Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/New York/Standards

This is an essay on style. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more WikiProjects on how to format and present article content within their area of interest.

This information is not a formal Wikipedia policy or guideline, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

Shortcut

WP:NYSR/STDS

The New York State Routes Task Force of the U.S. Roads WikiProject

General
Project home	(WP:NYSR)	talk
Standards	(WP:NYSR/STDS)
Resources	(WP:NYSR/R)	talk
Project directory		talk
Pre-GAN checklist		talk

Assessment
Department home	(WP:NYSR/A)
Project statistics:
→ Table
→ Log
→ Category
→ County by County	(WP:NYSR/CBC)	talk
Popular pages	(WP:NYSR/PP)	talk
Recognized content		talk

Collaboration
Vital articles	(WP:NYSR/VA)

Maintenance
Article alerts	talk
Recent changes	talk
Redirect list	talk
To-do list	talk

— related changes

The New York State Routes Task Force has developed the following article standards for page formatting and layout, which should be used on nearly all highway articles under this project's scope. Although these standards are designed with the Wikipedia Manual of Style (MOS) in mind, there may be an occasional instance where the MOS may conflict with the guidance provided here. The MOS takes precedence in these situations, and it is recommended that any conflicts are brought to the project's attention so this document can be amended to comply with the given provision of the MOS. These standards are sufficient for the vast majority of articles in this project's scope; however, they can be ignored if warranted for a particular highway article, as determined by consensus on the article's talk page or the project's talk page.

Naming conventions

State routes

Articles on state touring routes shall be named "New York State Route N" where N is the route number per the naming convention guideline for US state highway articles. Articles about parkways that are signed as such (like the Robert Moses State Parkway) should be named for the parkway, not for the reference route number or numbers it carries. Other reference routes that are notable enough to have an article shall be named using the naming convention for touring routes.

Former New York state touring routes that became a single county route upon removal shall be titled for their former state route designation and covered as such. The articles on said routes will be tagged solely as a state route for project article list purposes.

County routes

Articles on county routes shall be named "County Route N (county County, New York)", where N is the route number and county is the county that the route is in. Lists of county routes, both traditional and the index for RCS-style lists (explained below), shall be named "List of county routes in county County, New York", where county is the county that the routes are in.

Other roads

Articles and lists relating to any other roads shall be named according to the relevant Wikipedia naming convention guideline.

Infobox

The infobox for standalone articles within the scope of this project is {{Infobox road}}. Full instructions for use can be found at the template's documentation page; the most commonly used parameters in New York are listed below. See NY 174 for an example of a completed infobox.

Please note that it is not necessary to list every route at a given route's terminus, such as other county routes (when said county routes are not the sole designation at the terminus) or other designations that would not help the reader identify the location of the terminus. In general, terminus listings (as well as the listings in the "junction" field below) should be as concise as possible. Incorporated locations—villages, cities, or towns—shall be the only locations used in the terminus and junction fields.

All routes listed in the infobox should be abbreviated to conserve space. Common abbreviations are:

Interstate Highways: "I-XXX" (Interstate 390→I-390)
U.S. Routes: "US XXX" (U.S. Route 20A→US 20A)
State routes: "NY XXX" (New York State Route 153→NY 153)

This is the basic syntax you need to add the infobox to an article.

{{Infobox road
|state=NY
|type=
|route=
|map=
|map_alt=
|map_notes=
|length_mi=
|length_ref=
|established=
|direction_a=
|terminus_a=
|direction_b=
|terminus_b=
|counties=
|previous_type=
|previous_route=
|next_type=
|next_route=
}}

Common parameters

This section is an overview of the most commonly used parameters of the infobox template. Many other parameters exist, and a full list can be found on the template's documentation page. Any parameters that do not apply to a particular route can either be omitted (recommended) or left blank.

Parameter name	Value
All articles
state	"NY"
map	file name of this road's map
map_alt	Alternate text for the map, for visually impaired readers. This parameter should be specified if map is specified. see NY 174's article for an example of what this text should be.
map_notes	caption for the map; see NY 174's article for an example of what this text should be
length_mi	the length of the route in miles
length_ref	The reference for the length of the road using the standard <ref> footnote method. For Interstate Highways, U.S. Routes, and state routes, use {{User:TwinsMetsFan/refs/tvr}} to generate a reference for the most recent NYSDOT Traffic Volume Report.
direction_a	either "south" or "west" to keep in accordance with NYSDOT's practice of inventorying routes from west to east and south to north
terminus_a	The southern terminus or western terminus of the road.
junction	up to 10 major junctions along this road; see the Junctions section below for general guidelines of what kinds of junctions should be listed here.
direction_b	either "north" or "east"
terminus_b	the northern or eastern terminus of the road, in accordance with the guidelines set forth with terminus_a
counties	A list of counties that the road enters. Omit for county routes.
All articles on numbered routes
type	"NY" for touring routes or non-parkway reference routes "US" for U.S. Highways "I" or "Interstate" for Interstate Highways "Parkway" for parkways "CR" for county routes
route	the number of the route
alternate_name	Use in situations where the entire route has another name
maint	A wikilink to the agency that maintains the highway. By default, the infobox specifies NYSDOT as this agency for Interstate Highways, U.S. Routes, and state routes, meaning that this parameter may be omitted if NYSDOT maintains the entire route. It is advised to check the NYSDOT quads or inventory to verify who maintains the road, especially if the route passes through a city.
established	the date the route was assigned to its current alignment
County route articles only
county	name of the county the route is in

