Wikipedia talk:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Archive 2

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Notability standards for state highways

Are all state highways notable enough for an article? I'm thinking specifically in terms of the number of articles that could be added to List of Minnesota state highways. For example, Minnesota State Highway 210 is notable because it traverses nearly the entire state of Minnesota. On the other hand, Minnesota State Highway 289 is less than a mile long, and just a short connector from Minnesota State Highway 73 to a state prison. I don't want to create a bunch of articles just to create roadcruft that'll go to WP:AFD. So, are there any standards in place? --Elkman - (talk) 18:57, 27 March 2006 (UTC)

The answer is, no, not really. :-) If you're starting from scratch, it's wise to have each article stand on its own. Maybe have a separate section header in your list for short highway entries, and give the one-sentence description for each. How does a section entitled "Highways less than two miles in length" sound? —Rob (talk) 20:18, 27 March 2006 (UTC)
I believe the precedent at AFD is that if a highway is important enough that the DOT bothered to assign it a number, it can have an article. Extremely short highways are a curiosity (we have a whole Category:State highways shorter than one mile). ...Scott5114 22:27, 27 March 2006 (UTC)
Yup- Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Precedents. --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 05:12, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

Farm to Market Roads

There is a stub, along with a whole mess of redirects at Farm to Market Road that speaks about this sort of road fairly generally, but using the specific example of Texas, which is covered in more depth at Texas ranch to market road. Does another state support RM and FM roads like Texas? Iowa's DOT talks about it, a little. Someone from there listening, and able to chime in? My plan, if there is a need for this, will be to put links to specific systems on the more general page as they crop up, and try to flesh that page out a little (or should that go to a disambiguation pointing at the various systems?) If not, wouldn't they be duplicates, and suggestible for AfD?

In another vein, TxDOT's designation for the system is the Farm to Market Road system, so unless someone just has fits over it, I'm thinking to swap the Texas ranch to market road and the redirect to it at Texas farm to market road. Even west of US 281, a great many of these are signed "Farm Road", including the one I live on. They are much more commonly known as FM roads by residents of Texas. Any thoughts? --DavidBavousett 03:08, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

I suggest putting the Texas information at Farm to Market Road and general information (a road connecting a farm to a market etc) at farm to market road. --SPUI (talk - don't use sorted stub templates!) 07:01, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

    • Excellent work, Elkman; I appreciate it! SPUI, I like your idea, as well, which points out my n00b-ness in that article names are case-sensitive here! Based on these two responses, at farm to market road, I'll put the general information, including linkage to the more specific Texas variant (leaving a place where other systems could be added later, natch, and tidy up all the odd redirects. I'll also put an {{Otheruses4}}-type link on the Texas-specific page, pointing at farm to market road. Following the guidelines at WP:DAB, I'm thinking of what search results will look like. If a user enters "farm to market" or "ranch to market", they should end up at the general farm to market road, but if "Texas" enters into the search, they should end up at the more specific variant. Make sense? Anyone have any specific wishes here? I'll plan that batch of edits for Wednesday or Thursday evening, unless someone wants to visit about it more. --DavidBavousett 01:21, 29 March 2006 (UTC)

Utah Wikiproject

Any one interested in joining me with setting up a Utah Highways Wikiproject? Admrb♉ltz (T | C | k) 20:15, 8 April 2006 (UTC)

I'll help set up (whenever the madness settles down). --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 20:18, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
Cool; asked SPUI for route markers, but we can't find specs for them. Admrb♉ltz (T | C | k) 21:05, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
You can find one at List of highway shields in the United States. As far as fonts are concerned, you can probably find the correct font at the Roadgeek fonts site. "Series D" seems to be the correct one for Minnesota state highways, though I don't know if that's exactly what they use in Utah. You might have to experiment a bit. --Elkman - (talk) 21:54, 8 April 2006 (UTC)
I would make the page but theres an ongoing debate (on the list page) for names, and I know User:SPUI will go in and rename them State Route X (Utah)... Admrb♉ltz (T | C) 05:08, 11 April 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Utah State Highways has been created as a shell. Admrb♉ltz ( T | I | E ) 04:24, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

Wikiproject for Ohio?

Anyone else interested in an Ohio roads wikiproject? Micheal 04:05, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

As I've offered above I help a bit with each roads WikiProject... --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 04:08, 14 April 2006 (UTC)
Ohio State Highways WikiProject - Micheal 03:32, 15 April 2006 (UTC)
Yes, I've started contributing.Seicer 21:16, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

Request for WPs: Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana

I keep running into the ends of these state highways/routes/roads/whatever at Wikipedia:WikiProject Illinois State Routes :-). I'd start these projects, but I have very little to no knowledge of any highways in these states. Feel free to copy the Illinois WP structure and make it your own, though.

