Re: Road Types (USA) – comprehensive overhaul of drivable ro
Posted: Mon Mar 31, 2014 3:22 am
No, good idea though. I will do that now. Hopefully the "infrastructural changes" take a little longer, long enough for Shirli to review.
Waze: outsmarting traffic together
https://www.waze.com/forum/
Except that that 23-mile series of switchbacks and mountain roads is probably the only alternative route to a freeway that probably relies on a tunnel through the side of a mountain, a tunnel which might be closed for extended periods of time for whatever reason, or through which vehicles of a certain size or carrying certain things might not be able to travel.dbraughlr wrote:I don't have a problem assigning MH to US numbered routes that are only two lanes with at least 3 miles out of 4 being passing zones. But 23 miles of double yellow lines on asphalt winding over a mountain with just a few slow traffic turnouts or "climbing lanes" cannot be function as MH because such a road simply isn't built to be MH even if the average speed on it is 40 mph and its urban MH segments are considerably slower.
I support requiring some minimum construction standards for road types. I oppose downgrading function based on traffic congestion.
It's not a freeway.dbraughlr wrote:What is the downside of making it a freeway? After all, it is doing the job of the closed freeway.
Because "freeway" is necessarily defined by physical configuration. It is the only type which remains as such. The entire point of this revision is to get away from using physical characteristics to define road type for all the other types because it does more harm than good.dbraughlr wrote: I don't see how your statement "It's not a freeway" is somehow more valid than my statement "It is not a major highway either".
"Passing zones" and "straightness" do not a Major Highway make. "Eureka Way" serves all routes along the Reno - Redding - Eureka corridor. Reno to Eureka is a 346 mile trip along this, the shortest and fastest route. Set it to Minor, and that route won't work.dbraughlr wrote:For example: Eureka Way certainly should be offered as an alternative route. It is not horrible, but it's the first one I recalled. In my mind, it is a minor highway. It does not meet minimum standards for passing zones or straightness to be classified as MH for its entire length.
It's a principal arterial, so you're out of luck here too.Lincoln Hwy / US-30 between Breezewood and McConnellsburg, PA, is another example - one which I am pleased to see is still mH in Waze and I think it should remain mH under any new system. If its US number forces it to MH, that is wrong imo.
What "minimum standard" do you propose? Here's one for you: to be a Major Highway, a road must be either a Principal Arterial or a US Highway.dbraughlr wrote:That's the real real problem. It should work as minor. But like a freeway, MH should have a minimum standard.sketch wrote:Set it to Minor, and that route won't work.
Except Waze doesn't tell you what's Freeway, Major, or Minor in the list of alternative routes. It tells you the names of the roads used. Sure, editors (~120,000 registered) can look at the map and check it out, but the vast majority of users (~90,000,000 registered – 750 times as many as there are editors) don't know or care that Minor and Major even exist, much less the difference between them or how each looks on the client map.When selecting between routes, I like to see how many miles are interstate/freeway, how many MH, and how many mH. I should be able to choose an alternative either that avoids mH or accept a primary route knowing that it includes mH. Eureka Way might be shortest and fastest. But there are people who want to avoid it. I think I once counted that it changes direction 100 times in ~12 miles ... or something like that.
Yes, but it has kept the designation all this time, and it became a principal arterial through modern research. If you're suggesting to me that the AASHTO/Congress/US DOT keeps routes around for their historical significance alone, you are sorely mistaken.As for the Lincoln Highway, it was the first interstate. It didn't become a highway through modern research. It acquired that designation circa 1925. It is truly a grandfather of highways.