I’ve been in WV a lot recently and have begun doing some editing while I’m out here, so I wanted to check with local editors on some of the road type/naming standards. There are always exceptions but these are my general observations:
Freeways (Interstate Highways and Route 43/Mon-Fayette Expy) - already set throughout the state based on the criteria for freeways.
US Highways - all four lanes and some of the busier, longer distance two lanes set as major highway, otherwise set as minor highway.
State Highways
Shield: square or rectangle, always one route number.
Naming: route number is usually primary name, and any street names are alternate names (though these were usually missing from the base import).
Naming Format: State Rte 123 (I’ve seen SR- used in some places in Waze)
Ramp Format: SR-123
Road Type: minor highway, or major highway if four or more lanes.
County Highways or Secondary State Routes
Shield: circle or oval, often two route numbers separated by a horizontal line. (Example)
Naming: same as state highways.
Naming Format: Co Rte 123 or Co Rte 123/1 (I’ve seen Co Rd used in some places in Waze)
Ramp Format: CR-123 or CR-123/1 (I’ve seen WV- used in some places in Waze and on official documents)
Road Type: street or primary street.
Home Access Road Program (HARP)
These are roads and driveways that have been given names and numbers in an effort to assign addresses to houses. Many of these had segments mapping them from the original data import, but very few of them are named. I don’t have any information on this road type so I’m asking the community for guidance.
Shield: pentagon shaped like house, one or two route numbers. (Example)
Naming: should the street name be the primary name and the route number be the alternate name?
Naming Format: should the route be listed as Co Rte #, Co HARP #, Co HARP Rte #, HARP Rte #, CR-#, or HARP-#?
Road Type: private.
Should we keep the naming format from the base map import and hope that Waze will adopt that since it would take a long time to fix, or change the names to match US standards (for example, using State Hwy so the app will display route shields, and using the abbreviated CR- for segment names)? Most roads in WV appear to be numbered so I think it’s important to have a consensus.
I’ve found that the best resource for all route numbers and some road names in towns is the state (WVDOT Maps), and the best resource for road names is to check at the county level. Unfortunately, the availability and quality of these maps varies, but some good ones I’ve found are Grant, Hardy, and Preston Counties.
I’m not a West Virginia AM, but happen to see this post. The two above links can give you some guidance on Highway & Numbering if you haven’t already taken a gander at them.
Thanks for the info. It answers my question for the state routes, but do you have any idea why “State Rte XXX” is in red? My concern with the county route format is that, despite what the Wiki says, nearly every name in WV is already formatted as “Co Rte XXX” and it would take a long time to fix.
There is an on going discussion on my state forum about this similar issue. I don’t know if West Virginia has addressed this issue or not but maybe taking a gander at https://www.waze.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=631&t=52455 can help clear some things up.
For state highways there was a time that waze promised that State Rte 123 would produce a shield, but that never seems to happen. “SR” however is pronounced as “State Route,” while “SH” isn’t expanded to “State Highway.”
County routes have a similar issue. Co Rte in pronounced “Coe Route,” but “CR” is pronounce “County Route.” This makes “CR” desirable, but as you note that is not what was input with the base map.
I’ve never seen the HARP roads, so I’m not sure what to do with them.
I think all the “State Rte XXX” where made red at one point as exceptions and then when others were changed later they weren’t made red. I don’t think the entries there were based on too much consideration. If we can come to a reasoned consensus here, I would suggest changing that page to match what we decide.
Regarding road types (functional classification map - Waze road type):
Expressways that are interstates - freeways.
Expressways that are US or state routes - major highways.
Trunklines and feeders - minor highways.
There are a number of corridors (listed here) that are planned to have four lanes, but only some sections have been upgraded. The road types are inconsistent - some corridors have the four lane sections as major highway and the two lane sections as minor highway, and some have the entire route as major highway.
That makes sense, I don’t know of a fully accessed controlled road that is not an interstate. I think you’ll find many that will advocate that US routes should remain as major highways even if they fall to trunklines or two lanes for consistencies sake. A major highway in a rural setting doesn’t necessarily need four lanes. Waze is certainly trying to reduce the reliance on road type in routing, but you still need major highways or freeways in sparsely populated areas for long distance routing.
I concur that SR- and CR- are preferable as they take up less space on screen, expand to “State/County Route” when spoken, and would allow the use of one naming format for both streets and ramps. I’d be willing to settle for State Rte since it’s already in use and the pronunciation is still correct, but I’m not a fan of Co Rte.
In regard to HARP routes, please look at the towns of Albright and Brandonville as examples, where I’ve added the route numbers. They’d always be the alternate name unless the road has no name.
I agree that setting all US routes as major highways would probably be appropriate (for WV and western MD only), but I don’t have the familiarity or editing area to make those changes except in limited areas. Perhaps we could use this map as a guide for which routes should be major highways?
Interstates & Expressways - Freeways
US & State Routes - Major Highway
Primary County Routes (e.g. CR-33), Feeders, Trunk Lines, & Corridors - Minor Highway
Secondary Country Routes (e.g. CR-33/17), HARP, Park Routes, and other Numbered Streets - Primary Roads
The US road typing guidance has changed significantly since this thread started. I do think we should follow the current US guidance. But that still requires matching the West Virginia functional class map to the waze road types. So now I’d be inclined to go with:
Freeways - Interstates and other expressways which meet the criteria of a controlled access highway
Major Highways - Trunklines, other expressways which do not meet the criteria of a controlled access highway and US Highways
Minor Highways - Feeders and State Highways
Primary Streets - County Highways
Street - Other
I’m not really familiar with Park routes or HARP roads. But HARP roads sound like they don’t need to be primary streets to me.
The issue with trying to conform WV to the US standard is that the language is different. the US Standard uses the terms major & minor arterials & collectors. Only the county maps have FC and they only describe expressways, feeders, and trunk lines.
I have found a link to a report published by WV DOT. While it is not a map, it does cross reference feeders, mainlines, and trunk lines to the national FC system. It is very interesting to see how some feeders are principal arterial and some trunklines are collectors. Generally it is sorted by counties and lists roads by their number. http://gis.wvdot.com/gti/GISTemplates/HPMS_Reports/WV_FA-Roads_2012.pdf
I’ve been updating based on the WV DOT ID provided above. I notice though that there are roads that are identified as FANS. Which means federal aid non-state. They have numbering associated with these routes that I cannot cross reference. Suggestions?
HARP routes should be set as private road or street, as they are all driveways to access houses and shouldn’t be used for through routing.
Loki, is there a type of road or facility that the FANS roads are usually associated with, such as a national park? Could you provide a permalink to an example?
I’ve been using SR-### and CR-###. I’ve forgotten about the Highway naming/USA Wiki Page. Seems like what is most important is for us to be consistent. Is there anybody using State Rte ## and County Hwy ### now? If not, I’ll change the Highway naming/USA Wiki Page.