Grading State Issued Road Maps 2020 edition

Started by hobsini2, March 20, 2020, 05:11:32 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

roadfro

Quote from: hobsini2 on March 29, 2020, 01:02:20 PM
Hwy 215 is marked and I was not talking about that one. But stuff like road between Battle Mountain and west of Dixie Valley. The road is 92 miles before it becomes NV 121 for the last 27 miles. It obviously cuts off a good amount of distance between BM and Fallon NAS. It would be nice to know what it is called. You know?

That's a collection of unpaved roads with no numbers, out in the middle of nowhere, that maybe provides access to a couple of ranches and/or mines. Not anything you'd want to direct any traffic down. Not that there's much of anything in or around Dixie Valley (the map shows it as a "site", which is generally code for "this is barely a settlement, and there might not be anyone living there")...but anybody going between there and Battle Mountain is probably going to take SR 305, since it'll likely be faster than taking 97 miles of unpaved roads despite the longer distance with backtracking.

A lot of Nevada is undeveloped or sparsely-developed land in the middle of nothing, which doesn't necessitate as many connecting paved roads as other states may have. It's why you do see many paved state highways abruptly ending at random spots and unpaved roads filling in the gaps.

Quote
On a side note, why does Nevada only use 3 digit numbers for state highways? I always found that odd.

See this old post of mine on the Pacific Southwest board for more background.
Roadfro - AARoads Pacific Southwest moderator since 2010, Nevada roadgeek since 1983.


Roadrunner75

I think Pennsylvania has a great road map, and at least somewhat recently was easily available at rest areas on the Turnpike.  I have quite a few, and they've been very consistent with good insets and legibility.  New Jersey had a good one - I grew up with one on a wall in the house  (probably late 70s/early 80s vintage) and it heavily influenced my young map drawing days - although I'm not sure if I have a recent one to compare.  I try to grab the state maps whenever I can...

hobsini2

Quote from: roadfro on March 29, 2020, 03:03:09 PM
Quote from: hobsini2 on March 29, 2020, 01:02:20 PM
Hwy 215 is marked and I was not talking about that one. But stuff like road between Battle Mountain and west of Dixie Valley. The road is 92 miles before it becomes NV 121 for the last 27 miles. It obviously cuts off a good amount of distance between BM and Fallon NAS. It would be nice to know what it is called. You know?

That's a collection of unpaved roads with no numbers, out in the middle of nowhere, that maybe provides access to a couple of ranches and/or mines. Not anything you'd want to direct any traffic down. Not that there's much of anything in or around Dixie Valley (the map shows it as a "site", which is generally code for "this is barely a settlement, and there might not be anyone living there")...but anybody going between there and Battle Mountain is probably going to take SR 305, since it'll likely be faster than taking 97 miles of unpaved roads despite the longer distance with backtracking.

A lot of Nevada is undeveloped or sparsely-developed land in the middle of nothing, which doesn't necessitate as many connecting paved roads as other states may have. It's why you do see many paved state highways abruptly ending at random spots and unpaved roads filling in the gaps.

Quote
On a side note, why does Nevada only use 3 digit numbers for state highways? I always found that odd.

See this old post of mine on the Pacific Southwest board for more background.

Wow. I figured that there was something to it. Thanks for the insight. To me though, it would just seem easier having 1 or 2 digit routes as the primary routes in the state and the 3 digit routes to supplement them. I would even carry over numbers from other states and vice versa too. For example, NV 163 could logically be a carryover of AZ 68 connecting Kingman AZ, Laughlin and US 95. NV 164 should carryover on Nipton Rd to I-15 as a shortcut. Just a thought.
I knew it. I'm surrounded by assholes. Keep firing, assholes! - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)

hobsini2

I just realized that I stopped doing this and never got back to it.
So to recap the states that I have done are with their grades out of 50:
CA 20, MD 47, MA 45, NV 29, NY 39, NJ 39, OH 39, OR 47, VA 42, TX 44, WI 44

States that I will be doing soon:
ALABAMA
ALASKA
ARKANSAS
COLORADO
DELAWARE
FLORIDA
GEORGIA
INDIANA
IOWA
KANSAS
KENTUCKY
LOUISIANA
MAINE
MICHIGAN
MINNESOTA
MISSISSIPPI
MISSOURI
NEBRASKA
NEW MEXICO
NORTH CAROLINA
OKLAHOMA
SOUTH DAKOTA
TENNESSEE
UTAH
WASHINGTON
WEST VIRGINIA
WYOMING

States that I am reordering the maps for because they were lost:
ARIZONA
CONNECTICUT
HAWAII (If I could get it.)
IDAHO
ILLINOIS
INDIANA
MONTANA
NEW HAMPSHIRE
NORTH DAKOTA
PENNSYLVANIA
RHODE ISLAND
SOUTH CAROLINA
VERMONT
I knew it. I'm surrounded by assholes. Keep firing, assholes! - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)

hobsini2

OKLAHOMA Request: https://oklahoma.gov/odot/get-a-state-map.html
c. 2019-2020
8 City insets plus 10 insets of each Turnpike (pre Kickapoo Tpk): Oklahoma City Vicinity, Downtown OKC, Tulsa & Vicinity, Downtown Tulsa, Muskogee, Stillwater, Enid, Lawton/Ft Sill

