Pennsylvania/Major roads/Main

The Functional Classification chart shown below has been modified from the national chart to more closely reflect the roads in Pennsylvania.

Functional Classification reference chart

Use this chart to determine the road type for Pennsylvania roads based on the functional class.

First, find the functional class of the road in the MPMS IQ map in the operational layers and determine if it is a signed, numbered highway in one of the highway systems.

Follow the column for the road's highway system down to the row for the road's functional class to find the proper road type for that particular road.

The PennDOT color coding is cross-referenced in the first column of the table for your convenience.

		Highway Systems
		Interstate	Interstate Business, Loop, Spur	US Hwy (incl. some special routes)	US Hwy BUS, SPUR, LOOP	State Route Shielded	State Route Unshielded	Locally Maintained
	Examples	I-80	I-94 Business	US-190	US-460 Business	SR-23 SR-309	SR-2006	Roberts St
F u n c t i o n a l C l a s s	Interstate	Fw	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Other Freeway	n/a	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw
	Other Expressway	n/a	Major	Major	Major	Major	Major	Major
	Other Principal Arterial	n/a	Major	Major	Major	Major	Major	Major
	Minor Arterial	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	Minor	Minor	Minor
	Urban or Rural-Major Collector	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	Minor	PS	PS
	Rural Minor Collector	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	Minor	PS   Street	Street
	Local Roads or Not Classified	n/a	Major	Major	Minor	Minor	PS   Street	Street

^a Since Pennsylvania combines these two classes, use the criteria from the Freeway page to determine if the road should typed as a freeway or major highway.

^b Some 4-digit State Routes are numbered for legacy or maintenance reasons, but they do not serve as primary thoroughfares for the area and should be classified as  Street .

^c These two categories were changed from  PS  to  Minor  per PA Forum discussion November 2017.

Naming

State routes with 2 or 3 digit route numbers

In Pennsylvania all State Routes should have any common name as displayed on street signs as the primary name in WME, and the route number in the alternate name field. The city name should be the same for both the common name and route number. SR-111 is the current acceptable format. The use of State Hwy or PA-xxx and other variations should not be used unless it is on the road signs that drivers would see.

State Route naming should follow the following format:

• SR-28 S (divided one-way segments).
• SR-309 (undivided two-way segments).

Note: Some state routes have mixed signage, with route numbers at major intersections and road names at minor intersections. Until Waze gets state shields working completely, the best practice is to name the segments according the the signage that the motorist will see as he approaches the state route, with priority given to the major intersections.

State routes with 4 digit route numbers

State Routes with 4 digits (e.g. SR-3001) may have the route number in the alternate field ONLY if it has been verified and deemed useful for identifying roads named in PennDOT notices. Note that PennDOT may re-use the same 4-digit numbers in unrelated roads in many different counties.

County or township roads

County (Co) and Township (T) roads need no special designation or road type. Road number info is not needed in the alternate name field.

Ramps

When naming a Ramp to a State Route, use the SR-111 format. PA-111 format should not be used unless it matches exactly what is on the big green sign directing you to the ramp. It is best to reference Google Street View in WME, where available.

Adhere to national standards for Exit ramps and Entrance ramps (on-ramps). Ramp names should use these formats:

Off-ramps:

• Numbered exit: (Exit 16: SR-15 / Scranton)
• Numbered exit with multiple Cities or Routes: (Exit 16: SR-15 N / SR-86 E / Wilkes / Scranton)
• Numbered exit with multiple exits: (Exit 16A-B: SR-15 N / SR-86 E / Scranton)
• Non-numbered exit: (to SR-15 / Scranton)

Abbreviating Pennsylvania

When naming roads or Ramps, use Penna. as the abbreviation for Pennsylvania. Penn causes text-to-speech conflicts with the numerous items named after William Penn. PA should not be used except as shown below.

Penna. Tpk is the proper abbreviation for naming ramps, and for alternate names for the Turnpike.

Shortened state route names

The format SR-xxx (State Route) should be used when naming ramps (e.g., to SR-28 S / Pittsburgh). See also: Ramps. To maintain uniformity across the state, the PA-xxx format should not be used unless it is on the road signs that drivers would see.

Locking Standard

In Pennsylvania 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.

Pennsylvania Minimum Locking Rank Standard

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

Note: Do Not Mass Edit just to update locks to these standards, these can be adjusted as you find them while editing other aspects of the segments such as FC, speed limits, naming, etc.

Some segments still warrant higher locks and care should be taken when setting segment lock to these standards to look for and protect these special setups with higher locks. Some examples; segments which are part of BDP, U-turn prevention, or using micro-doglegs, or other complex intersection setups.

Speed Limits

Pennsylvania follows the national guideline for speed limits, with a few exceptions listed below.

Pennsylvania guidelines

• When a speed limit changes at an intersection, the sign for the new speed zone can be found up to 200 feet after the intersection. If the speed limit changes more than 200' from the intersection, add a junction at the sign and make the speed limit change there.
• Long term work zone speed limits may be mapped instead of the "ordinary time" speed limits.

• Speed limit signs are supposed to be posted on every street, no further than 1/2 mile apart.. If you can verify that there are no posted signs, follow the PA guidelines:
  • 35 miles per hour in any urban district.
  • 25 miles per hour in a residence district (unless it is a numbered route classified as a local highway)
  • 55 miles per hour in other locations.

Summary of National Guidelines

Regulatory
Yes

Advisory
No

• Only map speeds found on regulatory white rectangular signs with black lettering.
• Do not map advisory speed limits (generally an orange or amber rectangular sign with black lettering).
• Where there are variable speed limits, map only the speed limit which is in effect most of the time during daylight hours (most hours of the day, days of the week).
• Do not map special speed limits for special vehicles. Waze only supports speed limits for private passenger cars.
• Where the speed limit changes, make it change in the map. A new junction may need to be added. But do not add a new junction for a speed limit if it will be within 200 feet of an existing junction.

PA Speed Limit Resources

• Pennsylvania Turnpike Speed Limit Map
• old Map
• PA Title 67
• PA Title 75