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.
- SR-## for all state routes and highways.
Note: If the route has an Alternate Name (Cranberry Hwy, Pilgrims Hwy, etc) please add it to the Alt Names part of the editor.
Roadway Nicknames
In every city, transportation landmarks are given nicknames. It can be very confusing to anyone not familiar with the area. This is a list of nicknames for roads in Massachusetts.
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.
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
| 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 | Fw | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | ||
| Principal Arterial OFE | n/a | Fw | Fw | Fw | Fw | |||
| Principal Arterial - Other | n/a | Major | Major | Major | Major | |||
| Minor Arterial | n/a | Major | Minor | Minor | Minor | |||
| Major Collector | n/a | Major | Minor | PS | PS | |||
| Minor Collector | n/a | Major | Minor | PS | PS | |||
| Local/Not Mapped | n/a | Major | Minor | PS | Street | |||