Junctions

The {{{junction}}} parameter should only contain intersections that are both major in importance and help illustrate where the route travels. There should not be more than 10 junctions listed; this limit is intended to keep the infobox's height from becoming unwieldy and excessive. Try to avoid listing multiple junctions from a single area. In the event that this occurs (such as NY 104 intersecting both I-81 and US 11 in Mexico), list only the most important of the junctions. Simply put, avoid repeating locations.

Junctions that should be placed here

Junctions with U.S. Highways, parkways, freeways, or Interstate Highways.
Junctions that help to illustrate which regions of the state that the route serves (see NY 7). These are generally intersections with long-distance travel routes or the primary intersection in major locations on the route.

Junctions that should not be placed here

Junctions that do not fall into the classes above, such as those with county routes, state routes that are primarily local in nature, or locations where a route passes over/under a road but does not intersect it.
Junctions with roads that parallel the road the article is about (example: I-88 and NY 7), as these junctions typically do not help to illustrate where the route travels.

Browse row

The last row of the infobox is used for browsing the state's numbered route system. Its contents are generated by four parameters: {{{previous_type}}}, {{{previous_route}}}, {{{next_type}}}, and {{{next_route}}}. The "previous" and "next" are in relation to the article route, and the types are Interstate, US, or NY for Interstate Highways, U.S. Highways and other New York state routes, respectively.

The browsing on a state level is ordered by number from lowest to highest, then by priority in the event that routes in different systems have identical numbers:

Interstate Highway
U.S. Routes
State routes

Thus, the infobox for NY 690 has the following values:

|previous_type=I and |previous_type=690 to link to I-690, as there is no US 690 in New York
|next_type=I and |next_type=695 to link to I-695

The browsing order shall include the following highways:

All Interstate Highways, U.S. Routes, and state routes—active and former—with a standalone article
The primary alignment for a designation, active or former, that redirects to another article. This includes out-of-service numbers with only one alignment (NY 229) or with one alignment that is more significant than the others (NY 432), or active route numbers that are covered in another article (NY 363). Use the infobox's {{{browse}}} parameter to add a new row to the redirect target article's infobox for these routes. This extra browse row should be omitted if the redirect target article would be a previous or next route in the resulting browse row (such as NY 9G for NY 9F).

The order shall exclude the following highways:

Former routes whose alignment is not the primary topic for its designation and are redirects to another article (NY 347 (1930–1934)).

The current browse order for the state of New York is listed on this page.

Article structure

The articles that fall within the scope of this project shall be organized in the order shown below. This structure is fully compliant with the Wikipedia Manual of Style and has been accepted by the Wikipedia community at the Good Article and Featured Article nomination venues as the optimal layout for road articles.

The first item in an article should be the infobox. Place the template after all hatnotes and cleanup templates and before the lead section.

Lead section

Required. An untitled section (known as the lead section) that summarizes the article. Things to include here include a summary of the route, its history, major areas that the route serves, and major highways that the route intersects. For additional guidance, see WP:LEAD. Please note that the majority of detail, such as progress by town or county, should be reserved for the next section.

Route description

Required. This section is for describing the route itself, such as where the route is located, where it serves, what it passes by, etc. Progression shall be described from south to north or west to east to keep in accordance with NYSDOT's practice of inventorying routes from west to east and south to north. If this section is several paragraphs long, it should be broken up by counties or other suitable segments using third-level headlines.

History

Required. Place any historical information about the route here. Ensure that proper, reliable references are added. If this section is several paragraphs long, third-level headlines should be added to break up the prose. Events in this section should be significant, such as an extension, a truncation, a rerouting, a total reconstruction, an extended closure, or the outright removal of the route's designation. Minor projects, such as a routine repaving or a signage replacement, have typically been deemed not notable enough for inclusion in articles by the Wikipedia community.

