GIS project

[woodpusher]

Hi, I'm making some maps in GIS and using TIGER data. 

I was wondering if some of the road names, especially the suffixes, were legitimate. 

In particular: 
Arkansas:  State Highway 1Y, 133T
Florida:  State Highway 23C, 30C, 30D, 30H, 30J
Georgia:  quite a few numbered roads with the "C" or "Con" suffix. 
Kentucky:  State Highway 15X, 70X,
Oklahoma:  quite a few roads with the "C" or "D" suffix - also "F" and "H".

I am guessing that some of these suffixes are used only by the state or county government - the actual road is just signed "1" or "133" - the Connector might not be signed the same as the main road but it might not be 23C either. 

Also, "A" is quite standard for "Alt," "B" is standard for "Business." 

Is there anything standard for:  Bypass, Branch, Loop, Spur?  Also what is Exd?  Florida SR 836 Exd, US Hwy 311 Exd in North Carolina.  "Ext" would be "Extension" - anything standard for that?  For the most part, I'm looking for a one-letter symbol - it wouldn't have to be a letter per se - I think I don't want my highway shields to have more than 4 characters. 
Another option would be to use a different line type - is there anything standard in this regard?   

GA State Route 3 Other - I don't think it's really called that.

http://www.us-highways.com/spurus.htm - suggests "Y" for "Spur." - possibly it is even used somewhere, although I've not actually seen it.  I agree with that site that "S" should not be used for "Scenic;" rather, it is understood as "South."
 
However does any road actually split into a "Scenic" part and a main part?  In Tennessee, parts of US 441 are called "Scenic" but there is not a split in the road, unlike with Alt and Bus routes.   
 
Thanks in advance -- I will be answering that "What primary and secondary roads are known only by name and not number" question, at least for the southern states. 

[froggie]

Hi, I'm making some maps in GIS and using TIGER data.

Sweet...another GISer.  Which software are you using?  I have the ArcGIS for Home Use license that I've been using.

Georgia:  quite a few numbered roads with the "C" or "Con" suffix.

From my own Georgia experience, yes these are legit, and are usually signed with "Conn" inside the route shield just above the number.

Is there anything standard for:  Bypass, Branch, Loop, Spur?  Also what is Exd?  Florida SR 836 Exd, US Hwy 311 Exd in North Carolina.

Not sure about one-character standards for Bypass or Branch.  BYP is a common 3-character for Bypass.  L for Loop.  S for Spur (in contrast to "Scenic" or "South").

http://www.us-highways.com/spurus.htm - suggests "Y" for "Spur." - possibly it is even used somewhere, although I've not actually seen it.

In Virginia, Y = Wye, sometimes used when there is a Y-split at a junction (VA 54Y at US 301 or VA 6Y at US 29 as examples), though sometimes it's used for what are effectively spurs...VA 180Y in Chincoteague or VA 205Y in Colonial Beach being examples of this.

However does any road actually split into a "Scenic" part and a main part?  In Tennessee, parts of US 441 are called "Scenic" but there is not a split in the road, unlike with Alt and Bus routes.

US 40 between Cumberland and Hancock, MD does this for a stretch.  Mainline US 40 follows I-68 while "Scenic" US 40 follows the old highway route.

[florida]

Hi, I'm making some maps in GIS and using TIGER data. 

I was wondering if some of the road names, especially the suffixes, were legitimate. 

In particular: 
Florida:  State Highway 23C, 30C, 30D, 30H, 30J

These are all county routes now, but they were all signed....on maps for the most part. The majority of Florida's suffixed routes are/were just spurs.

-Baker County CR 23C is the only one of these that is signed in the field.
-Bay County CR 30C (Clara Ave) and CR 30H (Alf Coleman Drive) have been listed internally within FDOT documents in the past, but they're not signed.
-30D (Richard Jackson Blvd, formerly Beckrich Rd) became Bay County CR 3033, but not sure if that number has been discontinued.
-30J was either Nautilus St or Argonaut Ave in Panama City Beach. Last shown on 1970s county maps.

[NE2]

Arkansas uses suffixes rather than banners: US 67B instead of US 67 Business. T is truck (and is also signed with the T in the shield).
Kentucky internally uses X for Business, but (usually) signs then with banners.

[woodpusher]

I'm using ArcMap 10.0 - I can get an update for 10.1 if that would help. 

I don't want to have to write a program to figure out where "scenic" differs from the mainline so I guess I'll have to use a different line type for Scenic.  I don't like using S for scenic because it is more commonly used for "South."  Here in TN there is a US 70S.

