<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Dec 31, 2016 at 4:21 AM, Volker Schmidt <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:voschix@gmail.com" target="_blank">voschix@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div>You can find detailed PDF maps of all NHS Routes, state-by-state at a web page of the Federal Highway Administration <div style="font-family:georgia,serif;display:inline" class="gmail_default">[...]. On these maps you will find plenty of NHS roads that are definitively not trunk roads.<br></div></div><div>Just two examples in Arizona:</div></blockquote></div><br><div style="font-family:georgia,serif" class="gmail_default">I will agree isn't what could handle 'trunk' volume in a densely settled area in EU or NY.<br>If we follow the physical description checklist rigidly, we'd conclude there are few trunk roads outside of metropolises. <br><br>Both appear to be well maintained in the photos; the width of paving greatly exceeds the two marked lanes. Out where "50 Miles to Next Gas" signs still live, this is a major road. <br><br>US160 is the most significant road for literally miles. <br>US180 is the tourist main feeder to the Grand Canyon . . <br><br></div><div style="font-family:georgia,serif" class="gmail_default">Wikipedia says [0]<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><p style="margin:0.5em 0px 0.5em 40px;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">The<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>National Highway System</b><span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>(<b>NHS</b>) is a network of strategic<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Highway" title="Highway" style="text-decoration:none;color:rgb(11,0,128);background:transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%">highways</a><span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>within the<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States" title="United States" style="text-decoration:none;color:rgb(11,0,128);background:transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%">United States</a>, including the<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstate_Highway_System" title="Interstate Highway System" style="text-decoration:none;color:rgb(11,0,128);background:transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%">Interstate Highway System</a><span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>and other roads serving major airports, ports, rail or truck terminals, railway stations,<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipeline_transport" title="Pipeline transport" style="text-decoration:none;color:rgb(11,0,128);background:transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%">pipeline terminals</a><span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>and other strategic transport facilities. Altogether, it constitutes the largest highway system in the world.</p><p style="margin:0.5em 0px 0.5em 40px;line-height:inherit;color:rgb(37,37,37);font-family:sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-variant-ligatures:normal;font-variant-caps:normal;font-weight:normal;letter-spacing:normal;text-align:start;text-indent:0px;text-transform:none;white-space:normal;word-spacing:0px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Individual<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._state" title="U.S. state" style="text-decoration:none;color:rgb(11,0,128);background:transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%">states</a><span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>are encouraged to focus federal funds on improving the efficiency and safety of this network. The roads within the system were identified by the<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Transportation" title="United States Department of Transportation" style="text-decoration:none;color:rgb(11,0,128);background:transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%">United States Department of Transportation</a><span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>in cooperation with the states, local officials, and<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_planning_organization" title="Metropolitan planning organization" style="text-decoration:none;color:rgb(11,0,128);background:transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%">metropolitan planning organizations</a><span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>and approved by the<span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Congress" title="United States Congress" style="text-decoration:none;color:rgb(11,0,128);background:transparent none repeat scroll 0% 0%">United States Congress</a><span class="gmail-Apple-converted-space"> </span>in 1995.</p></blockquote><br></div><div style="font-family:georgia,serif" class="gmail_default">So being on this list should assure the road is among the best maintained.<br><br></div><div style="font-family:georgia,serif" class="gmail_default">Oh, because we don't have green A signage on the NHS designated routes, and we only map what is physically there ? <br>The Mapillary photos show modern video billboards. If the advertisers recognize it as a trunk worth their time, we can too.<br></div><div style="font-family:georgia,serif" class="gmail_default">Being better maintained or wider than other in the greater area is physical.<br></div><div style="font-family:georgia,serif" class="gmail_default"><br></div><div style="font-family:georgia,serif" class="gmail_default">Richard's comment <br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div style="margin-left:40px"> "(FWIW, the current distinction between highway=trunk and highway=primary in<br>
the US seems so arbitrary that I actually render them both the same for<a href="http://cycle.travel" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank"> cycle.travel</a>)" <br></div></blockquote>suggests forcefully that our current rule for US is NOT working. <br><br></div><div style="font-family:georgia,serif" class="gmail_default">Looking at states i'm more familiar with than AZ, Massachusetts [1] and Maine [2] , these NHS roads are pretty much what the locals think of as the main connections between cities/regions, which is a reasonable "human" translation of "trunk". <br><br>I do see some "MAP-21 NHS Principal Arterials" that are feeders to the presumed trunks, unclear if they deserve trunk status. I also see some interesting omissions, US20, MA30, MA9 are not included end to end, but only selectively. But if that means federal funding is concentrated on portions of US20 that are in NHS at expense of those not, then they will be physically different despite same signage.<br><br></div><div style="font-family:georgia,serif" class="gmail_default">This proposal is better than what we have now -- in rural areas at least .<br></div><div style="font-family:georgia,serif" class="gmail_default"><br></div><div style="font-family:georgia,serif" class="gmail_default">( I love that FHWA has these maps posted publicly. 35 years ago i produced a similar state-and-city atlas for a DOT rail safety office ... with a plotter and color Xerox[tm] copier. Lost to history.<br>personal to Volker - thanks for pointing these out to me ! )<br></div><br clear="all"><div style="font-family:georgia,serif" class="gmail_default">[0] <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Highway_System_(United_States)">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Highway_System_(United_States)</a> <br>[1] <a href="http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/national_highway_system/nhs_maps/massachusetts/ma_massachusetts.pdf">http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/national_highway_system/nhs_maps/massachusetts/ma_massachusetts.pdf</a></div><div style="font-family:georgia,serif" class="gmail_default">[2] <a href="http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/national_highway_system/nhs_maps/maine/me_Maine.pdf">http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/national_highway_system/nhs_maps/maine/me_Maine.pdf</a> <br><br></div><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Bill Ricker<br><a href="mailto:bill.n1vux@gmail.com" target="_blank">bill.n1vux@gmail.com</a><div><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/n1vux" target="_blank">https://www.linkedin.com/in/n1vux</a> <br></div></div></div>
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