Shorten segments named “New York State Thruway Berkshire Ext” to “NY Thruway Berkshire Connector” (From I-87 ramps east to Exit B1 interchange with I-90)
Remove excess junction nodes
All current segments should have Schodack as the city (one is incorrectly labeled Schodack Landing). There is also a city/county line down the center of the river, with Coeymans to be added in on the west side
Permalink (Sorry about not selecting segments, the zoom is too far out)
Where is it called the Berkshire Spur? I’ve always heard it referred to as the Berkshire Extension? Also, I’m thinking of standardizing the Thruway name to “NY Thruway” since NY is a very well-known abbrevation for New York, it’s pronounced by Waze as New York, and New York Thruway is what the blue circle-shield Thruway badge says. I’d like to avoid things like “NY Thwy” because it seems like we’re building an entire name with just abbreviations, except maybe when reflecting very large green signs where the Thruway reference is among many other names as well.
That’s strange, I’ve never heard it called extension once in 20 years of living by it. The Thruway website refers to it as the Berkshire Spur on multiple pages, and every news report for accidents and traffic in the Capital Region calls it the Berkshire Spur. I would call it spur anywhere it’s not officially designated I-87 or I-90 (whatever is currently named Berkshire Extension).
I actually made the NY Thruway topic in the NY forum because of the length of this name. I thought Thruway might make this name too long, but a few extra letters won’t make a difference (except, as you mentioned, when there are many other names on the sign).
Looking at the references on Wikipedia, it’s officially named the Berkshire Connector, another name I’ve never heard it called. That comes up on a few Thruway website pages as well, though not as frequent as the Spur reference.
I replied in more words on your other post. I agree with NY Thruway, I don’t think we should be using NY Thwy.
Ramp names should match the BGS wordage, if it’s called Berkshire extension on the BGS, then that’s what the ramp name gets, of its not mentioned, then it doesn’t go in the name. For the Fwy segments it should likely be an alt name if it’s also known by the interstate number. And our should be the official name, not the colloquially common one.
Edit: the only time not to use an official name when it’s available, is if the local signage differs.
Problem with the name is that the BGS doesn’t mention it at all. The exit is signed as “I-90 E / Mass Pike / Boston.” But the spur isn’t designated I-90 until a few miles down at exit B1.
So I’ve done some digging over the past hour and the problem is spur and connector are both the official names of the segment: it just depends on what authority you ask. The thruway authority calls the entire section from I-87 to the mass border connector, but the State of New York, who maintains this non-interstate part of the route as unsigned NY-912M, calls it spur.
So for the same price this segment can be called NY-912M none of the name are signed. Lacking signage, we have to choose the best official name by what’s in common usage, but I wouldn’t use a name which not one of the three official names.
Nevertheless the actual ramps used for navigation instructions should still match the BGS.
I wouldn’t consider NY-912M as any NY-9##X route is a reference route and not a signed route (Wiki article [and now that has me wondering whether we should count them as State Hwy’s in FC upgrades]).
I’ll keep looking into this and make a list of resources for Spur vs. Connector (every reference I’ve found to Ext has been a third-party website, but I’ll keep an eye out for it). Who knew a <7 mile segment of highway could have such naming complexity? haha.
NYS Thruway Authorirty: Listed as offical exit name (appears to be exempted on BGS due to size). Listed as the name on NYTA traffic cameras and name for traffic/accident press releases (Exmaple). Also on the “about/overview” page. Note: This is the name of the entire section from I-87 to the Massachusetts border, though the other ~20 miles should have the primary name as I-90.
Used interchangeably with spur by local news reports
Spur:
NYSDOT refers to it as Berkshire Thruway Spur for their NY-912M section (the ~7 miles from I-87 to I-90). Though this may be wording referring that it is a highway spur, and not an official name.
Used interchangeably with connector by local news reports
Also used on NYTA “about/overview” pages, and referenced in meeting minutes. However, not on exit listings.
Seems to be the local use (where my bias originates), even in an interview by the local NYTA spokesman (Article)
Used as directions on business websites, mainly to business in the region
Extension:
No references from authorities
Used as direction on business websites, though these businesses tend to be farther away (a lot of Boston or downstate NY websites giving directions to those areas)
Based on this, I would have to go with “NY Thruway Berkshire Connector” and perhaps even add that as the alt name for the I-90 section. I’m not sure if the alt name would matter though, as no one would navigate to the tolled highway itself. This is mainly for display purposes of the non-interstate section, though I believe those getting off I-87 heading east will hear “Stay on NY Thruway Berkshire Connector for X miles to X.”
Ok, I’ve been a little behind on this thread. I have no problem calling it something along the lines of “NY Thruway (Berkshire Spur)” - or “I-90 E / NY Thruway (Berkshire Spur)” - on the actual segments to disambiguate it from other Thruway segments. The reason I would include the parentheses is because the Berkshire Spur part doesn’t appear on any signs anywhere (much like the eastern and western spurs of the Turnpike in NJ).
Ramp names should definitely match the BGSes that point to them. If the mainline signs say “Exit 21A: to I-90 E / Mass Pike / Boston” then that’s what the ramp should be named.
I don’t agree with using the reference route marker (NY-912M) name at all, except maybe as an obscure reference in the alt names. They are very sparsely-known, and only really appear cryptically on those little square green wand markers that NY uses on state roads instead of regular mile markers used many other places.
Edit: If the word connector is more appropriate than the word spur, that’s fine too. In that case we might just be able to use Conn for connector (provided the abbreviation works right with TTS), so we have like “NY Thruway (Berkshire Conn)” or “I-90 E / NY Thruway (Berkshire Conn)”
And we can use conn regardless of tts, since these names are never spoken. The only way on is through a ramp which uses the BGS name as the spoken prompt. The names of the main line segments are never supposed to be spoken.
So I updated the Berkshire connector of the Thruway as we discussed. I also updated the toll road flags to modern standards on the connector, since I was already working with the segments; the mainline of the Thruway north and west of the Ulster/Greene county line still has the old-style toll-road flags. I plan to update them with FC upgrades as I make my way up the valley county by county.
Please review when you get a chance and let me know how it looks.
Just to clarify what do you mean by modern style toll flags? Is it to just flag the single segments which go through the toll booth/collection site/gantry and not to flag every mainline segment of the Fwy?