Future

Optional if applicable; omit otherwise. Place any confirmed (no speculation) information about the future of the route here. Again, ensure that proper, reliable references are added. This section should be used only if the future event is significant, such as an extension, a truncation, a rerouting, a total reconstruction, or the outright removal of the route's designation. Minor projects, such as a routine repaving or a signage replacement, have typically been deemed not notable enough for inclusion in articles by the Wikipedia community.

Suffixed routes

Required if applicable; omit otherwise. This section shall be used only on parent articles; ex. place this section on NY 30, not NY 30A. This section shall be omitted if a route has never had any suffixed routes (such as NY 8) or if all of a route's suffixed routes are sufficiently covered as part of its history (such as NY 192). The description of a route can be as brief as a sentence or go into full detail; this typically depends on whether or not the suffixed route has its own article. If a suffixed route accesses communities that the parent route doesn't reach, at least one should be noted here. The exact composition of this section may vary slightly:

If only one suffixed route exists or existed for the article route, use that route for the name of this section instead of "Suffixed routes" (NY 30A instead of Suffixed routes) and do not use a bulleted list. See NY 30 for an example.
If multiple suffixed routes exist or once existed for the article route, use "Suffixed routes" for the header and use a bulleted list to list the route's past and present suffixed routes. See NY 7 or NY 31 for examples.

Special routes

Required if applicable; omit otherwise. Place all special routes (also known as bannered routes) of the route here. This section shall be named for the route's abbreviated designation ("NY 19 Truck") and not "Special routes" or "Bannered routes". See New York State Route 52 for an example of how this section should look.

Major intersections

Required. This is a junction list or exit list for the route designed in accordance with the road junction list guide. The junction lists or exit lists of any articles within the scope of this project shall also be designed in accordance with the following guidelines:

Colors shall be used as specified by MOS:RJL, which should be used as specified by MOS:RJL. When a color is used, the appropriate color key shall be added to the junction list to comply with MOS:RJL. For example, adding "|type=closed" for the closed color. If the table has more or less than five columns, then "|col=#" will also need to be specified, with # being the number of columns that the table has.
Service and intermodal icons, such as the white-on-blue "H" for hospitals and the white-on-green plane for airports, and warning signs, such as a "dead end" sign, shall not be used
Incorporated locations—villages, cities, or towns—should be the only locations used in the Location column. Hamlets may be noted in the Notes column or used as a location in the Location column if said hamlet spans multiple junctions.
Control cities shall not be listed in the junction lists of articles on at-grade highways
Intersections for at-grade highways should generally be limited to major roadways, such as other state routes, U.S. Highways, Interstate Highways, major unsigned arterials, or roads that were once a signed route

The name of the section's header shall vary by route type:

"Major intersections" for routes that are entirely or mostly an at-grade highway
"Exit list" for routes that are entirely or mostly a limited-access highway

Examples of junction and exit lists
Description	Heading	Example article
An intercounty highway that is entirely at-grade	Major intersections	New York State Route 318
An intracounty highway that is entirely at-grade	Major intersections	New York State Route 360
An intercounty highway that is entirely limited-access	Exit list	Interstate 190 (New York)
An intracounty highway that is entirely limited-access	Exit list	New York State Route 201
A mostly at-grade highway with a limited-access segment that has numbered exits	Major intersections	New York State Route 481
A mostly at-grade highway with a limited-access segment that does not have numbered exits	Major intersections	New York State Route 104
A mostly limited-access highway with an at-grade segment	Exit list	Lake Ontario State Parkway

The {{NYint}} family of templates may be used to generate a MOS:RJL-compliant junction list for at-grade and limited-access highways. The following is the basic syntax you need to use {{NYint}}. Place this in the "Major intersections" section of an article and fill in the variables. A full list of parameters and features is available at {{Jctint}}.

{{NYinttop|length_ref=<ref>(reference here)</ref>}}
{{NYint
|county=
|cspan=
|location=
|lspan=
|mile=
|type=
|road=
|notes=
}}
{{NYintbtm}}

For additional entries, add the following between the closing brackets of the last NYint entry and {{NYintbtm}}:

{{NYint
|county=
|cspan=
|location=
|lspan=
|mile=
|type=
|road=
|notes=
}}

Further instructions can be found at {{Jctint}}. The easiest way to generate MOS:RJL compliant entries for the road parameter is to use {{jct}}; see that template for usage instructions. Types that the template recognizes include "NY" (state routes), "US" (U.S. Highways), "I" (Interstate Highways), "Parkway" (for parkways; specify the parkway name without "State" in the next parameter), and "CR" (county routes; requires that "county#=<county name>" be specified as well).

