor highway description clearly shows that even a minor highway can be multi-lane as well. So that isn’t the deciding factor. I suggest that the deciding factor is how important or how major the highway is to the state/location and that the Wiki descriptions are meant as guidelines as to what is usually true. It’s obviously easier to explain whether or not a highway is major or minor based on those kinds of characteristics than based on how important it is or how major the highway is to the state or location.
Now, having a different marking for major and minor highways really doesn’t matter in terms of routing (other than initial speeds), but it does visually show the major routes through the state. It provides a visual way to determine how to best move about the state. This is why roads are colored differently with different widths. It helps drivers look around and find a good route. The same is true here even if routing is provided without having to actually look at the map. Otherwise, we could make all roads the same color in Waze. We don’t do that because we want some distinction of the major routes. As such, I believe it is valid to have it marked as a major highway regardless if it’s multi-lane or has direct access. In comparison to other highways on the western side of the state, such as the state highways, only US-31/131 is used as the major route. The other highways are used to get to locations away from US-31/131 or for scenic travel. Those are shown as minor highways because they are still highways, but are not meant for the heavy travel use that is seen on US-31/131. To distinguish US-31/131 from these minor highways so all drivers know what is the main route, marking it as a major highway is valuable.
So, here’s the question. Is the purpose of the distinction between major and minor highway there as a way to say if it’s multi-lane or limited access or high speed? Or is it so that we can provide a visual cue to a driver as to what are the main routes through the state? Does a major highway absolutely have to have multiple lanes? Does it absolutely have to have limited access? Does it absolutely have to equal the speed of an interstate? Or are those meant as a guide and a highway can be examined on a case-by-case basis to determine the best way to label it? It’s my belief that a highway that acts as the main throughway across a distance of over 300 miles counts as a major highway.
Making a blanket statement worldwide is inappropriate, so I’ll narrow this down to a US perspective and move this to the US forum.
Last I heard many US editors were gravitating towards “functional classification.” If MDOT doesn’t provide a functional classification map, the US FHWA does. This is more serviceable than roadway size or speed, since, as you noted, plenty of highways that logically should be minor highways have four+ lanes, dual carriageways, and high posted speed limits.
But your example of US-131 is an odd choice, since nearly all of it (from Kzoo to north of Cadillac) is a freeway and needs to stay a freeway. The remainder, IMO (and the FHWA seems to agree) should be a major highway.
Yes, most of the southern half is (down to Kalamazoo, where it changes to a minor highway). I’m more looking at the northern half where they combine and then go into just US-31. You’ll notice that US-131 a little south of Petoskey changes to a minor highway and back to a major a couple of times. And then the actual discussion, though it relates also to the area south of Petoskey, is US-31 north of Levering. I’m not suggesting the freeway sections change, but that the entire length at least in Michigan (I don’t know much about it once it leaves Michigan) should be a major highway or freeway and not a minor highway.
I listed the entire stretch simply because any justification one way or another applies to every part of the highway other than where it is a divided freeway. North of Cadillac, the highway drops to one lane each way and continues that way for the rest of the highway north other than right through Petoskey where it sometimes has more lanes. It is still a major traffic route and that is why I believe major highway is the correct designation for it. As you said, functionally, the highway is a major highway.
Anyhow, it was suggested we bring this to the forum to get other feedback. I considered putting it in the Michigan forum, but there’s so little activity there that it could take weeks or months to get any real feedback. And even the US forum is pretty quiet (you can see posts about a month old on the first page), so that’s why I put it in the map WME forum. I apologize if that wasn’t the right place.
I agree that US-31 ought to be a major highway for its entire length in Michigan as well, except for the freeway parts. It’s an important, well-travelled road in the NHS all the way from the Bridge to Indianapolis. Please ask anyone who told it should be otherwise to post their thoughts here.
Much previous discussion about US classification took place in the US forum, which is one reason I moved it. Another is that other countries have different criteria.