As an aside, I believe they are now Indiana State Roads, Wisconsin State Trunk Highways (which I shorten to Wisconsin State Highway), Iowa... something... and Illinois Routes. Oh goody. I just want more than just me to confirm the other states. —Rob (talk) 12:44, 14 April 2006 (UTC)

I believe there is already a group of people working on the Iowa roads, just not organized into a WikiProject yet. Also, a lot of highways in Indiana higher than 400 have entries at Indiana state highways; if you need an article on a highway you could check to see if it's there and if so, split it off. ...Scott5114 21:41, 14 April 2006 (UTC)
I would be willing to help with Iowa. --Station Attendant 00:34, 15 April 2006 (UTC)

I have begun to work on the Wisconsin State Highway pages and support items as of yesterday - currently at Wis-17. --master_sonLets talk 23:28, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Go ahead and start the projects if you want... I'll help if I can. --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 23:32, 17 July 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia:WikiProject Wisconsin Highways has been built and is live - please help out where you can and sign up your name there w00t --master_sonLets talk 01:14, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

Calculate kilometer fields...

I don't know if this is widely known, but if you're developing infobox code, there's now something you can use for that kilometers field. Here's what I did for the Illinois state routes:

| {{{length_mi}}} miles ({{ #expr: {{{length_mi}}} * 1.609344 round 2 }} km)

#expr: allows you to calculate numbers on the fly. It's rounded off to hundreths of a kilometer because that's the most precise field that Illinois can give us on GIS data, even if I still do most of my calculations using whole numbers on an atlas. —Rob (talk) 17:09, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

Bad idea - this gives false precision. --SPUI (T - C) 22:18, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Georgia WP?

Anyone possibly interested in helping out with a Georgia WikiProject? A fair number of pages have already been started, but a lot of them could use some fleshing out and there are still plenty that haven't been covered yet. What with the end of my semester approaching, I should soon find myself with a lot of time on my hands to get this thing going... –Pedriana 17:48, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

I'll help if I get a chance... go ahead and start it if you want. --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 23:31, 17 July 2006 (UTC)
Heh, I was actually just about to get it going in a couple of days anyway. Currently working on getting the basic infrastructure in place; should be ready to go this week. –Pedriana 00:57, 18 July 2006 (UTC)
And we are live! –Pedriana 02:46, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

Request for expansion: Clearview (typeface)

This topic just came up on the roadgeek list, and I don't necessarily have the time to track down all of the information on the FHWA page. Can someone expand Clearview (typeface) further? Thanks. Clearview is a proposed, recently approved new font for road signs in the U.S. —Rob (talk) 17:47, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

Old SVG shields for deletion?

We should list Interstate 5...980.svg shields for deletion. They've been supplanted by I-5..980.svg... right? At the very least, bot should rename all Interstate 5..980.svg shields to I-5..980.svg shields, in spite of thumbnail problems. —Rob (talk) 16:56, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

I suppose so, but we need to try to fix the thumbnail problems as we go (it's just a matter of purging from Commons and hard-refreshing pages that use the image until it works). Also, you'd have to list them for deletion at Commons, rather than here. ...Scott5114 21:16, 19 May 2006 (UTC)
  • All right. I'll probably wait until infamous bug 5463 gets fixed sometime in the next decade. —Rob (talk) 22:10, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
Now that the SVG bug is fixed, we should really get a bot to replace all of the old "Interstate X" shields with the new "I-X" shields. --TMF T - C 04:01, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

FYI -- Illinois Tollway sign survey

For interested parties and courtesy of the roadgeek list, the Illinois Tollway has put up a survey for what sorts of signs would work best on their toll plazas. The link is here.

The tollway currently uses black text on white signs for overhead gantries related to toll plazas. They replaced black text on yellow signs, which, as warning signs, worked... but I don't know of any white signs like that anywhere else (haven't thought very hard). —Rob (talk) 02:32, 26 May 2006 (UTC)

Nevada state routes

I have been working on articles for Nevada state routes, such as creating stubs and adding infoboxes to existing articles. However, I recently noticed that a few existing articles were copyvios. The source for the articles I'm working on is NevadaDOT which is public domain, but the copyvio articles originally came from AARoads.com, word for word, submitted by an anonymous editor. If anyone could help me with these Nevada highway articles, that would be great. (I thank User:Vegaswikian for his efforts.) I also wish to create the Interstate 80 in Nevada article (it's currently a redirect to Interstate 80 for now.) --Geopgeop 03:25, 30 May 2006 (UTC)

