Functional Classification in Mississippi

[jasonh300]

Items in Bold Green are complete. Items in Blue are currently being worked on with the name of the user working on it in parentheses. Please contact jasonh300 or Sketch via PM to update this list.

Urban areas
Biloxi-Gulfport
Hattiesburg
Jackson (bart99gt)
Memphis
Pascagoula

Small-Urban Areas
Aberdeen
Amory
Batesville
Booneville
Brookhaven
Carthage
Clarksdale
Cleveland
Columbia
Columbus
Corinth
Crystal-Springs
Forest
Greenville
Greenwood
Grenada
Hernando
Holly-Springs
Indianola
Kosciusko
Laurel
Leland
Louisville
McComb
Meridian bart99gt
Natchez
New-Albany
Oxford (coldillusions)
Philadelphia
Picayune
Pontotoc City
Ripley
Senatobia
Starkville
Tupelo (coldillusions)
Vicksburg
Waynesboro
West Point
Winona
Yazoo City

County list

Adams County
Alcorn County
Amite County
Attala County
Benton County
Bolivar County
Calhoun County
Carroll County (CrackedLCD)
Chickasaw County
Choctaw County
Claiborne County
Clarke County
Clay County
Coahoma County
Copiah County (majorjc_MS)
Covington County
DeSoto County
Forrest County
Franklin County
George County
Greene County
Grenada County
Hancock County (jasonh300)
Harrison County (jasonh300)
Hinds County
Holmes County
Humphreys County
Issaquena County
Itawamba County
Jackson County
Jasper County
Jefferson County
Jefferson Davis County
Jones County
Kemper County
Lafayette County
Lamar County
Lauderdale County
Lawrence County
Leake County
Lee County (coldillusions)
Leflore County (CrackedLCD)
Lincoln County
Lowndes County
Madison County
Marion County
Marshall County
Monroe County
Montgomery County
Neshoba County
Newton County
Noxubee County
Oktibbeha County
Panola County
Pearl River County
Perry County
Pike County
Pontotoc County
Prentiss County
Quitman County
Rankin County (majorjc_MS)
Scott County (majorjc_MS)
Sharkey County
Simpson County (majorjc_MS)
Smith County (majorjc_MS)
Stone County
Sunflower County
Tallahatchie County
Tate County
Tippah County
Tishomingo County
Tunica County
Union County
Walthall County
Warren County
Washington County
Wayne County
Webster County
Wilkinson County
Winston County
Yalobusha County (CrackedLCD)
Yazoo County

[jasonh300]

Mississippi editors, please reply to this thread to check in and to get notifications when there are posts or updates!

We are implementing Functional Classification in the state of Mississippi.

Functional classification is a system by which roads are classified using a set of criteria selected by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). These criteria include not only the physical attributes of the road but also efficiency of travel, number of access points, speed limits, route spacing, actual usage, and continuity. This can lead to quite different classifications for roads that appear similar. For example, a six-lane divided road in an urbanized area may be a Collector (Primary Street); a two-lane road through the middle of a town may be a principal arterial (Major Highway).
In Waze, functional classification is used to determine road type in the United States.

Functional classification is a national standard, but functional classification maps are published by state departments of transportation.

Experimentation over the past 6 months has shown that using these functional classification road typing schemes VASTLY improves Waze routing. It is now being implemented nationwide.

The Mississippi Functional Classification maps can be found here.

Below is a table that shows how to use the Waze road types to match the MDOT maps.



In addition to setting the road type, care should be taken that these roads have been carefully examined for continuity. Go along each road and be sure that any connecting roads have proper turn permissions set, and that there are no gaps in coverage. Mississippi State Highways should be named in the MS-## format. U.S. Highways should be named in the US-## format. Divided highways should have the cardinal direction, and crossings (u-turns). At-grade connectors should be typed properly (the lesser of two types that it connects to). Uturns should be of Street type except in the case of "Michigan left" type uturns.