My problem with classifying US-31 everywhere in Michigan (except Freeway portions) as a Major Highway is that it often doesn’t meet many (if any) of the classifications of a Major Highway as defined by the wiki. Take for example, US-31 near Bear Lake, Michigan, hereinafter referred to simply as “US-31”. (https://www.waze.com/editor/?zoom=3&lat=44.41551&lon=-86.14777&layers=TBFTFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTFT)
The wiki lists 9 characteristics of a Major Highway:
“Speed limits should be near or equal to Interstate or Freeway speed limits in the same area. (typically within 5-10mph).” US-31 does not meet this characteristic as it has a 55 MPH speed limit, 15 MPH lower than the standard 70 MPH in Michigan. In fact, the speed limit drops to 40 MPH in Bear Lake.
“Multiple lanes in each direction.” US-31 does not meet this characteristic as it has only one lane in each direction.
“Separated directions of travel.” US-31 does not meet this characteristic as the directions of travel are not seperated.
“Turning traffic is typically limited to specified turn lanes or freeway style ramps to minimize obstructions to thru traffic.” US-31 does not meet this characteristic as it doesn’t even utilize specified turn lanes at intersections.
“Partially limited access with few minor streets intersecting with this road. Intersections are most often with primary roads or other highways.” US-31 does not meet this characteristic as every road that could intersect with it, does intersect with it.
“Can have stoplights or freeway style interchanges.” US-31 meets this characteristic.
“No stop signs.” US-31 meets this characteristic.
“Pedestrian crossings may be limited.” US-31 does not meet this characteristic as pedestrians can easily cross anywhere.
“Local business access is often restricted to frontage roads or other streets.” US-31 does not meet this characteristic.
So, of the 9 characteristics, US-31 (near Bear Lake) only meets 2 of them. What’s the point of listing these characteristics in the wiki if we’re not going to follow them?
When we’re talking about out-state highways in Michigan, I can’t really tell any difference between most M-routes and the US-routes. The M-routes, which criss-cross the state, mostly have the same characteristics as the US-routes: two-lanes, 55 MPH speed limits, slower in the cities, typically very few stop signs or traffic lights unless they meet up with other M-routes or US-routes.
I think this is where the functional classification comes in.
Some of the most major highways we have up in Canada are one-lane each direction, no barrier, for a good span. Does that mean they should be “minor highways”? I don’t think so.
Also, in keeping with good map-making tradition, why should a major highway be downgraded while it passes through a city? The importance of the highway hasn’t changed… just the speed limit and intersection stops.
Since denoting something “major” or “minor” highway has no bearing on its ability to route traffic, then it’s just for appearances. And it stands to reason that having something that is widely accepted as a major thoroughfare should be marked as a major highway…
As doctorkb noted, this is where usage or functionality plays a role. It is not easy to define functionality. In general, the Wiki items are valid. In most cases, a road that is a major highway through a region will exhibit those properties. However, that doesn’t take into consideration regional differences. What is true around major population hubs is not true in rural areas.
You mentioned state highways. Consider the usage of those highways. Many state highways are not even remotely as widely traveled as US-31 or US-131 south of Petoskey. Just about all of the state highways in northern Michigan fit the definition of a minor highway if you were to ask basically anyone who knew the highway. I certainly wouldn’t consider Shore Line Dr to be a major highway even though it’s a state highway. Or State Rd? That is a state highway, but is definitely not a major highway. But US-31 is the major traffic route going north/south and by all definitions other than what is in the Wiki here, it would be considered a major highway.
Having all US routes set to Major or Freeway helps to distinguish them on the map.
On the other hand, if it’s an undivided two lane highway with surface intersections, then I would be just as happy with a policy that says to mark it a minor highway. If it’s more popular or considered the “main route” I don’t see that being a factor.
If you’re implying something about the NHS map, I’m pretty sure all of the US routes are on it. There is no need to distinguish between “major” routes when it comes to federal highways.