Nevada DOT is not public domain. Of course you can still use it as a reference, but not as a source to copy from. --SPUI (T - C) 22:18, 31 May 2006 (UTC)
Ah, jeez... I made a bad assumption. On that note, why is California's website in the public domain, as on its conditions of use page, but not the other states? --Geopgeop 01:46, 4 June 2006 (UTC)
Special laws in California, presumably. --SPUI (T - C) 02:08, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Ah, I think I messed up on Nevada State Route 171 and its related pages specific to it, please help... --Geopgeop 09:18, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Okay, that was fixed. Thanks to admin Kcordina. --Geopgeop 22:48, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Also, can anyone please create the Nevada state route shields? Probably in the form Image:Nevada X.svg ? It doesn't have to be now, due to that SVG bug, but I'd appreciate it if it's created sometime in the near future. Thanks. --Geopgeop 22:48, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Okay, shields are pending as of today, as I received the design from NevadaDOT and sent it to SPUI for image creation. --Geopgeop 22:18, 27 June 2006 (UTC)
Um, I decided that I would create the Nevada shields myself (err, with help from NevadaDOT, oh you know what I mean). --Geopgeop 07:10, 1 July 2006 (UTC)

I'm near a third done with creating stubs for the highways in Nevada. Does anybody want to evaluate the progress so far? --Geopgeop 20:23, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

Wow, that's quite a difference. I was away for a while, and now I see quite an addition to the list. I guess I'll put up shields on these new article pages then. --Geopgeop 05:07, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Got any clusterfucks?

I will make maps on request, if you can point me to a source that shows exactly where the routes run (or I know of one). --SPUI (T - C) 22:49, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

I think the entire length of Interstate 465 qualifies, especially if/when they figure out the Interstate 69 SW extension. —Rob (talk) 16:07, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
Hmm - not a bad idea. Is everything well-defined? --SPUI (T - C) 16:35, 3 June 2006 (UTC)
Seems everything is defined - [1] has information on all and photographical proof of most. I've added an exit list and the concurrencies to Interstate 465. --SPUI (T - C) 01:02, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

--SPUI (T - C) 17:30, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

haha out of my own curiosity, do they actually sign them with all the markers? I would imagine not, but I don't think I'd be surprised if they did. Stratosphere 02:42, 15 July 2006 (UTC)
Not really - most of the signs are at the entrances, saying "US 31 north use I-465 to exit X". --SPUI (T - C) 03:45, 18 July 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia talk:Disambiguation

Might as well advertise this here - I'm proposing to move the disambiguation paces like Route 1 to list of highways numbered 1. --SPUI (T - C) 18:12, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Tennessee State Routes Project

OK, considering that Tennessee, the state with some of the nation's best maintained and highest quality roads, or so I'm told, has no official State Route Wikiproject, I would like to try and start one. I know there is a basic framework already established, but any advice, or resources, or just generalinput would definitely be appreciated. Thanks. --Antjon1 05:59, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

Browse boxes

Is it standard practice to include a browse box in the routebox (see U.S. Route 8)? Wisconsin was already in there, and while I was working on M-8 I added that. In addition to that browse box, on many articles, individual state related highway browse boxes are near the bottom of the article on where that particular article's highway fits in with the states local system.

So I guess my questions are:

  1. Is it standard practice to place browse box in the routebox as at U.S. Route 8 for all states in which U.S. Route 8 runs?
  2. Is it standard practice to also place a browse box at the bottom of the article to show where that particular route (be it US or Interstate) fits in with a particular state system?

I'd like some discussion on this, and if it's been discussed before, I apologize, but link me to it. My main concern is routebox becoming too long, especially for the coast-coast U.S. Routes. Also, as on U.S. Route 8 while WI has a US Route browse in the routebox, it has an exact duplicate in the browse at the bottom of the page; which I expect was intended to be where US 8 fits in with the Wisconisin highway system. Stratosphere (talk - Contrib) 02:11, 26 July 2006 (UTC)