Maybe I could use a brown box around the US Highway Shield for "Scenic" 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Numbered_highways_in_the_United_States

I'm not sure what I'd do at the state, and county level just yet.  A piece of Interstate 540 in Arkansas is labeled "I-540 Scn" in TIGER but I'm pretty sure the road doesn't split. 

Also my plan is to drop the directional suffixes "E" and "W" for even numbered highways (U.S. and State), and drop "N" and "S" for odd numbered highways.  The naming convention in TIGER is not entirely consistent (some roads have the directional suffix, others do not).  For county highways I think I have to keep the suffix no matter what.  For many counties there are not enough labeled county roads to convince me that the odd = N/S, even = E/W convention was followed.   Also there are some strange suffixes there too....Co Rd 600G in Alabama, Co Hwy 181C in Florida, Co Rd 431D in Texas.

I realize that some of the names in TIGER are out of date but it's the best I've got - unless someone knows differently?   

Thanks again - more later. 

[NE2]

Scenic in TIGER usually means that it's a scenic route, not a separate bannered route.

Unless your project needs to be public domain (as opposed to a viral free license), I'd recommend using OSM data. Much of this has already been cleaned up.

http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/extensions/openstreetmap

[Alex]

Hi, I'm making some maps in GIS and using TIGER data. 

I was wondering if some of the road names, especially the suffixes, were legitimate. 

In particular: 

Arkansas:  State Highway 1Y, 133T
Florida:  State Highway 23C, 30C, 30D, 30H, 30J
Georgia:  quite a few numbered roads with the "C" or "Con" suffix. 
Kentucky:  State Highway 15X, 70X,
Oklahoma:  quite a few roads with the "C" or "D" suffix - also "F" and "H".

These are all county routes now, but they were all signed....on maps for the most part. The majority of Florida's suffixed routes are/were just spurs.

-Baker County CR 23C is the only one of these that is signed in the field.
-Bay County CR 30C (Clara Ave) and CR 30H (Alf Coleman Drive) have been listed internally within FDOT documents in the past, but they're not signed.
-30D (Richard Jackson Blvd, formerly Beckrich Rd) became Bay County CR 3033, but not sure if that number has been discontinued.
-30J was either Nautilus St or Argonaut Ave in Panama City Beach. Last shown on 1970s county maps.

FDOT has shapefiles that you can download and use to cross-reference with the TIGER data. To add what Florida wrote, 23C is still shown as a county road in the May 2013 FDOT county road shapefile. The others are no longer included.

http://www.dot.state.fl.us/planning/statistics/gis/road.shtm

FWIW, outside of State Road 30E, the highest suffix I ever saw that was signed with CR-XXC.

All numbered routes in Florida are inventoried as well: http://www.dot.state.fl.us/planning/statistics/fedaid/fedaidrpt.pdf

I use ArcGIS 9.3.1.

[froggie]

Back to this subject, was thumbing through some of the NTAD files.  Here's how FHWA is coding bannered routes using single letters:

A = Alternate
B = Business
P = Bypass
S = Spur (instead of "scenic" or "south")
L = Loop
F = Proposed/Future
D = Temporary/Detour
T = Truck

[Alps]

Back to this subject, was thumbing through some of the NTAD files.  Here's how FHWA is coding bannered routes using single letters:

A = Alternate
B = Business
P = Bypass
S = Spur (instead of "scenic" or "south")
L = Loop
F = Proposed/Future
D = Temporary/Detour
T = Truck

How about C = Scenic? N/S/E/W are an entirely separate matter, but where you have a route bannered, say, US 70S, I'd use an underscore for this convention, to wit: US 1_P in NH-ME

[Scott5114]

In Oklahoma, several state highways have letter suffixes. Nominally, the first one will be -A, then -B, then -C, etc. It is not necessarily always that clean, though; there are three spurs from 9, but rather than being 9A, 9B, and 9C, they're all 9A. 74 has B through F, but no A, because it was decommissioned. 251A exists despite there never being a 251. But yes, these are posted exactly as written (a 9A shield says "9A"), and not as a bannered route.

[lordsutch]

From my own Georgia experience, yes these are legit, and are usually signed with "Conn" inside the route shield just above the number.

Recent installations of CONN and SPUR seem to be removing the suffix from the shield and using a proper, readable-at-highway speeds banner, at least in central Georgia.

[woodpusher]

I did take a look at OpenStreetMap - I think that needs some cleaning too. 

I stuck with TIGER.   

But a few more questions
"St Co Rd" - is this "State and County Road?" - multiplexed, perhaps as the same number?  (Several in GA and FL)

Pvt Rd 601- "Private Road 601" of course.  A few of them are S1200 in Texas.  I grew up in PA, where private roads were typically well below S1200 standards....It is not my goal to put shields on things like "1st Street" or "2nd Avenue."  I'm inclined to skip these but other than a stopover in the DFW airport, I've not been to TX.

