Utah/Major roads/Main

State Highway Naming

The approved format for State Highway naming in Utah is: SR-##

Locking Standard

In Utah 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.

Utah locking standard

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

Functional Classification

Please refer to this forum topic for more information on FC - Road Types (USA) – comprehensive overhaul of drivable roads

The Utah Functional Classification system is on par with the Nationwide standard, and consists of 7 Road Types.

UT to Waze FC conversion

Utah's Dept of Transportation has made Functional Classification maps available online, in PDF format, for each county. They also provide an interactive statewide map.

Resource Links

• UDOT Interactive Functional Classification Map - ArcGIS
• UDOT Functional Classification Maps by County (PDF Format) (May be out of Date)

UDOT GIS class and color description

GIS Legend

The Utah Classification and Color scheme come from the official Utah D.O.T (UDOT) Functional Classification (FC) map that is published by UDOT. The legend shows what classifications UDOT uses and what color is assigned to each class.

UDOT to Waze conversion table

		Highway Systems
		Interstate	Interstate Business Loop/Spur	US Hwy (incl. some special routes)	State Hwy (incl. some special routes)	State Hwy BUS, SPUR, LOOP	Locally-maintained
	example>>>>>	I-15 N	I-15 BUS	US-89	SR-28	SR-24 Spur	Fremont St
F u n c t i o n a l C l a s s	Interstate (1)	Fw	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Other Freeway/Expy (2)	n/a	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw
	Other Principal Arterial (3)	n/a	Major	Major	Major	Major	Major
	Minor Arterial (4)	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	Minor	Minor
	Major Collector (5)	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	PS	PS
	Minor Collector (6)	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	PS	PS
	Local (7)	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	PS	Street

References:

If you encounter a specific type of road (Interstate/US Hwy Business route, etc) that is not shown, reference the main FC Quick Reference chart

Functional Classification Exceptions

These roads have changed from the recommended Functional Classification for the reason noted.

Road Name	New Type	Area	Link	Reason	Approved
SR-59	Major Highway	Washington	Link	Corrects routing from US-89 to I-15	RC
SR-291	Parking Lot Road	Ogden	Link	State facility parking lot roads	SM
SR-296	Street	American Fork	Link	State facility campus roads	SM
SR-298	Parking Lot Road	South Ogden	Link	State facility parking lot roads	SM

U-turns

U-turns are permitted in Utah where they are safe , except where prohibited by signage or restricted by local municipal law. Legal U-turns includes those made from a two-way (i.e. shared) turn lane.

U-turns on Primary Street through Major Highway type roads may be enabled in either of the following two circumstances (Do not enable U-turns on Street type roads):

1. ) The U-turn is explicitly allowed by signage; or
2. ) The U-turn is otherwise legal and safe, and there is at least 10.1 m (33 feet) from the left edge of the departure lane to the "destination" curb. This can include any median that may exist to the left of the departure lane. (The measurement is intended to accommodate the turning radius of most passenger vehicles.)

Do not make a point of enabling all U-turns valid under this guidance, only as you encounter them and they are necessary. For Waze routing, U-turns should only be enabled where they provide 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.

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 | Utah Code 41-6a-802 (2)

^2 | Utah Code 41-6a-801 (3)(b)

Speed Limits

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

Utah does not alter speed limits for temporary reductions such as school zones or work zones, unless the work zone duration will exceed 3 months and the signs present are fixed-speed and on permanent style mountings (no digital variable speed limit signs, no portable signs).

Speed Limit standards

The following are the speed limits laws of Utah, except where posted signs indicate differently (higher or lower speed limits).

• Urban district: 25 mph.
• All other locations: 55 mph.

Speed Limit Resources

• Year 2013 Fwy 80mph changes
• Late 2014 Fwy speed changes. An article. Another article.

Useful Scripts For Editing Speed Limits

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

Road Elevations

Utah practices "True Elevation" where almost all segments are set with elevation Ground unless they are passing over/beneath another segment, major waterway, or natural feature.

• Drivable and non-drivable (Railroad, etc.) segments are handled by the same rules.
• Only segments that "cannot see the sky" should have negative elevation (e.g. tunnels, underground parking garages)
• Only set elevation as high as necessary, with the relative elevations representing the true physical relationships. Example: Nothing should be +2 unless it is crossing over a +1 segment, which is crossing over a Ground level segment.
• If you use the Bridge tool to join segments, be aware that it raises the elevation of the newly-joined segment. Lower the joined segment as appropriate.
• Only elevate/lower the actual bridge/tunnel section of the road.
• Bridges should be cut with a junction node at the start/end of the bridge where the land falls away. You can typically see guardrail at the start/end of the bridge section, an expansion gap in the pavement where the bridge starts/ends, and/or a pavement change (asphalt to concrete, for example).
• Don't create elevated bridges for water unless the waterway is of significance (i.e. don't bridge every 5 foot rural box culvert).
• Tunnels should be cut with a junction node at least 15m / 50ft before and after the tunnel, to allow time for the GPS to regain signal. Set the "Tunnel" checkbox as well.
• Do not cut segments for elevation purposes if the bridge/tunnel starts/stops within 60m/200ft of an existing junction. Re-use that junction that is "close enough." Also be aware of cutting segments "too close" (which is always relative) to an intersection.
• The use of common sense is paramount in using True Elevation.