User:Scott5114/Highway notability FAQ
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This is an essay which contains the advice or opinions of one or more members of the U.S. Roads WikiProject. While it is not a part of the standards the project promotes, it provides some recommendations and ideas for members to consider. |
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Many times at AFD, users will vote on a highway article with the argument that highways aren't notable enough for an article. Here's an FAQ answering common objections voiced by anti-road editors (or sometimes not voiced, but you can tell that's what they're thinking ;) ), answering why highway articles are useful. This was originally posted as a bulleted list at Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Highways/Archive 1#Highways... why are they Notable? - you may find that form more readable.
This FAQ covers the United States primarily, but with a bit of creativity can be applied to roads in other countries.
[edit] FAQ
- What makes a highway important enough to be covered in Wikipedia?
- Someone at a Department of Transportation felt the need for a highway was important enough to have it be built and numbered. There are thousands - maybe millions - of roads and streets in any particular state; to be assigned a number, state maintenance, and have shields put up is pretty special.
- Are all highways notable?
- No. Many states and regions have secondary or county highways that aren't notable enough for an article. However, highways at the state level and above are
- Why must they be covered in such great detail? Why can't they be merged to one article on the system?
- Individual highways are an important part of local history. There is a particular curve in my town that can be rather difficult to take with oncoming traffic, rain, night, and so forth. Turns out this curve was built the way it is because this was the original intersection of two highways, where both traveled on a bridge across a river. Neither highway passes through the curve anymore, so the reason for its existance would seem puzzling without knowing about the old alignments of the two highways and the now-nonexistant bridge.
- Who would possibly find this interesting?
- Some people do enjoy this kind of stuff. They especially like the history of them (reroutings, highways that don't exist anymore, etc.)
- Someone who uses the road often may be curious about when it was built, destinations further along the route, length of the highway, and so on. Those who are unfamiliar with the road may want to know about the overall "feel" of the road; the sort of terrain, traffic, and so forth.
- Would anyone use these articles?
- They're obviously useful, if people are citing them.
- Also, they can serve as geographical reference points. (e.g. Maysville, Oklahoma is located at the junction of State Highway 19 and State Highway 74). Such references are more meaningful to me than Maysville is located at 34°49′3″N, 97°24′37″W (34.817489, -97.410162). I know exactly where SH-74 is; I have no clue where 97°24′37″W is.
- What is the incentive for citizens to scrutinize their currency?
- Nicely phrased, but that has nothing to do with this FAQ. ;)
- Why is this article so lousy?
- The WikiProject U.S. Roads, which handles articles of this nature, is severely overtaxed, with over 9,000 articles at the time of writing, and only about half of the United States covered. Most editors try to focus on improving existing articles and so new articles are created by inexperienced users, and aren't up to the quality we'd like them to be. You can help by improving the articles!
[edit] AFD precedents
Some examples of AFD precedent:
- Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Hawaii_State_Highway_7241
- Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Georgia_State_Route_160
- Wikipedia:Articles_for_deletion/Washington State Route 900
More are availiable at WP:USRD/P.