In response to your post, if a highway is truly minor in functionality, then it should be minor. If the highway is major in functionality, then it should be major. Function really does trump other factors. If you are new to an area and looking at a map and you want the fastest way from point A to point B, you are going to look for the most major road you can find as that will likely be the best route to take. US-31 (and US-131) is the major route that you would take from southern Michigan to northern Michigan on the west side of the state. You wouldn’t use the state highways. That just really wouldn’t make sense. But if you looked at the map and US-31/131 was yellow along with all of the state and county highways, it would not stand out as the best route to take the way it should. Functionally, it is a major highway and is designed to handle all traffic to Mackinaw Bridge on the west side of the state. No other route is designed to handle all of that traffic. This is why it should be a major highway. If, on the other hand, there were other routes that were equally as good (or better), then a minor highway may be more appropriate. But that simply is not the case here.
I am fine with them all being marked as major highways if that makes sense (I’d have to see more examples before making that kind of decision, though), but you did say you were fine with them being minor. As such, I agreed that IF a highway was truly minor in nature, then that would be fine. But it’s not the case where we are currently discussing. We could get into another discussion on whether or not all US highways should be marked as major no matter what, but that’s not really what this thread is for and I think that would require a lot more discussion than this to come to any conclusion.
I just travelled a significant part of US-7 through Vermont, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. In those states it is a freeway (here and here), a four-lane divided highway (here and several other places), a four-lane undivided highway, a three-lane undivided highway (uphill “slow traffic” lane), a two-lane major highway, and a two-lane winding road. Speed limits range from 65 MPH to 30 MPH.
I really don’t think it’s appropriate to classify the entire road as one classification just because it’s a highway designated during the 1950’s Eisenhower Administration.
US-1 (followed, perhaps, by its Western counter-part - US-101) is probably the Classic example of “one” road with many, many personalities.
Looking at the classifications in the Wiki I would say that Minor Highway would be the least classification for US-7. The definition on Minor Highway is very broad: “Minor Highways vary widely from large multi-lane roads with stoplights and higher speed limits, to small residential streets with stops [sic] signs.
Some minor highways may zigzag thru an area with many turns on local streets.
A Minor Highway thru the main street of a small town often retains focus on local access with pedestrian traffic and on street parking.”
[An aside: In Great Barrington, MA on US-7 the “pedestrian traffic” and “on street parking” are particularly apt as traffic is frequently at a stand-still while pedestrians cross en-masse or people try vainly to parallel park into a space too small for their SUV!]
Considering their purpose, though, perhaps US routes should be classed as Minor Highway or higher with higher classes used where the road configuration warrants?
I wrestled with this as well. Basically, the current definition is one that defines a segment’s type by its personality.
Its personality may differ greatly from its purpose.
I strongly disagree with changing a road type from major to minor highway simply because it is now going through a town (and its personality has changed). It confuses the user (“hey wait… I was following the red road!”) and looks ugly.
The road is still meant for getting users along the highway… From one city to the next.
I think this discussion is of moving towards purpose rather than personality. If the road’s purpose is to be a major thoroughfare from S Michigan to N Michigan, it should be a major highway from beginning (of that purpose) to end (of that purpose).
It may change purposes, to be sure! It sounds like US-7 may change purposes, in the example given. But I think that needs to be evaluated on a much less granular scale than segment-by-segment.
Agreed, doctorkb. No one is suggesting that all highways have to maintain a single classification. If the highway’s function changes, then so should it’s classification. If that curving section’s function is no longer as the main route through the area, then it isn’t a major highway anymore. However, that isn’t the case here. US-31 is the main highway on the west side of the state leading to the Bridge (the one and only way between the upper and lower peninsulas in Michigan without using a boat, traveling across the ice on the lake, or going around through another state). No other route performs this function. Other roads can be used, but no one would do so unless they were trying to avoid highways for one reason or another. We aren’t talking about a highway that is functionally similar to other highways in the area. We are talking about a highway that is the only one with this function in the state (acknowledging that it splits south of Petoskey into US-31 and US-131 such that you have a coastal route and the more commonly used US-131. Perhaps the coastal part of US-31 may have a different function as I have only rarely ever driven on that section and don’t remember it well, but US-131 between Petoskey and Cadillac and US-31 north of Petoskey are the major routes in the area and as such should be labeled as major highways.
