New York State uses NY-## and NY-##X for all state routes and their spurs, loops, etc. (e.g. NY-27, NY-787,NY-17M, NY-52 BUS)
New York State uses the New York - State Main shield for state routes, CR generic Main shield for county routes, and Interstate Main & US Hwy Main shields for their respective federal roads (federal routes including descriptors such as ALT, BUS, SPUR, etc. should use their respective shield when available and not the "Main" shields).
State reference routes should not be shielded. These are identified as 3-digit numbers in the 900's with a single letter suffix (e.g., NY-910C, NY-970G). Two reference routes signed as primary names and should be the only exceptions (NY-961F & NY-990V).
At this time, shields should not be added to state roads that are primarily shielded with unavailable shields (e.g., NYC, LI, & other state parkway shields, NY Thruway shield, NY-## BUS shield).
Concurrent routes which are signed/shielded with both names, AND commonly referred to using both names together, should use both names separated by a bullet (•) as the primary name, and each individual named as an alternate name. (e.g. US-1 • US-9)
Interstate highways which also have a historical or local freeway name should have that historical or local name appended after the Interstate designation, separated by a bullet. (e.g., I-495 E • Long Island Expwy,I-95 N • Cross Bronx Expwy, I-87 • NY Thruway)
Highway name descriptors, such as TRUCK, EXPRESS, etc. should be added in ALL CAPS after the name. (e.g. US-1 TRUCK, or on a concurrent road US-1 TRUCK • US-9 TRUCK)
Service roads
Roads which have a parallel service road (i.e. are split in a single direction such as Ocean Parkway) should have the service roads named uniquely so Wazers understand which roadway they are being routed onto. They should be named with "(Service Rd)" following the actual road name. (e.g. Ocean Pkwy, and Ocean Pkwy (Service Rd).) This will also identify which roadway incident and error reports were sent from. These are commonly referred to as service roads in New York, but may also be known as frontage roads, or outer roads.
Please see the House Numbers on Service Roads article for a detailed explanation and tutorial on setting the road type, and adjusting House Numbers for these service roads so they route correctly, and work with BDP.
Shields
New York State uses the following nationally-available shields:
Interstate Main for interstates
US Hwy Main for US Highways
Routes with descriptors such as ALT, BUS , SPUR, etc. should use their respective shield
CR generic Main for county routes
Available state-specific shields available include:
New York - State Main for state routes
New York - State TRUCK for state truck routes where signed
New York - State Road NY Thwy as an alt name on Thruway segments so it can be used for on-ramp signage
Only the non-interstate section of the NY Thruway Berkshire CONN should use this shield for the primary name
New York - State Pkwy (Empire Shield) for most state parkways outside of New York City and Long Island
Use the first letters of the parkway name as an abbreviation on the shield (e.g., TSP for Taconic State Parkway)
Exceptions include the Lake Ontario Pkwy and Niagara Scenic Pkwy which have their own shield available
NJ & NY - State Pkwy Leaf for the Palisades Interstate Pkwy
Where not to not add shields
State reference routes should not be shielded. These are identified as 3-digit numbers in the 900's with a single letter suffix (e.g., NY-910C, NY-970G). Two reference routes are signed as primary names and are the only shielded exceptions (NY-961F & NY-990V).
At this time, shields should not be added to state roads that are primarily shielded with unavailable shields (e.g., NYC Parkways, Long Island Parkways, NY-## BUS).
Functional Classification (FC)
New York State has upgraded the entire road network to meet the national guidance for road type classification. This ensures a consistent, and better navigational experience to wazers around the country. The general guidelines for implementation are in the Road types page. Any local deviations, and special information for New York State are listed in the next subsection.
The Mapping Resources section has links to several FC data sources including a State DOT maintained GIS, CSV lists of all FC roads by county, and general FC information.
Tip: for editors using the FC Color Highlights script: These colors will more-or-less match the NYS DOT FC map:
NYS FC GIS Color Highlights
NYS FC Type
Highlight Color
Interstate = Fwy
black
Principal Arterial = MH
green
Minor Arterial = mH
red
Collector = PS
blue
Ramp
#8c6946 (unclassified)
Local Exceptions
Roads which are Private (not accessible to the general public i.e. a gated entrance, buses only, etc.), Parking Lot Roads, or Non-Drivable (i.e. pedestrian plazas, boardwalks, etc.) should be classed as such (Private, PLR, Non-Drivable), regardless of what their official FC class is.
The NYS FC GIS is incomplete, and does not show all roads highlighted correctly for the full length on the road. When in doubt consult the Inventory Lists.
The NYS FC GIS will only highlight one direction (side) of a split roadway, in these cases both directions should be classed the same (at the highlighted class).
New York State Reference Routes should use their FC designation and not be treated as state highways.
