Why are the states split up like this?

[MoiraPrime]

Once I noticed this I can't unsee it. Why are Louisiana and Mississippi cut up unevenly on the forum descriptions while all the other states get cleanly put in a forum?

[bwana39]

Strangely, Northern Mississippi would have been changed to fit with Western Tennessee which they moved out of mid-south. Tupelo and Southhaven clearly fit better with Memphis.

Louisiana traditionally has two major regional separators. The parts south of the 31st parallel and the parts from the Atchafalaya River West.

So Southeast Louisiana would be the parts east of the Atchafalaya River Basin.

South Louisiana is (generally)  defined as  the part south of the 31st parallel.

While Southeast Louisiana is divided somewhat from the rest of south Louisiana , The division of north and south is far greater in heritage, culture, and economics.

Personally El Paso fits better in the mountain west.

[N9JIG]

Wouldn't it be easier to set up forums for specific states rather than regions? Perhaps in addition there could be a couple regional forums for topics that straddle several states.

[Amaury]

The name of the category would also have to be changed from Regional Boards to State Boards.

In theory, this sounds like a nice idea. Although it would create a super long list on the forum index with a single category listing all 50 states. Yeah, you can have 100 threads per page within a forum by default and up to 50 messages per page within a thread–I currently have the defaults of 100 and 25, respectively, but I'll probably end up changing the latter to 50–which you can change in your options to show more or less, but there's no such option for the forum index.

Alternatively, each region could be changed from a forum to a category and then have each state as a forum within those categories. You could also simplify the regions and just have Western States, Central States, and Eastern States.

But putting all that aside, it would be such as massive task because there would be a lot of moving of threads involved, especially if we make each of the 50 states a forum, as whoever would have to go through each thread and figure out where it belongs. A lot of titles make it clear, but not always. And then sometimes you have a thread that involves two or more states. For example, my Interstate 82 thread is about the route in both Washington and Oregon, so if we were to have forums for each state, where would a thread like that go? Completely outside of all that and just in General Highway Talk?

That's why I'm saying that it's a good idea in theory, but in practice, I'm not so sure.

[MATraveler128]

I'm surprised the Northern Mississippi thread wasn't merged with the general "Mississippi"  thread in the Southeast regional board based on the fact that the former barely ever gets posted in.

[SkyPesos]

Used to be worse, with half of IL, IN, OH, WV and PA split up (along with all of KY) as its own "Ohio Valley" section until late last year.

[Rothman]

I say split up Utah.  There's the I-15 corridor and then everything else.

[Scott5114]

And then sometimes you have a thread that involves two or more states. For example, my Interstate 82 thread is about the route in both Washington and Oregon, so if we were to have forums for each state, where would a thread like that go?

Not to mention there are lots of metro areas that straddle state lines (Kansas City of course, but also New York, Chicago, Washington, St. Louis, Louisville, Cincinnati, Memphis, Duluth, Omaha...) Issues that affect the whole metro area would be awkward to handle. The current lines are drawn to try to minimize breaking these metros across forums.

[JoePCool14]

Oh boy, back to this topic again. As far as I'm aware, the current setup since last year is doing its job fine. Scott is right, it used to be worse.

Having 50+ different boards to cover 50 states, DC, PR, etc. would be very unnecessary and too disconnected.

[formulanone]

I'm surprised the Northern Mississippi thread wasn't merged with the general "Mississippi"  thread in the Southeast regional board based on the fact that the former barely ever gets posted in.

All this time, I just thought all of Mississippi was in Southeast. If a route was primarily in another board's area, I figured then it would go there instead (a discussion about US 90, for example).

Honestly, I don't think anyone would mind if a thread about Mississippi Highway 25 or a planned-and-published bypass of Noxapater wound up in Southeast.

[Hot Rod Hootenanny]

In that case, I want the 'Ohio Valley board' back! 

[hotdogPi]

Mississippi needs to be resplit into east and west rather than north and south to comply with the recent Supreme Court decision.

[vdeane]

I propose that we rearrange the boards so that all states are split.  That should end the arguments.

[bwana39]

I’m surprised the Northern Mississippi thread wasn’t merged with the general “Mississippi” thread in the Southeast regional board based on the fact that the former barely ever gets posted in.

The "State" threads on the mid-South board hardly ever get posted in period.  Not so in some of the other regions.   As to the Northern Mississippi, it is now a stepchild without a parent since Western Tennessee was deleted from mid-south

[JoePCool14]

I propose that we rearrange the boards so that all states are split.  That should end the arguments.

Alternatively, one board per county.

[hotdogPi]

Each region contains exactly one forum member in the top 100. I claim Haverhill, SectorZ claims Lowell, and Roadgeekteen claims some nearby area.

[webny99]

The remaining split states were brought up when the Ohio Valley board was dissolved, but that was such a milestone in its own right that I didn't feel it was the right time to press for more changes.

It is an issue that's very likely to continue coming up here and there, as it does seem to be noticed by new users in particular. Ultimately, I support any resolution that combines each of Mississippi and Louisiana into a single board. Offhand, I can't think of any issues with Mississippi being entirely in Southeast and Louisiana being entirely in Mid-South.

[bwana39]

The remaining split states were brought up when the Ohio Valley board was dissolved, but that was such a milestone in its own right that I didn't feel it was the right time to press for more changes.

It is an issue that's very likely to continue coming up here and there, as it does seem to be noticed by new users in particular. Ultimately, I support any resolution that combines each of Mississippi and Louisiana into a single board. Offhand, I can't think of any issues with Mississippi being entirely in Southeast and Louisiana being entirely in Mid-South.

I cannot disagree with this. Especially with western TN not in mid-South.

[mrsman]

As a general  rule, it seems like a good idea to divide the regions by state lines.  This way any new law that a state passes with regards to roads can be discussed in one thread (and not potentially two).

On the flip side, it means that certain metropolitan areas that tend to be on or near a state line may likely be discussed in more than one forum (Memphis, St. Louis, Cincinnatti are extremely hard to keep in one region).  So where would you discuss a bridge that connects one region to the other?  This explains why the forums were originally divided as they were, yet it's hard to determine where the line between northern Ohio and southern Ohio is.

So the merger of Great Lakes and Ohio Valley and the few other adjustments to other regions that were made to basically keep NY, PA, WV, IL, IN, OH, MN, and MO in only one region was a very good thing.  LA and MS were not part of that discussion, but I could absolutely make the argument that those two states should also be made whole in either Mid-South or Southeast or one state in each region.

So webny's suggestion makes the best sense.  All of LA in Mid-South (so that the region still has three states).  And all of MS in Southeast (where the vast majority of MS threads already exist).  But IMO this isn't really an emergency.  If the mods want to do it, I'm supportive, but it doesn't seem to be such a big problem now that the original mess with Ohio Valley has been properly addressed.

[jeffandnicole]

I propose that we rearrange the boards so that all states are split.  That should end the arguments.

Alternatively, one board per county.

Wait two months, then argue we should split the county boards.