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Qld Road Hierarchy

Post by age4670
Note: Do not use external sources to map in Waze. This information is provided for reference or your own learning only.

I've been looking at street types a bit recently and it would appear that the classification of street types has changed slightly over time. I thought it might be worth some updating to get everyone on the same page. From what I have been able to gather the following road classification and Waze road type applies in Qld.

Waze Classification
Freeway
  • 1. Freeways/Motorways (QLD Globe road type)
Major Highway
  • 2. Highways (QLD Globe road type)
    - Roads designated as a national highway
    - National Highway (State Controlled)
Minor Highway
  • 2. Highways (QLD Globe road type) – Roads designated (or named) as a highway (other than national)
    - State Strategic Road (State Controlled) – May be upgraded to Major Highway
    - Regional Road (State Controlled)
    - Roads designated as State Roads/Routes (can be either State Strategic, Regional or District Roads)
    - Major Arterial (Local Government)
Primary Street
  • 3. Secondary Roads (QLD Globe road type) – Unless designated as a State Road/Route
    4. Local Connector Roads (QLD Globe road type) – May be downgraded to Street depending on Local Government Classification and/or local knowledge
    - District Road (State Controlled)
    - Arterial types (Local Government) – other than Major
    - Roads designated as Tourist or Scenic Drives/Routes (if not already meeting hierarchy rules)
    - Dirt roads with this type would generally be formed (stormwater drains) and gravelled (a road surfaced with a granular material and constructed using mechanical compaction; regular maintenance)
Street
  • 5. Street/Local (QLD Globe road type)
    - Collector types – including Trunk and Residential (Local Government)
    - All other types not listed
    - Dirt roads will generally be formed (stormwater drains; periodic maintenance). If the road is unformed or a track (no engineering, only cleared; seldom maintained) carefully consider the road type; off road/not maintained may be a better option
  • Local Government controlled roads will generally be no higher than Primary Street.
  • State Controlled Roads will generally be no lower than Primary Street.
  • Unless it is a state controlled road or an inter-urban/regional link, to be classified as a Primary Street within built up or urban areas the road must:
    1. directly connect two or more roads of a higher or same classification (i.e. PS to PS at a minimum), and
    2. not be a street with primarily residential access.
  • If the road has primarily residential access it is generally a collector and should only be mapped as a street type.
It is my understanding that formed dirt roads should now be given the correct road type classification but have the ‘unpaved’ option ticked. This gives users the choice of route from within the app and no longer relies on editor discretion for routing.

There may be cases where local knowledge possibly overrides the hierarchy and classifications outlined above but they should be carefully considered. I would think that speed limits, centre dividing lines and other definitions previously used to determine a Waze road type would no longer apply unless an absolute last resort.
Waze Type Functional Hierarchy TMR LGA Austroads QLD Globe Road Type
Freeway Highway National Highway & State Strategic Road Freeway Freeway 1 – Freeways/Motorways
Major Highway Highway National Highway & State Strategic Road Freeway Freeway 2 - Highways
Minor Highway Arterial State Strategic Road & Regional Road Major Arterial Primary (other Arterial) 2 - Highways
Primary Street Distributor District Road Arterial & Sub-Arterial Secondary Arterial 3 - Secondary Roads
4 - Local Connector Roads
Street Trunk Collector
Collector
Access Street		 Not covered (LGA) Trunk Collector
Residential Collector
Access Street		 Distributor
Collector
Local		 4 - Local Connector Roads
5 - Street/Local
Note:
  • State Strategic Roads are classified as Highways (Major) by TMR but are classified by Waze as a Minor Highway unless they have a national highway designation.
  • Arterial in the Functional Hierarchy refers to State Controlled Roads.
Qld DRNS notes: Arterial roads are classifications 1-4 of RoadType. Note that the classifications used (e.g. Freeway) are those with which ordinary motorists would identify – i.e. a Freeway is self-explanatory and has certain expected characteristics such as access, speed, barriers etc. In cases where a road could have two classifications (e.g. Freeway as well as Highway), the highest classification (e.g. 1 – Freeway) should be used.

Caveat: It should be acknowledged that QLD Globe is an external source and can not be used to directly map in Waze. Information is provided for reference/confirmation only at this time.

Thoughts and comments to cement this appreciated.

Hierarchy Descriptions
Brief descriptions for the different road types:

Freeway
Freeways and Motorways have limited access and are designed to carry high volumes of traffic at high speed. It is a type of divided road with no access for traffic between interchanges and with grade separation at all intersections.

Motorway
A Motorway is a type of controlled access highway. The functionality of a motorway is exactly the same as that of a freeway, but the term is more generic in that a motorway can be a tollway or can contain sections that are tolled.