And that’s also the case for US-7 in Connecticut. Although it’s two lanes and curvy and runs through several small villages it’s still “the” route North/South in Western Connecticut.
I guess the point I am making is that your situation isn’t unique. Once we come to some standard then it will apply elsewhere and should be clear and carefully considered.
I’m not sold on those descriptions entirely, though. There are a variety of roads with higher classifications than what they are really used for. Take Van Road as an example. It really doesn’t go anywhere. If you’re going to go west to anything other than someone’s address in the countryside, you’ll take either Levering Rd or Robinson Rd. This is where we need consider what makes the most sense.
Functionally, what importance is the road regardless of what MDOT states? For highways, is it a major route through the area, or is it used to a lesser amount? For streets, is it a major route to somewhere or are there better routes that make more sense? If we had traffic flow data to look at, that could help, but otherwise we just need to make judgement calls. This is why classifying roads becomes tricky. You basically have 3 classifications - street, highway, and freeway. Streets and highways are split into 2 different levels and that is where the problems start to arise. I think there are a few main points to consider with classifying roads in Waze…
Does classifying it at a higher level provide value to the driver? For example, take a driver who is looking at the map without using navigation. The driver wants to visually see how to get from point A to point B using the best or most common route without knowing any details about current speeds. The level of the road provides details on the routes. Does having it marked higher provide a better route from point A to point B, does it provide a worse route, does it obscure other routes that may be better, or does it have no pros or cons at all? If it provides a better route than alternatives (ignoring current speed data), then there is value it marking it at a higher level. If it does not provide a better route than alternatives, then marking it at a higher level has no value and depending on the area, could have a negative effect if there are better alternatives that are marked at a lesser level.
Does the road handle more traffic than other roads in the area? If the road handles significantly more traffic than other roads in the area (other highways if you’re discussing highways, or other streets if discussing streets), then having it marked higher helps to identify the major routes. If the road handles basically the same amount of traffic as other roads in the area, then there is no value in raising the classification. Unfortunately, we usually don’t have that information available, so it’s up to people familiar with the traffic in the area to determine that.
Is there any value in raising the classification of just about every road that continues for a decent distance in a north/south or east/west direction as that MDOT map seems to do? Or is it better to mark only the ones that are actually used more often for travel in those directions. For example, take Van Rd again. If you want to head just about anywhere from US-31 west, you are unlikely to use Van Rd unless your destination is right in the center section between Levering Rd and Robinson Rd. There aren’t any main towns in that area, so you’re basically only going to use that as a way to get to rural housing locations. According to the MDOT map, they consider it just as important as the main route from US-31 to Cheboygan for anyone who is situated between Pellston and Mackinaw City. If you’re closer to Riggsville, you’d use that or if you’re closer to US-23, you’d use that. Otherwise, you use Levering Rd. There is a lot of traffic on that road. Other than Petoskey and Mackinaw City, Cheboygan is the only other city in the area that is of decent size. It is where people throughout the area do their shopping. Getting there is important. Yet they consider Van Rd, which really goes nowhere as being as important as Levering Rd heading to Cheboygan… seemingly because it travels for a decent distance east/west in the state.
Anyhow, there is actual value and then there is what DOT or other sources say is correct. Do we want to just do what DOT says? Or do we want to use a single set of Wiki descriptions everywhere without caring about importance to the local area? Or do we choose value and classify the roads based on actual value in routing through the area? Personally, I prefer a map that highlights the best travel routes in an area over one that marks roads with differing value as the same or roads without differing value as different. I prefer looking at a map and very clearly knowing that road X is a main street or else a main highway compared to road Y, which is a normal street or just a general highway. If it doesn’t provide a valuable route somewhere, a street should be just a street. If it provides the best and most commonly traveled route through the area, then it should be a major highway. And so on… regardless of DOT.