"Mile 7" and "Mile 16 N Rd" - a few of these in TX and OK.  I've never been to OK at all.  Are roads like these considered like state/county routes (deserving of a shield) or are they more like local roads, not deserving of a shield?

OK also has a number of things like "E 50 Rd," "N 1720 Rd," etc.  If it takes more than 4 characters I don't want to make a shield. 
I figure that the letter prefix is important here.  Now if E50 is part of the same set as N1720, maybe I should just skip those also. 

 

[NE2]

"St Co Rd" - is this "State and County Road?" - multiplexed, perhaps as the same number?  (Several in GA and FL)

It's TIGER being TIGER and sucking.

[froggie]

Scott probably has a better answer, but IIRC for Oklahoma, while they're considered county ROADS, they are not county ROUTES.

[Scott5114]

Correct. In Oklahoma, anything that lies outside of a town and is not maintained by ODOT or OTA is a county road by default. (Outside of towns and cities, there are no governmental units apart from the counties, this territory is simply "unincorporated" and is administered by the county. Townships only exist for survey purposes.) No county in Oklahoma posts their roads as county routes with shields as is done in other states (although Ottawa County does have a CR 137 that is a decommissioned segment of SH-137, it is signed with all-text signs).

I am not sure by what method the E50 and N1720 type names are derived from, but my guess is it has something to do with surveying. Most of these appeared on maps before the advent of 911 road naming systems, which differ from county to county and replaced these names.

[woodpusher]

Scott probably has a better answer, but IIRC for Oklahoma, while they're considered county ROADS, they are not county ROUTES.

Good point although at least in TIGER there are some things like "State Road 52" which I don't want to skip.

[Alps]

Scott probably has a better answer, but IIRC for Oklahoma, while they're considered county ROADS, they are not county ROUTES.

Good point although at least in TIGER there are some things like "State Road 52" which I don't want to skip.

I've noticed Google Maps doesn't show DE 82 as a route (it was considered for decommissioning but ultimately not downgraded), but it does label the road as STATE ROAD 82. State Road being the signed number designation for Delaware's secondary grid of state-maintained and numbered roads that aren't signed as state highways. That's the sort of thing you definitely want to avoid - any state with a secondary system could have primary routes falling down to secondary status or vice versa. (NJ had State Route 524 on its books for decades because a small piece of CR 524 was built by the state as intended NJ 37, and thus a state highway. Again, something to avoid.)

[woodpusher]

Would MTFCC be a good indicator of route vs. road? (I had tried otherwise but it proved too overwhelming to parse all roads....primaries and secondaries (MTFCC = S1100 and S1200) is all I'm going to do.

[NE2]

I don't think you understand. TIGER is not a finished product.

[woodpusher]

True, but I need to get a product out to our employees.  I'll be sending along a user guide with things like "beware - there are mistakes in TIGER" and such. 

[Alps]

True, but I need to get a product out to our employees.  I'll be sending along a user guide with things like "beware - there are mistakes in TIGER" and such. 

"Beware of Drop Bear" is a good label to use in sparse areas.

[cpzilliacus]

True, but I need to get a product out to our employees.  I'll be sending along a user guide with things like "beware - there are mistakes in TIGER" and such. 

Having worked with TIGER files a fair amount, I would write that as "beware - there are a LOT of mistakes in TIGER."

There are usually more mistakes in newer neighborhoods (say built after 1990 or 2000). The older the neighborhood, in general, the better the TIGER files seem to be.  At least that is my experience in Md., Va. and D.C.

[cpzilliacus]

Would MTFCC be a good indicator of route vs. road? (I had tried otherwise but it proved too overwhelming to parse all roads....primaries and secondaries (MTFCC = S1100 and S1200) is all I'm going to do.

In Virginia, with very few exceptions, if the route number is greater than or equal to 600, it is a secondary (Interstate 664 in Hampton Roads and Va. 895 in Metropolitan Richmond are two notable exceptions).  Though in large suburban counties like Chesterfield, Fairfax and Prince William, just because it is a secondary, that does not mean that it is a small road.

Also be aware that secondary route numbers in Virginia are unique only to the county or counties that the road runs in (if a secondary road crosses a county boundary, it usually retains its secondary route number in both counties). There is probably a route 600 in nearly all of the counties of Virginia, except for Arlington County and Henrico County, which maintain their own secondary roads, and as such, should not have secondary route numbers.  They do, however have primary system  route numbers (between 1 and 599).