Only then should any area be marked "Complete". (list in next post)

Contact me or Sketch through PM to get the status of any area changed to "Complete".

[bart99gt]

Yep. OK, I think that clears everything up. I'll make changes to the MS wiki to reflect this conversation.

[bart99gt]

Yep, that's it.

So following the above, say the second urban area isn't there (for instance, it is a county road that at best intersects a state or US highway 10 miles away), I have been usually just going straight to the rural classification at the end of the urban area. Would it be more appropriate to keep the urban classification going, even though said road never enters another urban area, or just pick up the rural classification as I have been doing?

[bart99gt]

Well, I proofread my prior response, and that should have said Major Collector instead of Major Arterial. But I think the same concept still applies.

[bart99gt]

OK, I've gotcha.

I guess my main hang up/point of confusion is I was imagining that you could potentially convert a road to a major highway over a very long distance simply because it was a Primary Arterial through a city, when said road may not really be intended for that function by the DOT further down the road.

So let me pose one last question, if said road never became anything better than a Major Arterial after passing the interstate, never enters another urban area, and did not otherwise qualify to be a mH (ie., not a State Hwy, BR, LOOP, etc.) would you just drop the road to a PS anyway? Or maybe just carry the higher classification until its next intersection with another classified road?

[bart99gt]

I understand wanting to keep consistency between two closely spaced urban areas.

However, and I may be a little foggy on this, does this mean we should keep the urban classification between two urban areas that are say, 40-50 miles apart?

I only say this because it isn't uncommon for some roads to be a Primary Arterial in an urban area, drop to a Minor Arterial on the rural map, then at some point drop down to a Major Collector.

For example, you have State Hwy 1 that is the main route through the middle of town A and is 4 lanes. Once it hits the city limits, it goes down to 2 lanes, and the rural map says it is now a Minor Arterial. A mile or so outside of town, the road has an interchange with an adjacent interstate, and on the other side of the interstate, State Hwy 1 becomes a Major Collector on the rural map. 30 miles down the road, it enters another urban area (town B), in another county, and becomes a Minor Arterial.

Now, the way I have been doing things is I would take the urban classification all the way to the interchange with the interstate, then beyond there, I would demote the road only down to a mH because it is a state highway. But you're saying that it should be carried all the way to the other urban area as a MH?

[bart99gt]

I made an edit to one of the footnotes on the FC chart to clear things up a bit. I've seen a few sections of road that were improperly classified and I think it may be due to some confusion about how to interpret the chart.

Basically, as per the discussion above, if there is more than one choice in the chart, default to the LOWER of the two.

My personal preference is to carry the urban classification (if it is higher than the surrounding rural one) out far enough to provide a transition from the urban to rural environment (if someone needs examples, just ask), and to keep a road from changing classification(s) back and forth because it skips in and out of an urban area.

Remember, the chart is a MINIMUM classification. If you feel, that in your judgement, that a road should be classified higher, then do so. These maps only get updated every few years, so roads may have been widened, reconfigured, etc...

[bart99gt]

OK, he and I had a discussion about that earlier, I just wanted to make sure something hadn't changed.

[bart99gt]

Just so I have this straight...

https://www.waze.com/editor/?env=usa&lo ... 925&zoom=3

This is about a mile from my house, and happens to be right on the border between the Memphis urban area map and the DeSoto County rural classification map.

Pleasant Hill Rd on the urban map is classified as a minor arterial route, but on the county map, it is a major collector. So now, to stay consistent with the urban classification, I should upgrade it to a minor highway as well? IMHO, this one probably should be a mH all the way to I-55 anyway as it more or less is an arterial route through that part of the county.

Now, take this example:
https://www.waze.com/editor/?env=usa&lo ... 925&zoom=4

Wheeler Rd never enters an urban area, and is designated as a Major collector, and I've had it marked as a primary street. Now, according to the chart this should be a minor highway? Or should it just depend on what we judge the importance of the street to be and classify them as mH/PS as appropriate?