1. Turnpikes are Orange. Free Interstates are Green. Other Freeways are Red. Other Multilane highways are Yellow. Other state highways are Blue. Roads not in the state system are Gray. County names are big enough to read but are light gray on white. County lines are clear dashed lines. County seats are distinguished with their own symbol and in a larger font size. Cities over 5k have a brown outline area around the city. Small towns are harder to read. And the numbers on the highways could be a bit bigger as well. But little detail more than 5 miles from the border.
Grade: 7

2. The city index does include most populations but is also small in font size. The mileage chart has over 80 places listed but none are out of state. Could use Wichita Falls, Paris, Sherman, Dallas, Amarillo, Liberal, Wichita, Joplin and Fayetteville, Ft Smith. Mileages everywhere on the map but are pretty small to read. Possible insets for McAlester (18k), Durant (18k) and Ardmore (24k) but not necessary.
Grade: 9 Only ding on this is the font size.

3. Half of the back is used for travel pics and the Governor's family. But tourism centers are listed.
Grade: 6

4. I have found no glaring errors.
Grade: 10

5. In general, this is a good map but the main issue I have is with font size.
Grade:8

Final Grade: 40
I knew it. I'm surrounded by assholes. Keep firing, assholes! - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)

hobsini2

NEW MEXICO Request: https://www.dot.nm.gov/travel-information/request-a-map/
c. 2019-2020
13 City insets: Albqueurque, Santa Fe, Alamogordo, Clovis, Las Cruces, Gallup, Farmington, Hobbs, Taos, Carslbad, Las Vegas, Espanola, Roswell. Also has a map for NM Scenic Byways and NM DOT Offices with information.

1. Interstates are Double Red. Paved 4 lanes or more highways are Pink. Paved 2 lane highways are Blue. Gravel Roads are Dashed Black. Other roads are a Thin Black. County Lines are a dashed Yellow with the county name in Gray. County Seats are not marked. Cities over 10k have a Pale Yellow area. Place names are easy to read as are the highway numbers. County Highway numbers are a bit harder to read. It does give a bit of detail for things out of state.
Grade: 9

2. The city index does not include populations. However, each of the city insets do population and elevation. The in state mileage chart shows about 40 places. There is also a small mileage map that does show out of state places. No places really needed to be added for the city insets.
Grade: 9

3. A minimal number of pictures of the map over all. Good use of the areas.
Grade: 9

4. I found no glaring errors.
Grade: 10

5. This is a great map overall. Lots of detail and information useful for travelers. Easy to read. This is how a state map should be.
Grade:10

Final Grade: 47
I knew it. I'm surrounded by assholes. Keep firing, assholes! - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)

hobsini2

ALABAMA Online Version: https://www.dot.state.al.us/maps/pdf/ALHighwayMapFront.pdf
I could not find a link to request the paper map.
c. 2019-2020
13 City insets: Anniston, Auburn/Opelika, Birmingham, Decatur, Dothan, Florence/Muscle Shoals/Sheffield/Tuscumbia, Gadsden, Eastern Shore (Daphne/Spanish Fort), Huntsville, Mobile, Montgomery, Phenix City, Tuscaloosa. This also includes interstate strips with design details of the interchanges. A map of the "Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail". Lots of state park information.

1. Interstates are Dark Green. Non Interstate controlled access highways are Double Black with Red inside. All other divided highways are Double Lined with US Routes in Red and State Routes in Black. County lines are Dashed Brown lines. County names are in Brown and easy to read. County Seats are marked with a dot inside the Yellow circle. Highway numbers are easy to read, even the county highways. Urban areas are marked with an Orange-ish area. However, the smaller the town, the smaller the font. Hard to read towns under 1000.
Grade: 8

2. City index does not show populations and is small in font.  The mileage change includes out of state places and is roughly 45 x 26. Shows the state "things". Lots of information. Could use a city inset for Selma but that's not a big issue.
Grade: 9

3. My biggest issue on the back is with the city insets for the bigger places, like Birmingham, are pretty small. The insets take up about a fifth of the back. The interstate strips take up about 2/5 in the middle. There's too many pictures for my liking especially when Birmingham and Mobile could really use bigger maps.
Grade: 5

4. I found no glaring errors.
Grade: 10

5. Easy to read for the most part. Overall, it is one of the better state issued maps with lots of detail especially the out of state detail but it could be so much more better and frankly I am disappointed.
Grade: 7

Final Grade: 39
I knew it. I'm surrounded by assholes. Keep firing, assholes! - Dark Helmet (Spaceballs)



Opinions expressed here on belong solely to the poster and do not represent or reflect the opinions or beliefs of AARoads, its creators and/or associates.