Nebraska/Major roads/Main Discussion View history

State highway naming

Nebraska Highway

State highways are to be named N-###
(TTS pronunciation "Nebraska ###")

Nebraska Link

State Links are to be named L-##X
(TTS pronunciation "Nebraska Link ##X")

Nebraska Spur

State Spurs are to be named S-##X
(TTS pronunciation "Nebraska Spur ##X")

Nebraska Recreation Road

State Recreation Roads are to be named R-##X
(TTS pronunciation "Nebraska Recreation Road ##X")

^a State highways never share the same number as any U.S. or Interstate highway that runs through the state.

^b The exception to this format is Nebraska Highway 25A (N-25A) which acts as a spur but is not signed as such.

^c A Link is a highway that connects two major highways.

^d A Spur is a highway that connects a major highway to a city or town where no other highway exists.

^e Recreation Roads are the roads contained within a State Park and are almost never signed but do appear in NDOR and FC maps.

County road naming

County roads with the name designation of "County Road ##" or "Co Rd ##" are to be named in Waze as CR-##. This shortened version takes up less space on the map screen and is announced correctly as "County Road ##" while navigating with the Waze app.

Roads named N, S, E or W

If you encounter any roads that are named N, S, E, or W, you must add a period (.) to the end of the letter. For example, West N Street is abbreviated as W N. St. This ensures the TTS system reads the road name as "West EN Street" and not "West North Street" This does not apply to county roads or Nebraska state highways and spurs abbreviated as N-##X and S-##X. Waze recognizes these as county roads, state highways and spurs, and pronounces them correctly.

Locking standard

In Nebraska we have a set minimum standard for locking roads based on segment type. Any road of a certain segment type must be locked at least to the rank (level) in the chart below. Roads may be locked higher for protection and special situations (areas with construction, tricky design, frequent mistakes, imaging inaccuracies, and the like), but should not be locked lower.

A great time to implement these locks is while bringing the road types of an area into compliance with the current US road type standards (FC and highway systems). Lock the roads based on type after they've been set to current US road type standards.

Nebraska Minimum Locking Rank Standard

Segment Type	Statewide
Freeway	4
Ramp	Highest rank of connected segments
Major Highway	3
Minor Highway	3
Primary Street	2
Street	1
• • • • Ferry • • • •	5
|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Railroad |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|	2

Nebraska Functional Classification

For the most part, Nebraska's Functional Classification is pretty straightforward. For the purposes of FC, we use the National Function Classification maps. Nebraska divides its FC in to two classes, Urban and Rural, each has a separate table below. Interstates and Other Freeways & Expressways are always drawn as a  Freeway  even if listed under Principal Arterial.

FC Legend

Below is a modified table that matches the National Functional Classification system with the Waze Road Types as per Nebraska standards.

		Nebraska Road Systems
		Interstate	Interstate Business Loop/Spur	US Highway	US Hwy (Bannered) BUS, SPUR, LOOP	Nebraska Highway	Nebraska Link Highway	Nebraska Spur Highway	Local Road / County Road
	Example Road	I-80	I-80 BUS	US-6	US-30 BUS	N-92	L-28B	S-55E	Bell St / CR-20
F u n c t i o n a l C l a s s i f i c a t i o n	Urban Classifications
	Interstate	Fw	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Other Freeways & Expressways	n/a	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw
	Other Principal Arterial	n/a	Major	Major	Major	Major	Major	Major	Major
	Minor Arterial	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	Minor	Minor	Minor	Minor
	Major Collector	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	Minor	Minor	PS	PS
	Minor Collector	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	Minor	Minor	PS	PS
	Local/not mapped	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	Minor	Minor	PS	Street
	Rural Classifications
	Example Road	I-80	I-80 BUS	US-6	US-30 BUS	N-92	L-28B	S-55E	Bell St / CR-20
	Interstate	Fw	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Other Freeways & Expressways	n/a	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw
	Principal Arterial	n/a	Major	Major	Major	Major	Major	Major	Major
	Rural Minor Arterial	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	Minor	Minor	Minor	Minor
	Major Collector	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	Minor	Minor	Minor	PS
	Minor Collector	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	Minor	Minor	PS	PS
	Local/not mapped	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	Minor	Minor	PS	Street

^f There are currently no bannered Interstates in Nebraska.

^g A true controlled-access freeway should always be classified as a  Fw . Some expressways however, are only partially controlled-access and do not qualify for classification as a freeway. Use your best judgment on which to choose.

^h See this forum thread about the decision to upgrade State Spurs that are Rural Major Collectors to Minor Highway.

U-turns

U-turns are permitted in Nebraska except where prohibited by signage or restricted by local municipal law.

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.

The u-turn must also meet one of the following criteria:

1. The u-turn is explicitly allowed by signage OR
2. There is at least 15 meters (49 feet) from the right edge of the legal departure lane to the right edge of the "destination" curb (49 foot turning circle). This is to ensure the turn can be completed in one continuous movement, which is a legal requirement in many places.

Note that when editing, a functional u-turn can arise from more than just the u-turn flag on a road segment, such as with these common scenarios:

1. Divided roads with box and partial-box intersections where the median segment is 15 m (49 feet) or longer.
2. Divided roads with explicitly-mapped inside turn lanes unless the turn arrow in the u-turn direction is disabled.

^1 | Nebraska Statute 60-6,160

^2 | Lincoln traffic laws

Speed Limits

Nebraska follows the Waze USA speed limits guidance. Please read that page carefully before editing any Speed Limits (SLs).

Nebraska does not alter speed limits for work zones.

Speed limit changes in NE should occur in both directions of travel at the same point (a slowdown from 65mph to 45mph in one direction has a matching 65mph sign in the opposite direction of travel).

• Opposing signs are often not exactly opposite the road from each other; place the speed change halfway between them.
• If there is a substantial distance separating opposing signs (multiple seconds of driving at full speed), bring it to the attention of a State Manager.

Speed Limit standards

The following are the speed limits laws of Nebraska, except where posted signs indicate differently (most commonly in/near urban areas).

• Residential district: 25 mph. These are generally unsigned unless a Primary Street type or higher.
• Business district: 20 mph. It is generally believed these are all signed, and no assumptions about what constitutes a "business district" must be made.
• Gravel or dirt city/county highway: 50 mph. The majority of these are not signed.
• Paved city/county highway: 55 mph. These are generally signed when leaving/entering an urban area, but may lack signs elsewhere.
• State highway: 60 mph, unless signed otherwise.
• State expressway or State freeway: 65 mph.
• (National) Interstate: 75 mph. There are slowdowns in/near some major urban areas.

Speed Limit Resources

• State highway speed limit map
• NDOR speed limit raw database information
• City of Omaha speed limit list

Useful Scripts For Editing Speed Limits

• WME Color Speeds
• WME Context Menu
• WME Speedhelper
• WME Speeds