An exception currently to the USA Roads standard is North Carolina state highways. North Carolina has numbered state highways from Controlled Access Freeways down to Alleys. Because of this, North Carolina strictly uses Functional Classification to set road types for state highways and below.
Road Names
See Road types for general rules where North Carolina does not specifically differ.
See Military_Bases for a complete list of rules for mapping on Military Bases.
North Carolina has two classes of state funded roads, Primary State Highways, and Secondary Roads (aka State Rte or Road). Please carefully observe the following naming formats for roads in these categories.
Primary State Highways
 |
State Highways are numbers under 1000 (1-3 digits) and bear the NC diamond shield.
These roads should be named "NC-###" |
Secondary Roads (aka State Rte or Road)
Secondary Roads are route numbers of 1000 or greater (four digits or more).
- These Roads are not signed with shields. Regular green or white road signs are most commonly used to designate secondary roads.
- On green signs, the prefix "SR" should precede the road number.
- On white signs (commonly attached to stop signs), it will just have the road number. (See pictures above)
- On green signs, the prefix "SR" should precede the road number.
- These roads should be named "SR-####" Use a single hyphen and no spaces between SR and the road number.
- These names are typically used as Alternate Road names, along with Primary names which match local road signage.
- SR numbers can be found using the NCDOT Secondary Roads Database Lookup.
NOTE: North Carolina does not use County Road numbers. If found, these should be updated to the Secondary Road format
Road Function Class
See Road types as a general rule.
We have also incorporated the NC Functional Class Map into are road classification system:
This should be the first step in determining how a road should be type. The list below are minimums (e.g. a State Highway would be at a minimum a minor highway. It could also be a major highway or freeway depending on functional class)
- Freeway - Interstates and all other roads with no at grade intersections.
- Major Highway - US Highways, Interstates that have at grade intersections.
- Minor Highway - State Highways, US Business Highways.
- Primary Street - State Business Highways.
If the road is not defined as one of the above then please use the functional class to determine what type to qualify the road as.
Using the NC Functional Class Map: The NC Functional Class Map is divided into 9 road type classifications. Most road classifications will minimally be defined by the above criteria. For all other roads that do not fit into that criteria, please use the references below:
Functional Class Type - Waze Type
- Interstate - Freeway
- Other Freeway - Freeway
- Other Principal Arterial - Major Highway
- Minor Arterial - Minor Highway
- Major Collector - Primary Street
- Minor Collector - Primary Street
- Local - Street
Contact the Area Manager or State Manager if you feel there is an exception to these rules. Consistency is key. Do not change a road type for routing sake or to make it appear on the map at a higher speed. Also, do not switch road types every few segments just because the functional class does (Contact the AM or SM for help).
Function Class Quick Reference Chart
Refer to this chart to determine the road type of a given paved public road based on the North Carolina functional class.
To use this chart, first determine the functional class of a road, and whether it is a signed, numbered highway in a particular highway system.
Where the column for the road's highway system and the row for the road's North Carolina functional class meet, you will find the proper road type for that particular road.
A number of examples are given below the chart.
| Highway Systems | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Interstate |
Interstate Business Loop/Spur |  US Hwy |
US Hwy BUS, SPUR, LOOP | State Hwy (incl. some special routes) |
State Hwy BUS, SPUR[a], LOOP | Locally-maintained | ||
| example | I-95 N | I-95 Business | US-301 | US-301 Business | NC-87 | NC-87 Business | Robertson St | |
| N C F u n c t i o n a l C l a s s |
Interstate[b] | Fw | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Other Freeway[c] | n/a | Fw | Fw | Fw | Fw | Fw | Fw | |
| Other Principal Arterial[d] | n/a | Major | Major | Major | Major | Major | Major | |
| Minor Arterial[e] | n/a | Major | Major | Minor | Minor | Minor | Minor | |
| Major Collector | n/a | Major | Major | Minor | Minor | PS | PS | |
| Minor Collector | n/a | Major | Major | Minor | Minor | PS | PS | |
| Local/not mapped | n/a | Major | Major | Minor | Minor | PS | Street | |
^a When a state highway "SPUR" route is used to connect a state highway with another state highway, a US highway, or an Interstate (i.e., when it is used as a connector/CONN route), use the first state highway column.
^b Also known as Principal Arterial - Interstate.
^c Also known as Principal Arterial - Freeway.
^d Also known as Principal Arterial.
^e Also known as Other Arterial.
For example,
- An Interstate Business Loop classified as a Minor Arterial is a Major Highway .
- A US Highway classified as a Minor Arterial is a Major Highway .
- A US Highway Spur route classified as a Minor Arterial is a Minor Highway .
- A State Highway classified as an Other Freeway is a Freeway .
- A State Highway classified as a Collector is a Minor Highway .
- A locally-maintained road classified as an Other Principal Arterial is a Major Highway .
- A locally-maintained road classified as a Collector is a Primary Street .
| Fw | Freeway |
| Major | Major Highway |
| Minor | Minor Highway |
| PS | Primary Street |
| Street | Street |
Speed Limits
See Speed limits as a general rule.
