Montana/Major roads/Main

As of Dec. 2015 Montana's Primary Highways are to be labeled "MT-xxx" and Secondary Highways "State Hwy xxx" to preserve the state shield. See this complete list of Numbered Highways for cross reference. US-10 no longer exists as it was replaced by I-90 and I-94. However, Old Hwy 10 still exists in some areas and should be mapped as such.

Locking Standard

Montana observes the following locking standards on the following types of road segments. All roads must be locked at least to the minimum level stated. If needing a segment unlocked or locked to a </> level please use the Unlock and Update Request forum.

Montana Minimum Locking Standards

Segment Type	Rank
Freeway	4
Ramp	Highest rank of connected segments
Major Highway	3
Minor Highway	2
Primary Street	2
|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Railroad |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|	2
All Others	1

U-turn Legality

Limitation on U-turns -- turning on curve or crest of grade prohibited. An operator of a vehicle may not turn the vehicle to proceed in the opposite direction:

• unless the movement can be made safely and without interfering with other traffic; or
• upon any curve or upon the approach to or near the crest of a grade where the vehicle cannot be seen by the operator of any other vehicle approaching from either direction within 500 feet.

^1 MT Code 61-8-334. Limitation on U-turns

For Waze routing, u-turns should only be enabled where they provide the potential for improved routing, which includes recovering from missed turns. A common example is a median-divided primary street that has homes/businesses with their driveways/entrances directly on it, where reaching them would otherwise require lengthy, multi-turn deviations through side roads in order to end up on the correct side of the median.

Elevation Guidelines

Familiarize yourself how elevation works and Waze standards. Montana currently follows the outlines stated in the Seagull article. There is also a discussion thread in the forums pertaining to elevation that can be followed here.

• If a seagull can fly right under it, it’s a bridge (level greater than 0).
• A road is only level = +2 if there’s another bridge (+1) running underneath it.
• If it is underground and covered over, check the tunnel check box. The road segment must begin at least 50 feet before GPS signal is lost, and continue at least 50 feet after GPS signal is recovered.
• For every other case the road is ground level (level = Ground), even if it’s artificially elevated or dug under street level.

Speed Limits

Montana follows the Waze wiki Speed Limit guidelines when it comes to adding SL to segments. The only exception to this guidelines is adding SL to work zone areas, we do not add SL to these areas as the SL will change at unknown times and can not be verified in some cities or counties.

Road Elevations

These are the general guidelines for elevation in Montana:

• Drivable and non-drivable segments are handled the same way with elevation.
• Set elevation to ground in most cases.
  • Segment(s) passing over other segment(s), rivers, major waterways, and all bridges shall have higher elevation, relative to ground.
  • Only elevate/lower the actual bridge/tunnel section of the road.
  • Elevation of overlapping segments should be set relative to each other, with the lowest segment as Ground (unless a tunnel).
  • Tunneled segments shall have lower elevation, relative to ground.
  • Only segments that "cannot see the sky" should have negative elevation (i.e. tunnels).
  • Only set elevation as low/high as necessary.
• If you use the Bridge tool to join segments, be aware that it raises the elevation of the joined segment. Lower the joined segment as appropriate.
• "Seagull" guidelines apply to elevation in Idaho.
  • Bridges should be cut at the start/end of the bridge.
  • Tunnels should be cut at least 15m/50ft before and after the tunnel, to allow time for the GPS to regain signal.
  • Do not cut segments for elevation purposes if the bridge/tunnel starts/stops within 60m/200ft of an existing junction.