In response to my own questions, the routebox probably should only have a state browse box if that route is entirely within that state. But, for U.S. Routes there should still be a browse at the bottom of the routebox to cycle through just the U.S. Routes. So, at most, there should be two browse lines in the routebox. Then there can be a browse box for individual state systems where a USR or Interstate fits in at the bottom of the article. I think we just need to settle on a method. Stratosphere (talk - Contrib) 02:18, 26 July 2006 (UTC)
That works well for me - being the ever so guilty adder of the WI browse box :~ --master_sonLets talk 01:21, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
That method works for me as well. The sooner this is implemented, the sooner that the NYS route articles will be able to use the full power of the Infobox road browse. --TMF T - C 02:36, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
Upon further consideration, I feel that a U.S. Route browse at the bottom of the infobox is probably redundant, since there is the U.S. Route browse box at the bottom of the articles (the one with all the primary routes). While I concede there are auxilliary routes to consider, the articles of the primary routes usually have a link to any associated auxilliary routes; with the exception of the 3-di's that are included in the highway browse box as they have no parent.
So, unless there are objections, going forward, we should probably put the state browse in the infobox only if that route is entirely within that state, otherwise put the browse box at the bottom of the article, below the U.S. Highway browse table. As far as the order of the browse box states goes, it should be listed west to east, south to north, as appears to have been the method all along. Stratosphere (talk - Contrib) 04:47, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Whoa there... let me give the history of the browse box first. It started at WP:CASH when we had it in the routebox browsing CA State Routes. Then it moved to WA and other states. When we started the Interstate and US Route projects we didn't want to mess up CA's and WA's system, so we put a CA browse and WA browse in the routebox. But then we had a Mediation Cabal case where SPUI disagreed with this practice. Thus the browses for interstates and USRs got moved to the bottom (or were supposed to. after the arbcom case came I ran out of time). Then SPUI began placing some back in the routebox again for Interstates and U.S. Routes. So now there is no officially established standard, with OK using the bottom, CA trying to convert to the bottom, but it not taking effect, WA using the routebox... --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 16:43, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Let me add another 2 cents to this discussion. Instead of trying to throw a standard together at once, it's probably best to do one thing at a time.
First, let's start with three-digit Interstates. My proposal: for intrastate Interstates: Interstate 590. For interstate Interstates: Interstate 287. --TMF T - C 16:53, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
Regarding the I-590 article, I still think you need the state qualifier in the browse so people reading it aren't confused that it's a browse box for the U.S. System. I've made the change. Stratosphere (talk - Contrib) 02:29, 28 July 2006 (UTC)
yeah, that's exactly what I mean. Stratosphere (talk - Contrib) 18:34, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
If there's no standard anymore, we should work on getting one then. From what it appears, as far as Interstates and U.S. Routes go, browses in the infobox have only been on intrastate routes. Outside of that, browsing has been listed at the bottom of the article along with the browses for the other states it runs through. While it may not be a standard, it seems like the prevailing method. Stratosphere (talk - Contrib) 18:40, 27 July 2006 (UTC)
I agree whole-heartedly. We should start bringing three-digit and bannered/suffixed U.S. routes up to this proposed standard. We should discuss two-digit Interstates and U.S. routes once this is done. --TMF T - C 18:46, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Thought I'd point it out... The browse boxes cover all routes within the state (Interstate, U.S. and State routes inclusive) there's no real way of putting a list of routes on the page like we do with the interstates and the US Routes because then the Interstate and US Route articles will get pretty cluddered with all of the boxes on them. This saves room, and permits browsing through the list of routes by state. Quite true we don't have a standard and should agree on one - but we should follow this slowly. There is also talk of making route articles for each Interstate and US route within a state. such as U.S._Route_10_in_Wisconsin. while it allows for details by state - all these articles can become cumbersume and overloading. There are many pros and cons out there. --master_sonLets talk 20:24, 27 July 2006 (UTC)

Returning to the point of this section, the standardizing of browsing numbered routes, after looking around, it appears that a standard is taking place. See U.S. Route 9 and U.S. Route 9E for examples of inter- and intra-state U.S. route browsing. From the way it is being implemented on both U.S. routes and Interstates, here's the standard as it is used in practice:

  • Routes that exist in only one state should have the browse in the routebox.
  • Routes that exist in more than one state should have the browse as part of the "srbox" at the bottom of the page below all text.

--TMF T - C 12:57, 29 July 2006 (UTC)

Wished I'd gotten in this discussion. Oh well. The way Illinois is, is the following:

  • Main U.S. Route / Interstate articles: on the bottom. Browse box navigates to all possible routes.
  • U.S. Route / Interstate Detail articles: on the bottom. Browse box navigates to all possible routes.
  • Illinois Route articles: in the infobox. Browse box navigates only to other Illinois Routes. "See also" field navigates to other possibilities. "See also" field does not yet link to detail articles.

Removing a link from hundreds of pages...

Okay, I gave the website 3 months to be relevant. Time's up. I need all mentions of Illinois Highways to leave. Most of it is obvious, or has been mentioned in other, better places. The images look like they were taken straight from here or possibly the commons themselves (which isn't in itself bad, but it's acting as a mirror of other sources). It's not a good external link. It's not a good source.