Do not assume! - Know the correct speed limit for a segment before setting a speed limit.
If you do not know the speed limit for a segment leave it blank. It is safer to not set a speed limit then to get it wrong.
North Carolina statutory speed limit laws are:
- Within municipal corporate limits is 35 MPH unless otherwise posted.
- Outside municipal corporate limits is 55 MPH unless otherwise posted.
- Military Installations is 30 MPH unless otherwise posted.
- Interstates (Freeways) all have posted speed limits and a maximum of 70 MPH.
| Function Class | Status |
| Freeway | 100% |
| Major Highway | 100% |
| Minor Highway | 100% |
| Primary Street | 99.3% |
| Street | 26.6% |
| USA Score | 98.5% |
| USA Rank | 10 |
| Updated | 2018-08-13 |
Road Locking
In ABelter we have a set minimum standard for locking roads based on segment type. Any road of a certain segment type must be locked at least to the rank (level) in the chart below. Roads may be locked higher for protection and special situations (areas with construction, tricky design, frequent mistakes, imaging inaccuracies, and the like), but should not be locked lower.
A great time to implement these locks is while bringing the road types of an area into compliance with the current US road type standards (FC and highway systems). Lock the roads based on type after they've been set to current US road type standards.
| Segment Type | Statewide |
|---|---|
| Freeway | 5 |
| Ramp | Highest rank of connected segment |
| Major Highway | 4 |
| Minor Highway | 3 |
| Primary Street | 2 |
| Street | 1 |
| • • • • Ferry • • • • | 5 |
| |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| Railroad |-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-|-| | 2 |
Note: Certain areas may be locked higher than the above minimums. Please do not lower locks unless approved by the RC or SM of ABelter.
Road Elevation
In general, North Carolina only follows “True Elevation” to the extent that negative elevations should only be used for tunnels, and does not follow “Seagull” elevation rules, with some exceptions as described below. This is due in part to issues experienced with exceptionally short segments, and to our state’s unique closures system, where most closures are handled by editors instead of Waze Partners.
General Principles:
- Drivable and non-drivable segments are handled the same way with elevation.
- Set elevation to Ground in most cases.
- Only segments passing over other segments shall have higher elevation, relative to ground.
- The entire segment should be elevated between existing junctions with other segments.
- Do not cut segments at the start/end of a bridge (see exceptions below).
- Do not increase elevation on segments passing over water or any other bridge that does not cross other segments (see exceptions below).
- Elevation of overlapping segments should be set relative to each other, with the lowest segment as Ground (unless a tunnel).
- Only set elevation as low/high as necessary (i.e. only set elevation to 2 if passing over a segment set to 1)
- Only tunnel segments should have negative elevation.
Exceptions, to allow for proper closure placement:
- If a navigable destination (i.e. house number or place entry point) exists on a segment that would be elevated, the segment should be cut at the start/end of the bridge/actual elevated portion (unless another junction is located within 60m/200ft).
- Bridges over water on rural, two-way segments [may/should] be mapped with cuts at the start/end of the bridge (unless another junction is located within 60m/200ft), and the elevation raised by 1 to suppress “unneeded junction” warnings from scripts.
Reminders:
- If you use the Bridge tool to join segments, be aware that it raises the elevation of the joined segment. Lower the joined segment as appropriate.
- Tunnels should be cut at least 15m/50ft before and after the tunnel, to allow time for the GPS to regain signal, and must have the “Tunnel” checkbox selected in addition to negative elevation.
Examples:
NC Update Requests Proposal
North Carolina follows the national guidance for Update Requests (URs). We encourage editors to use their best discretion when handling URs, particularly with regards to timing of responses, the use of reminder messages, and team handling.
Best Practices:
- Most editors in North Carolina follow the 1-4-8 open-reminder-close timeline for handling URs (sometimes referred to as 0-3-7), where an initial response is sent on Day 1 (with a goal of responding within 24 hours of receiving the UR), an optional reminder message is sent on Day 4 if no response is received (3 days after the UR is received) , and finally the UR closed on Day 8 if no further response is received (7 days after the UR is received, and at least 3 days after the last reminder or response is received).
- It is best practice to allow reporters 3 days to respond to any reply sent, even if this exceeds the typical 7-day close timeline.
- Reminder messages are discretionary in North Carolina. Most NC editors use them for the majority of URs, but there is no mandate to do so.
- Team handling is encouraged but not mandated in North Carolina. We encourage editors to become familiar with and build a rapport with their fellow NC editors, in particular Area Managers and State Managers, so that you are on the same page regarding UR handling methods and preferences, such as sending reminder messages on another editor's UR. If another editor has firsthand knowledge of the issue and can make the necessary corrections to the map to solve the reported issue, they are free to do so.
- The use of standardized comments such as those found in the URComments-Enhanced script may be beneficial, particularly to editors handling URs for the first time; however, there is no standardized list for NC or SAT, nor is there a mandate to use standardized comments of any form. NC editors are encouraged to tailor their responses to the specifics of the UR in question, which can lead to better response rates from reporters.