[talk-au] back to the NSW roads problem

[Liz]

Just been on a long trip on a "State Road"
And had too much time on the road to consider the classification of NSW roads
The current classification tells us nothing about the road itself, merely 
whether the the State of NSW pays the Council to keep the Road in order, or 
if the council does it out of more general funding.

So in Vic, the A, B, C, does in fact tell you about the road condition.Or is 
meant too.
Ref VicRoads Drivers guide to Rural Victoria Aug 2002
so in Vic a 'C' Road "will generally be two lane sealed roads with shoulders.
'B' Roads will have sealed pavements with two traffic lanes, with good 
centreline and edge linemarking, shoulders and a high standard of guidepost 
delineation. Additional overtaking lanes will be provided on higher 
volume 'B' roads to improve road safety and capacity.

Now, because some person in a big city office decided to make the Mid Western 
Highway a State Highway, we've got it showing 'green' on the map. The bit I 
travelled today doesn't even make 'red' standard in some places where it is 
heavily patched. It also has no shoulders.

The Kidman Way - a State Route - is so because the State government put the 
guvmint hand into the coffers and paid the councils to upgrade the road. Now 
the new bits are a good C standard (with shoulders) and the older bits are a 
poor C standard (no shoulders).
BTW in Cobar the route numbers are ABSENT from all the signs.

if we are going to portray what is 'out there' then we should use a road 
classification which portrays what is 'out there'.

In fact the recent discussion about Adelaide is the same problem - do we use 
the classification used by governments with alternate agendas or do we mark 
what is there and how people use it?
That crazy Southern Expressway in Adelaide doesn't even qualify for M status 
because it isn't a divided carriageway with 4 traffic lanes.
(For those who have never seen this piece of engineering, it is one way, which 
way depending on the time of day).

Liz