Road Types
Rhode Island roads are categorized based on the RIDOT Functional Classification Maps. See Rhode Island/Major roads for exceptions to these categorizations.
Do not change the type of any Highway/Street-level roads without first consulting your State Manager or Regional Coordinator
Locking Standards
In Rhode Island 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.
| Segment Type | Statewide |
|---|---|
| Freeway | 5 |
| Ramp | Highest rank of connected segments |
| Major Highway | 4 |
| 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.
Route Naming
In Rhode Island, all numbered state highways should be given the designation "RI-##", where ## represents the highway number (e.g. "RI-24"). These designations, as well as designations for US routes and interstates, should be set as the primary or alternate name for a given segment based on the following rules:
- If the route is a limited-access highway (e.g. divided road, exit ramps, etc), the designation should be the primary name. Any common names for the road should be listed as alternate names. Note that these roads may not necessarily qualify as Freeway road types.
- This rule also applies to the divided portions of US-1 that runs through Washington County.
- If the segment is considered an urban road, the common name should be the primary name, and the route designation should be the alternate name.
- If the segment is part of a rural road, the route designation should be the primary name, while the common name should be listed as the alternate name.
Several other items of note:
- All route designations designations should have the same city name as the common name. If the route resides in a village, then the city name shall be the village name. See Rhode Island/Cities and towns for more information.
- RI routes do not use any banners (e.g. ALT, TRUCK, BUS, etc) on signage, so there should be no such routes named on the map. This is not to be confused with the RI-XXA designations, which do exist and should be mapped.
Consult the RIDOT Functional Classification Maps to determine where roads pass through urban and rural areas.
U-Turns
Legally speaking, u-turns are permitted in RI unless specific signage prohibits it. However, to avoid accidents and confusion, you should only allow u-turns at intersections which have a turn diameter of at least 15m. To determine this distance, draw a segment perpendicular to the road in question, starting in the left-most turn lane, crossing the median, and ending on the left-most opposite lane, as shown in the figure to the right.
NOTE: The only exception to this rule is if there is a dedicated u-turn lane on the opposite side for drivers to enter when performing a u-turn. If these u-turn lanes are separated from the road by more than 15m, then treat it as an AGC and map accordingly. Otherwise, simply enable the u-turn at the intersection.