[Talk-us] Mass Change of Highway Classification in Larimer County Colorado

[Paul Johnson]

On Tue, May 4, 2021 at 3:00 PM Brian M. Sperlongano
<zelonewolf at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, May 4, 2021 at 2:34 PM Clifford Snow <clifford at snowandsnow.us> wrote:
>>
>> I was asking myself that very question. In basic terms I don't think traffic count shouldn't be the only determination. Road width, lanes, state classification, shoulder size, markings, etc. could all help determine classification. Personally I tend to pay a lot of attention to how the state/county classifies the road. Typically higher classification roads are better than their lower classification counterparts. And yes they may have higher traffic counts but there are other reasons why the state may build a higher classification road, such as its importance to commerce.
>
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> We should also consider continuity.  It is not helpful if a road is constantly shifting between highway classifications, because renderers use that to decide which zoom level roads appear at.  If you look at many areas of the US at certain zooms, many roads are practically rendered as dashed lines because of frequent classification changes.  Classification should be a measure of relative importance and not strictly tied to physical characteristics.

There's also overclassification.  The western US looks a lot more
contiguous than it is thanks to a lot of false trunks and primaries
that should be one step lower.  The western US particularly through
the rockies just isn't that terribly well connected.