A few formatting notes:

If a reference route is significant enough to be listed in an entry in a junction list, it should not be the first route listed per MOS:RJL, which puts less emphasis on unsigned routes than signed routes. Instead, the street name or common name of the route should be used first, followed by the number in parentheses (i.e. "West Commercial Street (NY 940U)") or the route that the reference route connects to should be used first, followed by the name and number of the reference route (i.e. "To NY 157A via Thatcher Park Road (NY 910J)"). Reference marker and reference marker-type signs shall not be used as shields in a junction list per MOS:RJL.
The notes column is typically reserved for notes about the junction (type of junction - interchange, roundabout, etc., touring route but not reference route termini, missing movements at interchanges) or to denote a hamlet. More substantial notes should be added to the prose sections ("Route description" and "History") instead.

References

Required. Place all references here, using the <ref></ref> tags in the article and {{reflist}} in this section.

External links

Optional. Place all relevant external links which are not references here. Use {{NYSR external links}} to generate a set that applies to virtually every route in some shape or form.

List structure

All standards listed below apply only to county route lists. There are no set standards for lists relating to state highways in New York.

Historically, two significantly different formats have been used for lists of county routes in New York. The first, dubbed the "traditional" format, is a simple table of all county routes in a particular county. The second, widely known as the "Rockland County Scenario", is an enhanced list that devotes extra coverage to each county route. The structure that each style of list shall use is described below.

Traditional

The traditional format has two basic elements: a lead section and a table using the "wikitable" class. Per the Manual of Style (MOS) page on stand-alone lists and the MOS page on leads, the lead section should never contain the sentence "This is a list of county routes in X County, New York". Instead, the lead should describe the system, such as its size, how the numbers are signed, how the route numbers are posted, etc., as suggested by the MOS page on lists. It is not necessary to place any text in boldface; to the contrary, no text should be bolded per MOS:BOLDTITLE.

Depending on the size of a county's route system, there may be a single table listing all of the county's county routes or several tables in several sections, separated by ranges. Generally, larger counties are broken up by 100s; however, other ranges, such as by 200s, may be more appropriate for some counties. The tables shall have the following headings:

Route: the route numbers, prefixed by "CR"
Length (mi): length of the route in miles. Place the reference for the route lengths in this cell.
Length (km): length of the route in kilometers; use {{convert}} to generate the conversion from miles
From: western or southern terminus of the route
Via: roads that the route is routed on
To: eastern or northern terminus of the route
Notes: any notes regarding the route, such as a former number no longer in use

Use towns, villages, and cities for locations; do not use hamlets. If the route is completely located within one location, add that location to the "via" cell; else, place the location the route begins in in the "from" cell and the location the route ends in in the "to" cell. For an example of a fully compliant list, see List of county routes in Albany County, New York.

Rockland County Scenario

Like the traditional format, the Rockland County Scenario (RCS) has two basic elements: a lead section and subsections devoted to each route in the county. Due to the nature of the RCS, RCS-style lists are much larger in size than traditional lists. As a result, they are broken up into separate articles by ranges. These type of lists are known by the rest of Wikipedia as "long lists"; per Wikipedia:Naming conventions (long lists) and current NYSR practice, the split lists shall be named "List of county routes in <county> County, New York (N1–N2)" (where county is the county that the routes are in, N1 is the low end of the range covered by the article, and N2 is the high end of the range covered by the article) while "List of county routes in county County, New York" shall serve as an index page. See Category:County routes in Erie County, New York to see this in practice. All guidelines described above for the traditional format's lead section apply to the index page of the RCS-style lists as well. For the subpages, a simple statement such as "This section of the list of county routes in <county> County, New York, contains all routes numbered between X and Y." suffices.

The sections for each route shall be titled "County Route N" (where N is the route number) and contain three components: a transclusion of {{infobox road small}} (not {{infobox road}}), a description of the route's history and routing (without subheadings for either) and a junction list designed in accordance with MOS:RJL with a header of ;Major intersections. It may be helpful to hide the table of contents and use a pseudo-navbox for navigation instead. See List of county routes in Erie County, New York (545–580) to see this structure in practice.

Route markers

The route markers (shields) used in lists and articles should be period accurate. Thus, articles about routes that were eliminated during the 1950s should only have route markers from that era and lists containing said routes should have the 1950s route marker. The approximate time frame for shield designs in New York (excluding minor design changes) is as follows, according to the AARoads Shield Gallery:

Years	Style	File name	Jct/Infobox road types
1927–1947	cutout, block fonts	NY-x (1927).svg	NY 1927
1948–1954	cutout, rounded fonts	NY-x (1948).svg	NY 1948
1955–1959	NY hump, white background	NY-x (1955).svg	NY 1955
1960–1962	NY hump, black background	NY-x (1960).svg	NY 1960
1963–present	current design	NY-x.svg	NY