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State Highway Names

Post by the1who
This is a "LONG" overdue post from me. I stirred the pot up amongst your SMs (SuperDave1426 and MojaveCactusMonkey) and your RC (jemay). My point was to standardize the usage and naming convention of and for the state highways. I happened to be driving and had an exit prompt and was shocked to hear a working TTS for something I was expecting otherwise. So it prompted me to request we as a whole agree to make Nevada state highways one form to make it special not only for the state, but for roads that cross borders to be able to have distinct state lines in forms of the map reflecting that.

For years, the default state highway naming convention across the board before TTS was even thought of for spoken directions, was State Hwy XXX. That is of course to the best of my knowledge of what I remember from the old editor version cartouche days. Then TTS became a feature of the app, we then started wanting to fine tune the default TTS where there were issues, then we realized we could shorten the street names on the screen which is already short on real estate for all of the features as it is, so we now have US-XX instead of having to use US Hwy XX or SR-XX and even SH-XX as naming conventions. Some states, such as Kansas, when referring to the state highways, say it is Kansas Highway 7, everyone refers to it simply as K-7. So agreed amongst a high level champ, myself and maybe a few others, every state highway adopted the standard naming convention of K-XXX in Kansas a couple years ago now.

Come my move to Nevada and my local daily driving. I don't even think the freeway sign was one that I had touched, I don't go around editing everything, only the obvious things that stick out to need fixing. Aside from that, I heard "Exit right to Exit 41: Nevada 159 / Charleston Blvd" which is "Exit 41: NV-159 / Charleston Blvd" It of course has my edits recently, as I edited geometry related issues there. Now, what the surprise to me was the TTS of Nevada clearly and quite shockingly. I didn't expect it as it wasn't a known working TTS to me at the time. So it got me thinking to ask to make a statewide adoption of "NV-XXX" as the naming convention for the state highways.

I ask this because of the success I saw in it working, and figured it would help reduce screen text for the limited real estate by reducing the text characters but still providing the TTS audio feedback. I propose we adopt this or SR-XXX as the secondary to not using NV but you'll get TTS to say State Route XXX instead of Nevada XXX. The reason it is being asked is to get a common agreement amongst the community that can become a part of revising the Wiki here for the simplified reference: https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Highway_naming/USA

And more specific to the state wiki if it gets added to it: https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Nevada

So look forward to your feedback, all is welcome. I don't prefer any way in particular, as long as we have a common standardized naming convention that can be set in digital stone of the Wiki. I favor one, yes, but I will see both sides and I am not the one to make this decision, it will be the community as a whole.
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Post by andrewbc836
Sorry. I've been back in school and spending time with family when I'm not at work or working on school. So just now weighing in. Like db said, it doesn't really affect us here in Vegas, so I'm definitely down for following the standard. I do get what SuperD said about calling them SR or State Road. That's how I know them, but I have to refer to them so infrequently that it's not really a big deal.

Hope I'm not too late to the discussion, but doesn't look like my opinion is all that different anyway.
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Post by dbwiddis
I freely admit that I don't care.

I also freely admit that I didn't really know they weren't already NV-xxx since the only two I'm familiar with in the Las Vegas area that don't already have a more common name is NV-159 (Red Rock Canyon Road) and NV-160 (Blue Diamond Rd) which are already named NV-xxx. I'd be happy to see that convention applied statewide.
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Post by geopgeop
I'd definitely vote for NV-xxx, especially for those routes that connect to the same numbered route in California (i.e. 28, 88 and 266), as well as for other routes that connect at state lines, so as to create a distinction.
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Post by MojaveCactusMonkey
I vote NV-159 simply because the state highway maintained roads ALL have a NV silhouette either on the black signs with the route number inside the NV state outline, OR they have the larger green sign with the NV state outline. In the urban areas like Charleston Blvd the only time you'll really notice is on the freeways. THe only name Charleston Blvd should have is the common name elsewhere. The only place the actual state highway routes would need to be labled NV-xxx or SR-xxx in in the remote parts of the state where the state maintained roads cross other routes. So it won't affect very many people as the locals out in rural parts don't use gps apps much. My calls to several smaller counties assessors offices found they call the "route" and not state route, or nevada route or state highway. So my conclusion on utilizing the NV-xxx format is becausew Wazers using the app near borders will recognize the difference between NV routes and CA, AZ, UT, ID, OR routes. As these state maintained roads enter urban areas and cities, Waze should have them named for their common name not NV-xxx or SR-xxx. As you look at a sign and you see an outline of Nevada, is your first thought State route xxx or Nevada route xxx?

There is another argument that the NVDOT State Maintained Routes document has mention of "SR-xxx", but this is simply a continuation of governmental nomenclature. My point is what does the driver consider to be more understandable when they get about 3 seconds to make a decision pulling in at 60 mph. Do they understand which version better. My humble opinion would be NV-xxx. Again, the only place the huge majority of drivers would notice would be at a junction where one freeway (interstate, US-xxx, or "state highway" cross each other. Otherwise the only place where SR-xxx NV-xxx would be displayed as the name is outside the cities where there is not common name.

My last point is looking at the official state map of NV with Gov Sandoval on the edge shows state highways with a symbol of the NV shape with the xxx number inside the outline. So while there are some mentions of "SR" mixed in with references to State Highways, the end user the driver sees the official map with the same symbol they see on the signs which happens to be an outline of Nevada.

Some detractors from changing the few roads already converted from State Hwy xxx to SR-xxx back over to NV-xxx have told me they think its not a priority and keep the status quo because Wiki says so, (except K and LA) THe job would primarily fall to drivers making long trips cross state that have editing rights and want to earn some points converting these long boring highways or SM or CM or champs. In the city converting the roads would definately be a project, but not one that in my opinion needs to be completed within a few days or even weeks.

Thanks for reading this far... I'm not sure I'm done with my opinion here, but this is my initial impression. Convert the balance to NV-xxx, we can change Nevada one segment at a time! lol
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Post by SuperDave1426
I will freely admit to one and all that I was initially resistant to the idea of renaming the roads from the existing SR-xxx to NV-xxx. It isn't broke, so why are we fixing it? ;)

After giving it a lot of thought after the initial discussions took place on the subject, I feel that there would be some benefit to doing the renaming. The "con" side is that the state itself does not refer to any state highway as NV-xxx, but rather as SR-xxx - they still call them state routes or state highways. Check any NDOT construction status page and you'll see that. Yes, the highway number signs are often shaped like the state and even have "Nevada" on them, but that's not the official state reference/designation for such a highway.

However, if we're in agreement that the "pro" side outweighs the "con" side and that it's in the better interest of drivers for them to hear "Nevada xxx" rather than "state route xxx", then it seems like a good idea to do it as we work on various roads in various areas. Heck, we might even be able to get Waze to render the state shape on the road number sign that shows up in the app (as it does for US and Interstate highways/freeways), which was a point that was made during that earlier discussion. When someone is glancing at the phone on their dash as they drive about, I figure people more quickly identify a shape - so if they see a Nevada shield with a number on it, they don't have to think as long about "What is that? Oh yea, state route." :-) Anything that gets the driver's eyes back on the road is a good thing.

So yea, I say let's do this.
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Post by SuperDave1426
It's already been added to the NV Wiki as the standard, so yeah, you're late to the party. :D But glad you made it, just the same! :mrgreen:

https://wiki.waze.com/wiki/Nevada#Major_roads
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