Wyoming/Major roads/Main Discussion View history

Revision as of 23:10, 5 December 2016 by SkyviewGuru (talk | contribs) (→‎Major_roads/Main: Adding road elevation policy, approved by AOTB 12/5/2016)


WYDOT is actively converting over 2,500 miles of highway to 70 mph speed limits.

State highway naming

Wyoming Highway
Wyoming Highway

State highways are to be named State Hwy ###

There is TTS support to name state highways as WY-### but doing this will cause the state shields to go away in the app. Until this is implemented fully, we will stick with the State Hwy ### format.

Ramp names can use the WY-### format since they do not carry shields.

County road naming

Wyoming County
Wyoming County

County roads with the name designation of "County Road ##" or "Co Rd ##" are to be named in Waze as CR-##. This shortened version takes up less space on the map screen and is announced correctly as "County Road ##" while navigating with the Waze app.

Locking standard

Wyoming lock standards are rather conservative due to the small number of active editors and the expansiveness of the state. Any road of a certain segment type must be locked at least to the rank listed in the chart below. Roads may be locked higher for protection and special situations (construction, confusing design, frequent mistakes, image inaccuracies, etc.), but should not be locked lower for an extended period of time.


In Wyoming 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.

Wyoming Minimum Locking Rank Standard
Segment Type Statewide
 Freeway  5
 Ramp  5
 Major Highway  3
 Minor Highway  3
 Primary Street  2
 Street  1
 • • • • Ferry • • • •   5
 |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Railroad |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|  2

Note: Certain roads may be locked higher than the above minimums. Please do not lower locks unless approved by the RC or SM of Wyoming.


Roads named N, S, E or W

If you encounter any roads that are named N, S, E, or W, you must add a period (.) to the end of the letter. For example, West N Street is abbreviated as W N. St. This ensures the TTS system reads the road name as "West N Street" and not "West North Street".

U-turns

U-turns in Wyoming are permitted when:[1]

  1. The u-turn can be made in safety and without interfering with other traffic.
  2. Not upon any curve, or upon the approach to or near the crest of a grade, where the vehicle cannot be seen by the driver of any other vehicle approaching from either direction within five hundred (500) feet.
  3. Not explicitly prohibited by signage or local municipal law.

For Waze routing, u-turns should only be enabled where they provide the potential for improved routing, which includes recovering from missed turns. A common example is a median-divided primary street that has homes/businesses with their driveways/entrances directly on it, where reaching them would otherwise require lengthy, multi-turn deviations through side roads in order to end up on the correct side of the median.

^1 Wyoming Revised Statute §31-5-215

Road Elevations

These are the general guidelines for elevation in Wyoming:

  • Drivable and non-drivable segments are handled the same way with elevation.
  • Set elevation to ground in most cases.
    • Segment(s) passing over other segment(s), rivers, major waterways, and all bridges shall have higher elevation, relative to ground.
    • Only elevate/lower the actual bridge/tunnel section of the road.
    • Elevation of overlapping segments should be set relative to each other, with the lowest segment as Ground (unless a tunnel).
    • Tunneled segments shall have lower elevation, relative to ground.
    • Only segments that "cannot see the sky" should have negative elevation (i.e. tunnels).
    • Only set elevation as low/high as necessary.
  • If you use the Bridge tool to join segments, be aware that it raises the elevation of the joined segment. Lower the joined segment as appropriate.
  • "Seagull" guidelines apply to elevation in Wyoming.
    • Bridges should be cut at the start/end of the bridge.
    • Tunnels should be cut at least 15m/50ft before and after the tunnel, to allow time for the GPS to regain signal.
    • Do not cut segments for elevation purposes if the bridge/tunnel starts/stops within 60m/200ft of an existing junction.

Speed Limits

Wyoming Interstates include segments with 80 mph speed limits. These limits have already been applied according to WYDOT provided information.[1] Additionally, select highways fall under variable speed limits. These segments shall contain speed limit data for the highest posted and legal speed limit. At times, speed limits will be reduced by WYDOT due to inclement weather, traffic conditions or average motorist speeds. When speed limit reductions are in place, they are considered temporary and should not be reflected in the Waze map.

Live variable speed limit data is provided by WYDOT at the Wyoming Travel Information Map





Some speed limits in Wyoming have day and night provisions. The speed data in Waze should only include the fastest legal speed limit.

^1 Wyoming 80 MPH speed limits