WV Route Naming
Introduction
The West Virginia Department of Transportation (WVDOT) provides County Highway Maps for each of the 55 Counties in West Virginia (WV). Those County Maps provide information on Route Designation for each road the State of WV maintains. The following are the types of roads typically seen on each of the County Maps and how they should be named and typed in the Waze Map. At this time, WV does not have a GIS Functional Classification (FC) Map.
West Virginia follows the General Road Naming and Road Type Guidelines of the USA. WV Specific deviations are shown below.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask in the WV Google Hangout (WV GHO) or Private Message (PM) one of the State or Area Managers.
Interstate
- Waze Road Type – Freeway (FW)
- Name – I-64 N (direction is always one-way and always includes the cardinal direction)
- Lock Level - L5 or higher
US Route
- Waze Road Type – Typically Major Highway (MH) unless FC upgrades
- Name – US-60 (if divided/One-Way, include cardinal direction, e.g. US-60 N)
- US BUS/SPUR/LOOP are Minor Highway (mH) unless FC upgrades
- Lock Level - L4 or higher
WV State Route
- Waze Road Type – Typically Minor Highway (mH)
- Name – WV-10 (if divided/One-Way, include cardinal direction, e.g. WV-10 S)
- WV BUS/SPUR/LOOP are Primary Street unless FC upgrades
- Lock Level - L3 or higher
WV County Route
- Waze Road Type – Street (unless FC upgrades higher)
- Name – CR-2 or CR-2/12
- Lock Level - Depends on FC; L1 or higher
WV HARP Route
- Waze Road Type – Street
- Name – not typically used. Only if no name for that street can be found (please ask in the GHO first). HARP-901 or HARP-901/20.
- Lock Level - L1
WV FANS Route
- Waze Road Type – Based on Functional Classification Only
- Name – Alt Name Only if FC upgrades road type to Primary Street or higher. Drop the leading digit. FANS-863
- Alt name is needed so we know that a FC upgrade has been applied to what normally should be "Street" in the Waze Map.
- Lock Level - Depends on FC; L2 or higher
Functional Classification
WV, at this time, does not have a GIS map that will make decision making as to the proper road type (Street/Primary Street/Minor Highway/Major Highway/Freeway) easy or quick. They do have a list of Federal Aid Roads which includes the roads with a functional classification of minor collector or higher. The issue we have found so far, is that it lists that classification by mile markers. We have no sure way of knowing where that classification starts and ends with any great deal of certainty. It can be done with some experience and common sense. Please work with the State Managers to learn more. You can review the complete list here. And StephenR1966 has put together a Google Sheet that translates the list into which roads the classification applies to. This is why it's important to have the correct road designation in either the primary or alternate name in order to find a particular road and apply the correct functional classification to it. Note that some roads are listed as more than once; this means that they can be for example mH for part and MH for part and PS for part. Please ask in the GHO for more help if you find examples of this.
NOTES
- Lock Levels on verified one-way Private Roads(PR), Streets, and Primary Streets (PS) are one level higher. See WV Minimum Lock Levels
- Within City Limits, most roads should have a name; use that instead of the Route Designation and put the Route Designation as the Alt Name. Consult County GIS sources or Street View.
- Most US and WV State Routes do not have a name unless inside city borders (e.g. Main St) or part of a major highway project (e.g. King Coal Highway). Even then, check street view to confirm the name is on the signs.
- All WV County Roads do have a name; you can find it using Street View or County GIS sources. If you cannot find it, then use the Road Designation as the Primary.
- All FANS Roads are within City Limits. Only put a FANS Designation (and always as Alt Name) if FC upgrades that segment to PS or higher. That lets everyone know the reason for the FC upgrade.
- If the Primary Name includes a "city", then any alternate names must include the same city and vice-versa.
- Do not deviate from the road type unless the correct Functional Classification has been applied. Doing so can and will create issues with routing.