From this point, roads may be adjusted up or down the scale as indicated by the road's setup and usage ONLY with the consensus of a local RC, or SM. Examples:
Most of NY-17 from Binghamton to Harriman is fully limited access; it is therefore typed as Freeway (except for one 5½-mile stretch of at-grade intersections between Sanford and Hancock, where it is typed Major Highway).
CR-56 in Steuben County is barely wide enough for two cars, has no appreciable shoulders, and is only rarely used; based on that, its type was downgraded to Street.
Several minor arterial state routes across the Adirondack Park have been given +1 routing preference to act as Major Highways. Prior to this upgrade, east-west and "diagonal" routes across the park were pruned by the routing server given the lack of US routes and/or principal arterial classifications across the park. This upgrade allows the roads to still display as state routes while providing trips up to an hour shorter than those given prior to the upgrade.
If you are having difficulty in determining what road type a particular section should have, feel free to contact any of New York's, Waze Champs Country Managers, State Manager(s), or senior editors list in the table below. You can also contact the Regional Coordinator(s) orbitc (PM[Help]) and PhantomSoul (PM[Help]) , or post to any of the New York editing community locations listed above.
Locking standard
In New York 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.
New York Minimum Locking Rank Standard
Segment Type
NYC Only
Everywhere Else
Freeway
5
Ramp
Highest rank of connected segment
Major Highway
5
3
Minor Highway
4
3
Primary Street
3
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.
You can use WME Validator to highlight segments which are locked below these standards using the custom check fields.
New York follows the national guidelines for adding speed limits to the map. There are a few items left up to local guidance which will be enumerated below.
The ONLY speed limits which should be added to the map are Regulatory Speed Limits. These are marked with black lettering on white rectangular signs.
The following speed limits are unsupported by the WME and the Waze app, and MUST NOT be added to road segments in the WME. Road segments with posted 'advisory' speeds or special speed limits should continue the Speed Limit for passenger vehicles as posted on the black and white signs pictured above.
Segments with time based different speed limits should use the speed limit which is in effect the majority of the time (most hours of the day, days of the week).
Speed limits should change where they legally go in effect. When a speed limit changes in the middle of a segment, a new junction should added to support the SL change. However a new junction should never be added for a SL if it will be within 200 feet of an existing junction, or potential junction.
Work zone speed limits
A work zone (WZ) may have a lower advisory speed limit (SL) posted in black on orange
, or a regulatory speed limit posted in black on white with an orange "Work Zone" banner across the top .
We only consider the regulatory signs, and never map advisory speed limits.
Now that the Speed Limit feature has gone live in the production client app (as of June 2016[update]), adding WZ SLs to segments is generally allowed.
Typically only projects which are expected to last at least 3 months should be added to the map.
The underlying SL, and expected project completion date should be documented in a [CONSTRUCTION] UR with the keyword mph included in the text.
Projects of shorter duration may be added as well, IF the editor has access to frequent status updates on the project, and is willing to monitor and adjust as soon as the SL is restored.
Where speed limits change
The NYS Supplement to the MUTCD stipulates that a Speed Limit sign shall be placed at, or as near as practicable to, the beginning of a speed limit.
When adding speed limits to WME we should try to be as accurate as reasonable, while still preserving turn delays. Therefore if a speed limit changes in middle of a segment we will create a new junction to support the SL change. However if there is already an existing junction, or we can see the need to create a new junction to connect another segment to the road within 200 feet of the speed limit sign, we should mark the SL change using that existing (potential) junction node.
If at the editor's discretion in consultation with local managers, it is determined that a new junction to support a SL change between 200 - 1,000 feet away from a junction would have a negative impact on turn delay calculations, they may instead affect the SL change at an existing (potential) junction up to 1,000 feet away from the SL sign. This may be because the SL change is posted in middle of turning or exit lane where traffic regularly backs up from the following junction to before the position of the SL sign.
Click Expand for details on the direct quote from the NYS Supplement
Standard:
00M
A R2-1 sign shall be placed at, or as near as practicable to, the beginning of a linear speed limit facing traffic entering the restriction. Additional R2-1 signs shall be placed at intervals throughout restrictions longer than 1100 feet.
Option:
00N
The R2-1 sign may be omitted when the beginning of a linear speed limit is at, or near, the closed end of a dead-end highway.
Guidance:
00O
Where the beginning of a linear speed limit is at, or just before, an intersection, the Speed Limit sign should be placed beyond the intersection. Where a Speed Limit sign and a Political Boundary sign (see Section 2D.110) would conflict, the Political Boundary sign should be placed at a suitable location before or after the Speed Limit sign.
and PhantomSoul (PM [Help]) 
, or a regulatory speed limit posted in black on white with an orange "Work Zone" banner across the top