Massachusetts/Major roads Discussion View history

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Introduction

Although Massachusetts follows the general road naming and road type guidelines of the USA, there are some road naming rules specific to the Commonwealth that all Massachusetts editors MUST follow.

They are included in this section.

State Highway Naming

Massachusetts uses the following naming conventions for routes:

"US-##" for all US routes and highways.
"MA-##" for all state routes and highways.

Note: Do NOT add Alternate Names to Freeways and US Highways in the state. Alternate names negatively affect routing in Waze.

Functional Classification

Functional Classification Implementation has been partially completed within the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. In some areas, it is still ongoing.

PLEASE REFER TO THIS FORUM TOPIC ON THE MATTER Road Types (USA) – comprehensive overhaul of drivable roads

Waze USA has agreed to set a national standard in accordance with the FHWA manual for establishing road classification types in Waze. The following information is in relation to how this is to be understood/applied for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Resource Links

MassDOT Interactive Functional Classification Map
massDOT Functional Classification Maps

MA to Waze FC conversion

massDOT GIS class and color description

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

Please refer to the GIS FC map found here, on the massDOT FC Maps webpage.

MassDOT to Waze conversion table

The numbers correspond to the Federal FC type indicated. (e.g. Federal Class 4 road is a Minor Arterial)

		Highway Systems
		Interstate	US Hwy (incl. some special routes)	State Hwy (incl. some special routes)	State Hwy BUS, SPUR^[a], LOOP	Locally-maintained
	example>>>>>	I-95 N	US-2	SR-3	SR-400 Loop	Robertson 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
	Principal Arterial OFE (2)	n/a	Fw	Fw	Fw	Fw
	Principal Arterial - Other (3)	n/a	Major	Major	Major	Major
	Minor Arterial (4)	n/a	Major	Minor	Minor	Minor
	Major Collector (5)	n/a	Major	Minor	PS	PS
	Minor Collector (6)	n/a	Major	Minor	PS	PS
	Local/Not Mapped (7)	n/a	Major	Minor	PS	Street

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