Wikipedia:Notability (highways)

This is an essay on notability.

It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints.

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WP:HIGHWAYS

This guideline is meant to reflect consensus about the notability of highways, based both on the class of highway and individual notability. In a nutshell, highways that are numbered and signed as part of a single, national highway network are generally notable and should have their own articles. It is, however, important to assert each highway's individual notability (historical significance, press coverage, economic importance, etc.) when writing articles.

Highways that are part of a state or provincial (or other primary country subdivision) highway system may or may not be notable, depending on the country. Specific information for various countries is listed below. Some states, provinces, and territories explicitly define separate primary and secondary state highway systems. For those that do not, primary state highways are generally defined to be highways that are numbered as part of a state-wide network and signed.

Highways that are part of a county or municipal (or other local authority unit) highway system are generally not notable unless they satisfy the general notability guidelines. Important exceptions are county highway systems that have a state-wide numbering, which are more similar to state or provincial highway systems. See below for specific country information.

Australia

There are no absolute rules for notability that are adhered to for Australian roads.

Motorways, Freeways, Expressways, and roads named with equivalent terms should generally be assumed to have notability. It would be rare that a locally maintained road is notable, though not impossible. Most roads will fit somewhere in the middle on that scale. Use common sense.

Similarly roads may also be notable for reasons other than their position in the road hierarchy or the volume of traffic carried.

Articles for routes are generally not created for Australian roads. See WP:AURDNAME for further details.

Canada

See WikiProject Canada Roads for naming conventions.

Trans-Canada Highway

The Trans-Canada Highway is notable, and those routes that make up the TCH are notable.

Provincial and primary highways

Provincial highways are generally notable, as are primary trunk highways such as:

All other highways built as a freeway, expressway, or autoroute are generally notable as well. Of course, the article should still make some claim of the highway's individual notability, such as historical significance, press coverage, etc.

Secondary, tertiary, county, and regional highways

In general, highways that are short or have no historical significance allow for very little information and may be better suited to a central list or table that provides the termini of each route. For example, Manitoba's secondary routes are listed in a section of List of Manitoba provincial highways. By using redirects to anchors, a list or table can essentially be a number of short articles collected on one page. For example, <span id="779"/> is used in the row for Alberta secondary highway 779 in the table at List of Alberta provincial highways, which allows for Alberta secondary highway 779 to redirect to List of Alberta provincial highways#779.

There may be a select few secondary, tertiary, county, or regional highways that are notable enough to have their own articles. When writing an article on such a highway, it is important to assert this notability by citing reliable sources that discuss the highway in non-trivial ways.

Named highways

Often, an article can be written about a named highway that is not part of a longer numbered highway system, such as the Don Valley Parkway. Here, the general sense of notability should be considered: can an article be written? If the road is a freeway, there should be enough information. Otherwise, you should think about whether the information would fit better in articles about places in which the road is located.

Defunct highways

Defunct named highways such as the Spadina Expressway may be notable due to their controversy. Roads that are former primary highways may also have historical significance.

Germany

Federal Highways (Bundesstraßen) and autobahns (Bundesautobahnen) are generally notable and can have individual articles. State Highways (Staatsstraßen) and lower are typically not notable and are more suitable for a List by state or kreis.

Japan

National highways (一般国道) and expressways (高速道路) are generally notable and typically have sufficient history and importance for one to be able to write a decent article about them. Prefectural highways (都道府県道) and municipal highways (市町村道) are generally not notable unless they satisfy the primary notability guidelines.

New Zealand

New Zealand has a two-tier system as its national highway network, containing some 80 existing or former state and provincial highways (despite the different names, these are all administered at a national level). Current highways are generally notable and typically have sufficient history and importance for one to be able to write a decent article about them.

Former highways which had their own specific numbers (e.g., SH 17) are also generally notable for the same reasons given above. Former highways which had subsidiary letter codes (e.g. SH 49A) are generally not notable enough for their own article, but will warrant a section within the article of the parent highway (in the example given, SH 49).

Eight named touring routes (largely consisting of current and former state highways) and several urban motorways are also of sufficient notability to be considered for separate articles. Other routes are not notable unless they have significant historical or cultural significance.

United Kingdom

In Great Britain and Northern Ireland, roads that are classified as motorways and single and double-digit A roads are notable and are suitable for inclusion. Three and four digit A-roads may be suitable depending on the availability of sources. B roads and minor roads are typically not suitable for inclusion.

United States

Interstate, U.S., and primary state highways are generally notable. However, that does not mean an article about them will pass Wikipedia notability guidelines. The fact that the road has been adopted into a major network of highways is the result of a road's notability, not the cause. Well before the article is nominated for Good Article the article should explain what makes this road notable. Specifically, the article should answer the question, "why was this road built in the first place?", and "why are the taxpayers asked to keep spending money to keep the road maintained?" If the article does not answer the question of why does this road exist, that is grounds for deletion of the article.

Primary state highways

Highways that have very little to say about them (i.e. those that are extremely short and have no historical significance) may be better suited to a list, such as list of minor state routes in Connecticut. By using redirects to anchors, a list like list of bus routes in Manhattan is essentially a number of short articles on one page. Alternately, a tabular list can have anchors inserted by using <div id="14A">14A</div> (making sure to align that cell to the top, so none of the row is off the top of the screen), and redirecting Route 14A (Connecticut) to List of minor state routes in Connecticut#14A. This can be seen in operation with Q42 (New York City bus) and list of bus routes in Queens.

An alternative, where the highway exists to serve a state institution, is to cover the highway inside the article on that institution, for instance in Tidewater Community College.

Secondary state highways and county highways

Secondary state highways and county highways that are part of a statewide system (i.e. the highway numbers do not repeat themselves across the state) are generably notable. These highways are notable enough to warrant their own article, but generally these should be kept to a list if very little information is available. Examples of notable secondary/county highway systems are California county routes, 500 series county routes in New Jersey, Texas farm-to-market roads, Tennessee secondary routes, Florida county roads and insert more here.

While for the most part, county highways should be in a list article, there may be a select few major county highways that are notable enough to have their own article. These include freeways/expressways, roads that are former primary state highways, or roads with other special historical significance. When writing an article on such a highway, it is especially imperative that the article make a claim for the road's notability.

Named highways

Often an article can be written about a named highway that may be part of a longer numbered highway, like the Cross Bronx Expressway (I-95), or that has no number, like the Bronx River Parkway. Here, the general sense of notability should be used: can an article be written? If the road is a freeway, there, without a doubt, will be enough information. Otherwise you should think about whether the information would fit better in the article about the place the road is in.