Rhode Island/Special roads/Main Discussion View history

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New England roads

Good luck!

As with most New England states, Rhode Island was not blessed with a planned road system, so many roads and intersections can appear confusing and down-right strange. If you come across such a conundrum, please contact your Area or State Manager on how to handle these situations before trying to edit them.

Below are just some of the unique road situations you may find in Rhode Island.

Border Roads

It is common for some roads to straddle the border between towns, such that the houses on one side belong to one town, while houses on the other side belong to a different town. In these cases, all road segments that contain HNs with two different town address should have both towns listed on those segments, with the town containing the majority of the segment listed as the primary town name.

New England Y

One particular type of intersection crops up a lot in Rhode Island and other New England States: the New England Y. These intersections involve one road terminating in the middle of another road. Normally, this would be a standard T-intersection, but in New England, they are often given a Y-intersection instead. Not only that, but both arms of the Y-intersection typically allow for two-way traffic, making for some rather confusing traffic patterns.

Turns on a New England Y-intersection (click to see animation)

In the interest of maintaining Wazer sanity, you should disable all inward turns on the Y-intersection, even if there is no specific signage restricting these turns. Inward turns are turns that take the driver back along the edge of the triangle formed by the Y-intersection, as shown in the figure on the right.

The only exception to this is when there is a house or business driveway located on the triangle. In these cases, a single inward turn towards that address should be allowed to ensure Wazers can get there successfully from all possible directions without having to u-turn farther down the road and approach from the "correct" direction.