House Numbers on Service Roads Discussion View history

Service roads or frontage roads

Service Roads and Frontage Roads are often used interchangeably by Waze Users. Dictionaries even state that the quick definition of one is the other. A more formal definition is along the lines of a road that is parallel or near to a more significant road and that allows people to access local businesses and/or houses.

Please make sure that the Service Roads/Frontage Roads are set to the correct Functional Classification (FC) level. There are several items to consider:

  1. General USA guidance is found at Functional Classification
  2. Functional Classification map(s) from the local authorities (Department of Transportation, State Highway Administration, etc.) are preferred. [Often found on State wazeopedia pages.]
  3. Regional or State guidance, if applicable, will be listed on their respective Wazeopedia page.
  4. If the Service Road/Frontage Road is not listed in the FC map and there is no Regional/State guidance, then follow the guidance for Frontage Roads for Freeways/Expressways found at Frontage Road.
  5. If above items do not provide the appropriate guidance, then set the Road Type to be a Street.

Problems

Service and Frontage Roads often cause routing problems. Some of the more frequent routing problems are:

  1. Routing off the main road to the service road, and then back onto the main road.
  2. Being navigated to the main road for an address which is on the service rd. The address may not be reachable from the main rd, especially if there is a barrier between the roads. Additionally stopping may be dangerous or prohibited on the main rd.
  3. The address is not found in search since it is listed on the service road, but it should use the main street's address. This causes the search to use 3rd party results even if there is a confirmed HN in Waze, leading to routing issues.
  4. Drivers unknowingly taking the main road instead of the recommended service rd, and then being unable to make a recommended turn further down since they are on the main rd instead of the service rd. This results in Turn Not Allowed, Incorrect Junction, or Wrong Driving Directions URs.

Here is an example at Arlington Blvd in Northern Virginia. Reporter was unable to make the turn from Arlington Blvd to N Montague St because they did not follow the recommended route. The recommended route was the PL above. [Note: Editors need to make sure that the service road is labeled service road. Sometimes they are found labeled the same as the main road and Users don't understand to go to the service road. Users who turned on the main road and won't be able to make the subsequent turn.]

Solutions

Naming service/frontage roads

  1. To prevent routing detours and to ensure we trigger Big Detour Prevention,
    a. Keep the service road separated from the main rd at all points by at least one segment.
    b. The segment separating the main road from the service road DOES NOT have the main rd name as either the primary or alternate name. This can be achieved by having an unnamed segment or the name of an intersecting road.
    c. Check for any Bowties, or forks, where the main road connects directly to service road, a feeder road connects directly to both the main and service roads, or a slip road (entrance or exit) connecting between the service and main roads and eliminate any Best Continuation issues.
    d. In most cases these are best left as no-name segments.
  2. When adjusting for BDP also keep an eye out for any unintended Best Continuation issues, which would prevent the user from being given a prompt advising which road to turn on to.
  3. Test the routing after the tiles are built.
  4. To allow address matching in search, and proper House Number routing, ensure that the main road name is added to all the service road segments as an alternate name.

House numbers on service/frontage roads

Nudging all the HNs a bit to move the anchor point to the service road vice the main road has 2 benefits:

  1. Confirm HNs to give them routing priority over 3rd party sources
  2. Confirm HNs to snap the stop point to the service road.

Don't forget to test the routing after the tiles are built


Step by step procedure to put house numbers on service/frontage roads

  • Starting with HNs on the [Main St]
  • Temporarily name the service road with the [Main St] as the primary road name. (No Service Rd in the primary name)
  • Save the road name change
  • Edit HNs by moving each applicable HN from the real Main St to the Service Road
Moving 4723 2nd from top right



  • Save the HNs
  • Change the Service Road's primary name to "[Main St] Service Rd"
  • Add an alternate name of "[Main St]" to the Service Rd
  • Save the road name change
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