Is there a bot out there that can do this for me? —Rob (talk) 21:04, 4 August 2006 (UTC)

About how many pages are talking about? I'd be willing to help out in doing this manually. Nothing like doing repetitive, mindless tasks to pass the time :) --Polaron | Talk 21:48, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
All done. Now you just need to prevent such links from creeping back in. Cheers. --Polaron | Talk 22:24, 4 August 2006 (UTC)
Thank you very much! I'll keep track of it and revert it as linkspam if it comes up again. —Rob (talk) 01:28, 5 August 2006 (UTC)

WikiProjects for Connecticut and Rhode Island

Any Rhode Geeks (heh) or CT roadgeeks want to help me start up WikiProjects for their respective states? I'm already working on Massachusetts, since I live there, but being that states are so small up in these parts, I'll help out with CT and RI as well (also NH, since I love NH, but they already have WP:NHSH).

Connecticut seems to need a lot of attention, especially considering there are almost no SVGs for their state highway signs. They use a rectangle, like Massachusetts and Maine, but it has a thicker border, e.g. for Massachusetts vs. for Connecticut. I've seen a few old-school CT-15 shields (with the state outline) on the Merritt Parkway, but I believe those are being phased out (personally, I love it when a state uses its outline on state highway shields, so I'm a bit saddened by this).

SPUI seems to want a CT DOT standard drawing for making the route shield. I can't seem to find one, and I'm not quite sure why it's necessary, but I suppose it's better to go official as far as that's concerned.

Rhode Island seems to have all their SVGs up, and they appear to be using a standard info box (scratch that, an info box is needed on Route 146 (Rhode Island) which is a major thoroughfare between Providence and Worcester, for example). They also seem to be using a format that's similar to that used on the Massachusetts project, see Route 51 (Rhode Island) for an example.

Tckma 16:55, 1 August 2006 (UTC)

I've been writing some CT route articles (very badly though :-) ) and would like to "upgrade" them to be more like the articles in states with highway WikiProjects. I searched for the specs for the CT route shields a while back and it looks like there is a "Catalog of Road Signs" that sign makers can browse at the ConnDOT office in BerlinNewington, CT which indicates the dimensions of the sign face copy and border. Since I don't have free time to drive up there during weekdays, I haven't been able to look at this catalog. What I could do is make measurements on an actual route shield (I live two blocks from Route 34 in New Haven) and hopefully that would be sufficient. --Polaron | Talk 17:11, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
I think Polaron and Analogdemon are major contributors for CT and RI respectively. --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 17:14, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
Oh he already noticed. :) --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 17:14, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
I found that same database for ConnDOT and mentioned it to SPUI. He left a message on my talk page that it's just a listing of sign numbers or something to that effect. Tckma 17:38, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
That's right and then you have to actually visit the ConnDOT office to actually look at the specs for these signs. --Polaron | Talk 17:43, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
Well, do we want to send someone over to BerlinNewington with a scanner (which seems like a royal pain in the ass), or just... make the images? There's this list of the state highway shields, but CT's looks inaccurate (CT definitely has a thicker border -- I have family on Long Island and thus I've driven through the state many times). There's also a website I looked at a few years ago (which I'm sure can be found with a Google search, but I've just been called away to a meeting -- I'm at work) that shows the different shields. How do we go about this? Tckma 17:50, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
I do have every other Friday off from work, but I'm visiting a friend in Washington DC this weekend (driving down on Friday). I could either stop there on the way down, assuming it's on the way (I-84 to I-91 in Hartford to CT-15 to NY) or wait until Aug 18th, unless we decide to do something else. I don't have a good laptop or a portable scanner though (it's a 486 and won't run anything above Win '95). Tckma 20:01, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
As I said, I can go and measure the border thickness relative to the shield size. Font should be pretty much standard. Rounded corners should also be standard. Shield aspect ratios are 1:1 for 1- and 2-digit, 1.25:1 for 3-digit with at least one "1" in the number, and 1.5:1 for 3-digit with no "1" in the number. But if you have time to pass by ConnDOT and you don't mind the extra effort, then you might as well give that a try. The office is on Route 15 (on the Berlin Turnpike segment). The document is called the "Connecticut Department of Transportation Catalog of Signs" (or something like that). --Polaron | Talk 22:00, 1 August 2006 (UTC)
From looking at several actual route shields last week, I found out that all of them are square. In order to fit 3-digit numbers in the shield, they use a thinner font instead of making the shield wider. I have uploaded many route shield images that I think approximate the actual route signs.
In terms of articles, all state primary routes now have articles. The structure is not uniform though and most articles only have a route description and nothing else. Once a structure is in place, I think this Project can get started. --Polaron | Talk 18:21, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
Ah, I always wondered why, e.g., signs for Route 349 in Groton looked so strange to me. It's the font size. Anyway, what's the general format of the shield graphic filename? And how are you making them (so I can help out)? --Tckma 18:36, 7 August 2006 (UTC)
The filename format is the same as existing ones (Connecticut_Highway_X.png). I just used existing ones and replaced the numbers. The blank image is here. --Polaron | Talk 19:45, 7 August 2006 (UTC)

Tidbits

None of these items deserves their own section, but as a whole if you have some input, I'd be glad to hear it.