Highway
A highway is a main road declared a highway by the State or Federal Government and typically used for travel by the public between important destinations, such as cities, large towns, and states.

Arterial
These are the highest order roads that provide the main links between urban centres or between urban and rural centres. They carry high volumes of traffic and are designed to move traffic through localities. They predominantly carry through traffic from one region to another, forming principal avenues of travel for traffic movements between major activity and service centres and major urban areas within the city. In urban areas they may typically be multi-lane roads. They generally do not have any access to properties.

Sub-arterial
Roads that provide a connection from arterial roads to centres within a rural area. In urban areas they supplement the arterial roads in movement traffic from one part of an urban area to another. They connect arterial routes through and around major urban areas. Principal Rural roads provide connection between rural villages/townships, other higher order regional roads and urban centres and appear to fall under this category.

Collector
Roads that are designed to move traffic from arterial type roads to local and access streets. They do not carry high volumes of traffic nor are they used for long distance travel. They distribute traffic at the local level and should discourage through traffic (i.e. no continuous through routes between higher order roads). Their main function is to move traffic generated by the suburb/area.

A collector road is a non-arterial road that collects and distributes traffic in an area as well as serving abutting property. Collector roads generally provide a link between either arterial roads or distributor roads and local roads. They carry primarily inter-suburb traffic and provide the link between access streets and primary traffic carrying roads. These roads usually provide for the movement of traffic, have one lane in each direction, allow parking and provide direct access to residential properties. Collector roads are the responsibility of local government.

Local and Accesses
Provide access to residential properties. Their main function is to provide access to and from adjacent land uses.

Notes
Arterial roads form the basis of the road network while collector and local accesses form the internal road system for suburbs, developments, etc.

The following from RPDM explains State Controlled Road (SCR) classifications:

National Highways and the State Strategic Road Network function as the backbone of the state’s road network, catering for long distance movements by linking the major economic regions within and external to Queensland.

The Regional Road Network provides important links for commercial, freight and commuter traffic within regions.

The District Road Network provides links generally within and across local government boundaries. They are State Controlled Roads that do not in general serve a network purpose for longer distance through traffic. Sometimes they provide important links between towns within a region and often serve a local traffic demand. They are often important feeder routes to the Regional and State Strategic networks.
References
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Last edited by age4670 on Sat Apr 20, 2019 9:52 am, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Qld Road Hierarchy

Post by age4670
ituajr wrote:It appears that you've started out on the wrong page by referring to an obsolete Wiki page about road classifications. The current best reference is Australian Road Names, which makes no reference to Qld Globe (for the obvious reason).

Absolutely. I added QLD Globe as it was used as justification in a forum thread from last year (more to follow) and also so that it is done for when we are able to use it again.

The main focus was on using the current wazeo and hierarchy classifications.
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Re: Qld Road Hierarchy

Post by age4670
Vestigal wrote:Thanks for your research, but the road type in Waze do not necessarily have to represent any actual attributes of the road, due to the fact that Road Types are fully internal to the Editor and routing server.
That's not quite correct. While the road type in Waze is an internal classification, selecting the correct road type is based on the actual road attribute (e.g. route number, whether it is a highway, etc).
Vestigal wrote:It does make it easier to classify roads, that's true, but in any meaningful discussion, you can't specify a classification for QLD and not the rest of Australia, standards become very convoluted and disparate.
I agree and my hope was that using this a starting point some of the classifications may find their way into the Oz Wazeo. The standards here apply equally across the country (have a look at the table). Most road authorities will use a structure that matches or is similar I have just used Qld specific terminology. Think A, B & C routes which we don't have yet but still use Highway, Strategic, Regional etc. This list is meant to supplement the Oz Wazeo and not replace it.
Vestigal wrote:Classifications of Road Types in WME have historically been changed to suit the needs of the editor, or the routing engine. Road types being elevated to assist in long-distance routing is a pretty good example of this.
And this is where we disagree. Road types should not be changed to suit a particular editor. The editor should be setting a road type based on the agreed standard. For example see where I have suggested a change from using speed limit and centre dividing lines to determine PS to whether it is a residential street.

I understand road types are elevated for routing and that is covered in the Oz Wazeo.
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Re: Qld Road Hierarchy

Post by age4670
LysdexiaEht wrote:Great write up, and I agree with everything you've said.

There are local exceptions (which you noted) which can alter things somewhat of course.

