As long as it's not part of the automatic state highway = mH+ or US highway = MH+ rule, I would PM the last editor first. If they're no longer active and/or don't respond within a week or so, I would just say you should then use your own judgment on a downgrade or post to this "Overiding NFC" thread in the Michigan forum.

Right now, the Michigan wiki page states that we should not downgrade to match FC, but there are always exceptions. If anyone upgraded an ex-girlfriend's street to freeway so that they could use the "avoid major highways" option, I would say that's an exception, etc...

Going forward, I think that a lock at L2+ would hopefully be a good signal going forward that a road classed higher than FC is classed that way for some reason. State and US highways should ideally be locked higher anyway, so that would cover those two exceptions too.

anthogna wrote:Actually, can we talk about Martin Parkway (permalink)?

I think that judgment calls can be made for new construction. Some states haven't updated their FC maps in ten years, and that's a long time for new corridors to be built that wouldn't appear on older maps. The most recent Michigan revision was a small tweak and not a full scale re-evaluation, so who knows why Martin Parkway wasn't considered even as a "future" corridor, which Michigan sometimes includes on maps.

Unless it's a fairly major project though, it would usually be local judgment, and you always run the risk of a downgrade. I have no personal experience as to whether Martin is better than the existing MH Richardson route, but zooming out and seeing the big picture, it looks like Martin could be mH instead of PS in that stretch. PS should work fine for local traffic starting or ending close to Martin Parkway (within 15km). If it's a regular commuter route with most traffic originating further away than that, a bump to mH would work better for them. It all depends on your origin/destination.

Gazoo4U wrote:So one of you L3+ should probably go ahead and bump it to a yellow line.

Martin Parkway has been upgraded to mH and the lock has been lowered to 2 for future edits.

davielde wrote:... so that they could use the "avoid major highways" option

By the way, I don't know if it changed in 3.7.8 or 3.8, but it is now labeled "avoid freeways". That's what it had previously functioned as with a misleading label.

anthogna wrote:Only issue is I'm afraid txemt would find out somehow...

Si.

I found a big red "HI"made from unnamed roads in Sterling Heights or somewhere close that he had left for sketch. It was there for over a year before anyone took notice... We're entitled to have fun every once in awhile.

Actually, can we talk about Martin Parkway (permalink)? It's pretty clear from the MDOT map that it really didn't get much consideration, if any (probably because it completed so close to when the maps were finalized.) Right now, Martin Rd is mH (inherited from prior life), and the Parkway is PS (because the MDOT map has it as a sketchy local road).

Right now, routing between Union Lake Rd and the M-5 N terminus (at Pontiac Trail) is still leaning on the Richardson/Haggerty/Pontiac Tr MHs, which of course have multiple traffic signals and single-line each direction. And yeah, this used to be the only way to go, but now you can route continuously through those three roundabouts on Martin Pkwy and be at Richardson or M-5 in about the same time.

When they do the next NFC review, I'm sure Martin Parkway is going to be bumped significantly (from local chickenscratch to at least mH, probably MH). Understanding that it would of course be inappropriate to go too far right now, I propose that we set the Parkway section to mH so that, at the very least, the Martin Pkwy/Martin Rd stretch is at least at the same level.

Am I crazy? Wait.. don't answer that. Does this seem agreeable to others?

Well, yes, that seems to cement in my mind that it wasn't even considered in the current NFCs, and probably couldn't have been.

Since there's not much on it (yet), my understanding of the primary use case is as a connector between M-5 < - > Commerce Township. My family who lives in that area (once they got over the roundabouts which was quite a feat in itself) consider it far superior to Pontiac Trail - Green Lake Rd even if it's slightly further of a drive (not that they notice this.)

I think what my argument boils down to is that Martin Rd is already classed as mH, and the Martin Rd- Martin Parkway combo is seen and used as a "northern extension of M-5" right now just because there aren't many local destinations for the Parkway to serve. So it seems to follow that, at least for consistency, if Martin Rd is mH, the Parkway should be mH as well. The local destinations/primary local use may come eventually, but even then it's probably not going to lose it's "connector" status in the driver population.

I'll admit though, there's one argument against upgrading that I've found so far - MDOT isn't looking at it (there's no Control Section that I can find to get traffic study data.)

SkiDooGuy wrote:

davielde wrote: If anyone upgraded an ex-girlfriend's street to freeway so that they could use the "avoid major highways" option

I'm sorry, I know that this isn't common practice. But I feel like this was a very under appreciated comment.

Gotta admit...first time I read that, I considered switching down to my secondary editing area and doing this to the segment my ex-wife's apartment complex is on just for a screenshot. Only issue is I'm afraid txemt would find out somehow...

anthogna wrote:Well, yes, that seems to cement in my mind that it wasn't even considered in the current NFCs, and probably couldn't have been.

Since there's not much on it (yet), my understanding of the primary use case is as a connector between M-5 < - > Commerce Township. My family who lives in that area (once they got over the roundabouts which was quite a feat in itself) consider it far superior to Pontiac Trail - Green Lake Rd even if it's slightly further of a drive (not that they notice this.)

A little research on my part shows that Oakland County has already requested and received an approval to the Feds that Martin Parkway be classified as NFC Minor Arterial (aka Minor Highway in Waze)

Meeting minutes: Oakland County Federal Aid Funding Committee-Feb 7th, 2012

TF-FC Minutes 2-7-2012 Page 2 of 5
RCOC NFC CLASSIFICATION REQUEST
RCOC requested approval from the committee to add the 1.28 mile newly constructed Martin Parkway as a Minor Arterial to the National Functional Classification (NFC) system. Martin Parkway is a county primary road under the jurisdiction of RCOC and located in Commerce Township.

Motion by Mr. Zoner, supported by Mr. Green, to approve the request to add Martin Parkway as a Minor Arterial to the National Functional Classification system.

Motion Carried.

So one of you L3+ should probably go ahead and bump it to a yellow line.