  1. Reassurance shield has been started, and is a road-stub at the moment.
  2. List of County Highways in DuPage County, Illinois has been started. Not a single county highway deserves its own article, and those that do... are bike paths [shrugs].
  3. Do we have county highway SVG templates? The list probably will end up with some shields on it because it's a table and some Illinois routes are in the table, but that's all I can come up with for now.
Well, that should be relatively easy to do for anyone who knows Photoshop. With the possible exception of Wisconsin which has square lettered county route shields, most county routes throughout the country use yellow letters/numbers on a purple pentagonal shield... NAME OF COUNTY at the top, then the route number, then COUNTY on the bottom. In Canada (or at least in Ontario), county or regional municipality routes use a white flowerpot-shaped (upside-down trapezoid) shield. --Tckma 21:15, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
I'm not sure if Photoshop has the capability to create SVGs. I don't think it does, but I could be wrong. If it doesn't, there's always Inkscape (which I use for all of my SVGs). --TMF T - C 21:20, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
Photoshop doesn't, but Illustrator does. --master_sonLets talk 12:08, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Thanks. —Rob (talk) 20:35, 8 August 2006 (UTC)

For number 3, see here. --TMF T - C 20:53, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
Hmm. Fireworks doesn't open SVG files. Oh well. Any volunteers? It isn't crucial. :-) —Rob (talk) 22:04, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
I've been making a number of county road shields for Suffolk County in New York lately, so I can make a few for Illinois' DuPage County as well if needed. --TMF T - C 22:09, 8 August 2006 (UTC)
Sure if you don't mind. I only ask because I think 50px shields would help the article be more than just text. Thanks! —Rob (talk) 20:19, 10 August 2006 (UTC)
I have one question about how the county name is displayed on the route shields because of the capital "P" in the word "DuPage". Does it appear as "DuPAGE", "DUPAGE", "DU PAGE", or "Du PAGE"? (that's every variant I can think of) --TMF T - C 21:28, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

That's a good question. Let me peek at a sign tomorrow and find out. I thought it was "DU PAGE" in spite of the fact that it's officially DuPage County, Illinois. —Rob (talk) 00:43, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Yes, two words. See [2]. —Rob (talk) 03:34, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
CRs 1 through 10 are done. They are found in the form "DuPage County Route X IL.svg" (when I uploaded them to Commons, I noticed that shields for DuPage county already exist; however, the existing ones are incorrect both in name (they use "Dupage" instead of "DuPage" in the file name) and in appearance (DuPage is one word on those), so I will be replacing all of them over time). --TMF T - C 04:03, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
Looks excellent. You can click on the redlinks in the article to upload them as you have time - figured it'd save you a step or two. Thanks a lot! —Rob (talk) 14:50, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
All of the shields are now in place. --TMF T - C 06:47, 15 August 2006 (UTC)
For number 1, there's also Reassurance marker. I'll add a merge request. --Tckma 19:23, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
It was an easy merge to perform, so I went and did it. —Rob (talk) 20:03, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Map of USA SH WPs.png

Can someone fill in Connecticut in this graphic? We've started WP:CTRT for it.

Done. --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 19:22, 11 August 2006 (UTC)
Thank you. --Tckma 20:17, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Archiving

Should we sign up for User:Werdnabot for all the state hwy WP talk pages? And say archive all stuff older than 60 days? --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 23:13, 12 August 2006 (UTC)

For the more active ones you could. Oklahoma still doesn't have anything on it's talkpage, so we don't really need the archival service yet :) —Scott5114↗ 05:34, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
So probably CA, NY, WA, IH, USH, USRD for now. Any others? --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 05:59, 13 August 2006 (UTC)
Not really seeing much talk page activity over at WP:ILSR. It would be useful to tag talk pages with Template:Illinois State Routes WikiProject though... the ones I've missed. —Rob (talk) 19:46, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
I have no problems with using Werdnabot for the NY project (as I've been doing the archiving for it manually for some time now). We could probably use the auto-archival bot at the PA project as well. --TMF T - C 05:01, 15 August 2006 (UTC)

Template review...

I don't know what the technical term for this part of the page is, but I could use some suggestions on Template:Chicagoland expressways. It generally goes on the bottom of all of the articles contained within the template. Thanks in advance! —Rob (talk) 19:48, 14 August 2006 (UTC)

Maps task force?