I think it would be valuable if some work could be spent (like Andrew has done) in translating state naming to waze naming for editors in each state.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highways_ ... sification for example shows some similarities and disparities in naming.
You mean like this:
Waze Type Functional Hierarchy Qld ACT NSW NT SA Tas Vic WA
Freeway Highway National Highway and State Strategic Road Highway Highway National Land Transport Network Trunk Freeway Primary Distributor
Major Highway Highway National Highway and State Strategic Road Highway Highway National Land Transport Network Trunk Arterial Primary Distributor
Minor Highway Arterial State Strategic Road
Regional Road		 Arterial Highway
Main Road		 Arterial National Land Transport Network Regional Freight Arterial Primary Distributor
Primary Street Distributor District Road Major Collector Secondary Road
Tourist Road		 Secondary Maintained Road Regional Access
Feeder		 Arterial Regional Distributor
District Distributor
Street Trunk Collector
Collector
Access Street		 LGA Minor Collector
Access Street		 LGA LGA LGA Other LGA Local Distributor
Access Road
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Re: Qld Road Hierarchy

Post by age4670
Vestigal wrote:I think you misunderstand that message a little, I meant to state what has happened, not what should be happening. Some things like U-turn prevention mechanisms require PS or higher in Australia (ROW). It's not always so clear cut about which classifications should be used.
My apologies. Yes, I agree on the "what has" vs the "what should". I am aiming for the "base" map.

There will always be exceptions but they should (nudge, nudge ;) ) be clearly outlined in the wazeo (or a higher lock level, or commented on the map, etc.).
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Re: Qld Road Hierarchy

Post by age4670
Vestigal wrote:I mean, what part of the Wazeo is unclear in the description of the different road types? Also I'm not sure your table is very accurate, in NSW, we use Motorway and Freeway, and Expressway, but never "Highway" for Motorway-Typed roads.
That table was based on the link provided and I am pretty sure it is not current (and not just for NSW). Just showing that it is not hard to produce.

For me, I don't have a problem using the wiki, this way is a little more explicit and takes out some of the ambiguity when you come across a road that you are not sure on (or someone is deadset that it shouldn't be x because if you make it y you force waze to route quicker).

Like I said before, these descriptors are supplementary to the Wazeo and are not meant to replace it. It just references state specific terms.

What would be useful in the Wazeo is the distinctions between street and PS and also whether dirt roads can be PS or mH. Originally dirt roads were not given these types which is a problem in Qld because it breaks routing and continuity.
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Re: Qld Road Hierarchy

Post by age4670
I'll give an example.

The Bundaberg Ring Road was designed to route traffic around and away from the main part of Bundaberg to the port. To ensure it is given preference over other routes, it should be mH.

However, if you use the reference that shall not be named it has a road type of 3. These types are generally PS. If you look at another reference you find out that the Ring Road is actually classified as a Regional Road which is mH.

Another road adjacent is classified mH. Based on nothing else but the Wazeo and my list, it should be PS. A road type of 3 and is classified as a District Road. It is neither a state road nor a highway.

These are the types of situations where the reference is useful.
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Re: Qld Road Hierarchy

Post by age4670
ituajr wrote:So, for the stated goals of Waze ("saving everyone time and fuel on their daily commute"), the road type usually doesn't matter. The road type descriptions in the Wazeo are intended to be a broad summary of a convention that will minimise problems with long distance routing while simultaneously allowing the routing server to work efficiently.
I know I haven't been around long and still have a lot to learn but I would have to say, it appears to be more than that. The Waze road types match the functional hierarchy that road designers use. This is why Waze prefers PS over Street and mH over PS. If you put it all together Waze routing (and the figures used by MacVit in the NZ forum topic) actually makes a lot of sense.
ituajr wrote:One question which repeatedly comes up is: when does a street become a primary street? My general guideline is: a primary street is one that you drive along when passing through an area to get to another place. Not what you'd call a legal definition, but a good starting point.
So if the question keeps coming up why don't we put an answer in the Wazeo? Because if you add "mainly non-residential" then it is pretty close.
age4670 wrote:- Unless it is a State Controlled Road or an inter-urban/regional link, to be classified as a Primary Street within built up or urban areas the road must:
1. directly connect two or more roads of a higher or same classification (i.e. PS to PS at a minimum), and
2. not be a street with primarily residential access.
- If the road has primarily residential access it is generally a collector and should only be mapped as a street type.
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Re: Qld Road Hierarchy

Post by age4670
In any case. The info is there for anyone who finds it useful. If there are any mistakes, let me know and I will fix them up.
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Re: Qld Road Hierarchy

Post by age4670
I think I understand your concern. I have added an extra warning to the top of the post. Hopefully this makes it clearer to not use external sources to map.

It's not the scheme we're not supposed to use but only the source. ;)
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