WV Road Types and Naming
Introduction
The West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) provides County Highway Maps for each of the 55 Counties in West Virginia (WV). Those County Maps provide information on Route Designation for each road the State of WV maintains. The following are the types of roads typically seen on each of the County Maps and how they should be named and typed in the Waze Map. At this time, WV does not have a GIS Functional Classification (FC) Map.
West Virginia follows the General Road Naming and Road Type Guidelines of the USA. WV Specific deviations are shown below.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask in the WV Google Hangout (WV GHO) or Private Message (PM) one of the State or Area Managers.
WVDOT Road Types
On the WVDOT County Maps, each road type (Street, Unpaved, Off-Road) is shown on the map; use the following Road Types for each Roads and Roadway Features Surface Type shown on the map. Lock any segments with the Unpaved checkbox enabled or Off-road / Not maintained to L2.
Interstate
- Waze Road Type – Freeway (FW)
- Name – I-64 N (direction is always one-way and always includes the cardinal direction)
- Lock Level - L5 or higher
US Route
- Waze Road Type – Typically Major Highway (MH) unless FC upgrades
- Name – US-60 (if divided/One-Way, include cardinal direction, e.g. US-60 N)
- US BUS/SPUR/LOOP are Minor Highway (mH) unless FC upgrades
- Lock Level - L4 or higher
WV State Route
- Waze Road Type – Typically Minor Highway (mH)
- Name – WV-10 (if divided/One-Way, include cardinal direction, e.g. WV-10 S)
- WV BUS/SPUR/LOOP are Primary Street unless FC upgrades
- Lock Level - L3 or higher
WV County Route
- Waze Road Type – Street (unless FC upgrades higher)
- Name – CR-2 or CR-2/12
- Lock Level - Depends on FC; L1 or higher
WV HARP Route
- Waze Road Type – Street
- Name – not typically used. Only if no name for that street can be found (please ask in the GHO first). HARP-901 or HARP-901/20.
- Lock Level - L1
WV FANS Route
Federal Aid Non-State
- Waze Road Type – Based on Functional Classification Only
- Name – Alt Name Only if FC upgrades road type to Primary Street or higher. Drop the leading digit. FANS-863
- Alt name is needed so we know that a FC upgrade has been applied to what normally should be "Street" in the Waze Map.
- Lock Level - Depends on FC; L2 or higher
WV State Park and Forest Route
- Waze Road Type - Can be of any type. Consult the WVDOT County Maps for Road Type. See WV Road Types above.
- Name - Use Local Name if it has one. Add WV DOT Route Designation as alternate. Or if no local name, Route Designation as Primary. FS-800
- Lock Level - Depends on FC/Road Type; L1 or higher
US Forest Service Roads
West Virginia has one (1) National Forest within its boundaries, the Monongahela National Forest. The specific guidelines for National Forest Roads can be found here. Please ensure you understand the Wiki prior to mapping/changing any US Forest Service Roads. Use the Interactive Map to find the Road Names/Road Designation/Road Type. Roads can be both WVDOT and USFS in some cases. Use Local and/or WVDOT Road Names/Designation as Primary, if applicable, instead of US Forest Service road names/designation. Add the US Forest Service Roads as alternate names/designation in most cases. Do not map any roads that are not maintained for passenger cars or that motorized traffic is prohibited at this time. Also, do not map any trails.
- Waze Road Type - Can be of any type. Consult the Interactive Map for for designation.
- Name - Local Name if known. Add any WVDOT designation and USFS Designations as alternate names. FS-XXX
- Lock Level - Based on Road Type. L1 or higher
WV Road Naming
The
Functional Classification
The Functional Classification of West Virginia roads can be viewed as an overlay in WME by installing the WME FC Layer (beta) script developed by MapOMatic. The source of this data is the WVDOT's GIS service. To view this data, click on the ArcGIS Online map viewer link at the top, turn on the F System layer, and zoom in.
History: The Functional Classification of West Virginia roads was initially set using list of Federal Aid Roads which includes the roads with a functional classification of minor collector or higher. The complete list can be viewed along with a Google Sheet that translates the list into which roads the classification applies to. Some experience and common sense was used for any uncertainties. It is important to have the correct road designation in either the primary or alternate name in order to find a particular road and apply the correct functional classification to it. Note that some roads are listed as more than once; this means that they can be for example mH for part and MH for part and PS for part.
NOTES
- Lock Levels on verified one-way Private Roads(PR), Streets, and Primary Streets (PS) are one level higher. See WV Minimum Lock Levels
- Within City Limits, most roads should have a name; use that instead of the Route Designation and put the Route Designation as the Alt Name. Consult County GIS sources or Street View.
- All WV County Roads do have a name; you can find it using Street View or County GIS sources. If you cannot find it, then use the Road Designation as the Primary.
- All FANS Roads are within City Limits. Only put a FANS Designation (and always as Alt Name) if FC upgrades that segment to PS or higher. That lets everyone know the reason for the FC upgrade.
- If the Primary Name includes a "city", then any alternate names must also include the same city.
- Do not deviate from the road type unless the correct Functional Classification has been applied. Doing so can and will create issues with routing.