See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Trains/Maps_task_force.

Seeing as I doubt User:Stratosphere will be doing maps for all kinds of routes for all 50 states and the District of Columbia, this may not be a bad thing to create. That way if ever concerns about maps or adjustments need to be made, they can all be located there. —Rob (talk) 19:57, 23 August 2006 (UTC)

That might not be a bad idea for state routes. Interstates and U.S. Highways already have maps on their articles, after all. I'd be more than willing to help out creating maps if someone could show me how to do it. --Tckma 20:46, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
I'd be interested as well if something like a maps task force was made for this project. --TMF T - C 22:02, 23 August 2006 (UTC)
For the right sum of money, I'd do it :P In all seriousness, yes this is a good idea. A centralized location for all map inquiries would be a valuable asset. Stratosphere (U T) 02:26, 24 August 2006 (UTC)
Okay, this page has been created. Obviously content and organization is lacking, but every page has to start somewhere, and fortunately everything on Wikpiedia is licensed under the GFDL. :-) See Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Maps task force. I will be proceeding based on the assumption that all current and future road maps in the U.S. will want to be accounted for under this task force. —Rob (talk) 19:05, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Talking of task forces...

Rather than necessarily having 50 descendant wikiprojects (or more, if we end up with Wikiprojects for non-"state highways" in some states, as already is the case for CA), have you considered a similar structure to that used by WP:MILHIST, i.e. a single wikiproject, with a locally hierarchical organisation? Just a thought. Alai 23:35, 25 August 2006 (UTC)

Haven't you seen the mess at the state road naming convention poll? Based on that, there is no way in the world that a single WP would work across the entire country. --TMF T - C 03:25, 26 August 2006 (UTC)

Mass Pike

Since the Massachusetts Turnpike article is not under the jurisdiction of WP:MASH, I figured I'd comment here as well. On the talk page, I suggested some sections to be added to the article. I can take care of one of them after this weekend, I think. -- Tckma 18:38, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Redirect lists

For those who haven't noticed, a list of redirect lists has been set up at Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Redirects. I tried to point the links at the existing redirect completion lists for each project, but if your project has one and I missed it, fix it up. —Scott5114↗ 18:03, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

What is and isn't a "state highway", for categorisation purposes?

I'd have thought a "state highway" was something that had "State Highway Farble" or "Route Hoohah" as/in its name, but I may be sadly misinformed here. For example, this edit confuses me: interstate highways are state highways? And what about Texas Farm Roads, are they "Texas state highways"? Alai 00:33, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

Ah boy. Signed and unsigned state highways are state highways. Texas farm Roads are a secondary type of state highway. Some states refer to Interstate highways as state highways, but in discussions we've decided that for most Wikipedia purposes they are not. --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 00:37, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
OK, so the Texas ones are probably correct. On the Wisconsins, it's going to be rather confusing to apply per-state understandings as to what a federal project (as I assume they are) is.... Alai 01:21, 2 September 2006 (UTC)
Texas Farm to Market Roads are state highways; they are fully funded by the state and maintained by TXDOT. --Holderca1 16:16, 13 September 2006 (UTC)
Interstate and U.S. Highways are maintained in the states they run through by those states' highway departments, they just receive federal funding to do so. Thus, some states refer to them as "state highways." However, in my opinion, they are not "state highways" for Wikipedia purposes. -- Tckma 18:28, 21 September 2006 (UTC)
The simplest and most general definition of a state highway is a highway maintained by a state government agency. Note that numbered highways and state highways do not always coincide. Some states have hierarchies of state highways and it is common to also refer to primary state highways only when talking about state highways. --Polaron | Talk 01:25, 2 September 2006 (UTC)

Did You Know?

Just in case you miss it, Interstate 10 in Texas is on the main page under the "Did You Know?" section for new articles. Hopefully this will get things going in a post-naming controversy WikiProject. --Holderca1 19:49, 22 September 2006 (UTC)

Minnesota State Highway 91 nominated for deletion

Just a heads-up...Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/Minnesota State Highway 91. Kirjtc2 21:53, 24 September 2006 (UTC)

RI State Route Sign Specs

I found the RI State Route Sign Specs. See Talk:Numbered_routes_in_Rhode_Island#State_Sign_Specs. -- xxpor ( Talk | Contribs ) 02:10, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

Minnesota State Route Marker

A blank Marker
Enlarge
A blank Marker

Hi, I created a SVG for the Minnesota State Route Marker. The colors should be right, an also the aspect ratios. Since I'm not from the U.S. I'm not too keen on making a SVG for every PNG Image out there ... but, if anyone neads help, drop me a line @ de:Benutzer:Ucc.

In the commons I added a new category (commons:Category:Minnesota_State_Route_markers) an I allready created a marker for Route 62:

--217.224.143.117 19:40, 29 September 2006 (UTC)

This would be good to take to WP:MNSH. --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 03:53, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
Ok, posted it there --ucc 10:54, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

An idea...

Why not have a project for roads outside the continious 48 states? Since Hawaii, Alaska, and all those other territories/islands/commonwealths/whatevers don't (in my opinion) have enough roads in themselves to really justify there own projects, then why not have one for all of them?

Puerto Rico, Alaska, and Hawaii can start their own projects. As for the other territories, there are no articles for them, so I don't think it's a big deal now. In the future we can address that question, but we have the continental U.S. to worry about first. --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 20:37, 1 October 2006 (UTC)

WP for the NE Interstate Routes?

This may be nothing more than a passing thought, but should there be a WikiProject that manages all of the former New England Interstate Routes? Since the articles on these transcend state lines, no one state WikiProject is truly able to regulate these articles, resulting in the wide variation that currently exists from one article to the next. Thoughts? --TMF T - C 00:05, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

If anything, they should be broken up by state, with appropriate links to "follow" the highway. The idea that their Wikipedia status should be determined by a numbering system that hasn't existed in 80 years is absurd. Kirjtc2 00:26, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
There are really only about 10 articles that might be amenable to a merged article so a full WikiProject is probably not necessary. Why not just incorporate all the components required by affected WikiProjects into each article? --Polaron | Talk 00:28, 26 September 2006 (UTC)
All good points. Here's another thought: the New England articles were formulated because the present-day routes that were part of the old NE routes had articles of stub length, right? Now that most, if not all, of the New England routes have WikiProjects, I think that if the NE articles were de-merged, then each route could now stand on its own as an individual article with the necessary expansion. I'm not suggesting that we abolish the NE articles, but rather, make them a portal of the routes that make up the NE route, like Interstate 95 is a portal for the "Interstate 95 in X" series. --TMF T - C 19:01, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
Agreed. If the individual state highway article has enough content that it is no longer a stub, then it can be made split off like what is done for U.S. Highways and Interstate Highways. See New England Route 8 for example where Connecticut Route 8 has its own article. --Polaron | Talk 20:17, 28 September 2006 (UTC)
Has there been a WikiProject created for this? --myselfalso 12:06, 11 October 2006 (UTC)
Consensus above did not warrant a WikiProject, so there was never one created. Instead, the decision was to make new state-specific articles and make the NE articles "portal pages". --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 15:05, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

Shields

Should we create another subproject (like Maps and Assessment) for Shields? --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 03:53, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

That could be a good idea, as it'd make searching for sign specs easier because, ideally, you'd have every shield maker on Wikipedia in one place. I wouldn't be opposed to it (and I would join it if it existed). --TMF T - C 12:21, 30 September 2006 (UTC)
Ditto. Now that I just got the hang of SVG editing, I think it would be useful. --• master_sonLets talk 06:05, 1 October 2006 (UTC)
So, was this subproject created? --myselfalso 12:05, 11 October 2006 (UTC)
Not from my understanding, but I can whip it up when I get home later today. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 15:06, 11 October 2006 (UTC)
It needs a little work, but the subproject has been created. --TMF Let's Go Mets - Stats 22:14, 11 October 2006 (UTC)

These websites would provide a good start for making sheilds:

  • Kurumi's signmaker. The actual shields are low quality graphics, but it gives you a starting point for EVERY state sheild. Its kind of a fun site otherwise. I used this signmaker to create graphics for a website that I used to give directions to my wedding (I got married 400 miles away from where most of my VERY large family lives.)
  • aaroads.com's Highway Kickoff Page. This is THE major site for roadgeek pages. I'm sure most of you have found this site anyways, but it is an INVALUABLE site as a catalog of roadgeek sites on the web. Also good is the main aaroads site. Some of the highway sign photography sites would be quite helpful.
  • another site similar to kurumi's site. Newer and makes MUCH larger shields, with much better quality. Some of the shields are a little weak, and need some cleanup (numbers off center, some pixilation problems) but it is a VERY good start for what we want to do here.
  • James Lin's Highway Markers site. This site is canonical in its coverage of highway route markers. All beutifully rendered (though smaller than the standard size we do here). A great starting place.

If you use any of these sites, it might be a good courtesy to contact the creators of the site to see about using their work. Their level of roadgeekdom MAY interest them in becoming involved in this project anyways, and we may be creating new wikipedians. --Jayron32 03:47, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

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