Wikipedia:Manual of Style (U.S. state and territory highways)

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This page documents an English Wikipedia naming convention. It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though it is best treated with common sense and the occasional exception. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

Shortcut: WP:USSH

This Manual of Style is intended to standardize the naming formats used in the articles for state highways in the United States. This guideline excludes U.S. Highways and Interstate Highways.

This guide is also supplemented by individual state highway WikiProjects (please see WP:USRD for a list).

Contents 1 Article titles and mainspace naming 1.1 Footnotes 2 Creation of redirects 3 Bolded text 4 Linking 5 Infobox and junction tables 6 No mass moving of pages

[edit] Article titles and mainspace naming

Each state has two formats - official name and article title - which can be equivalent. The official name is the format typically used by the state department of transportation (DOT) or the general public, while the article title is a disambiguated form if necessary.

State/Territory/District	Official name	Article title
Alabama	State Route X	Alabama State Route X
Alaska	Alaska Route X	Alaska Route X[1]
American Samoa	American Samoa Highway X	American Samoa Highway X
Arizona	State Route X	Arizona State Route X
Arkansas	Highway X	Arkansas Highway X
California	State Route X	California State Route X
Colorado	State Highway X	Colorado State Highway X
Connecticut	Route X	Connecticut Route X
Delaware	Delaware Route X	Delaware Route X
District of Columbia	District of Columbia Route X	District of Columbia Route X
Florida	State Road X	Florida State Road X
Georgia	State Route X	Georgia State Route X
Guam	Guam Highway X	Guam Highway X
Hawaii	Route X	Hawaii Route X
Idaho	State Highway X	Idaho State Highway X
Illinois	Illinois Route X	Illinois Route X
Indiana	State Road X	Indiana State Road X
Iowa	Iowa Highway X	Iowa Highway X
Kansas	K-X	K-X (Kansas highway)
Kentucky	Kentucky Route X	Kentucky Route X
Louisiana	Louisiana Highway X	Louisiana Highway X
Maine	State Route X	Maine State Route X
Maryland	Maryland Route X	Maryland Route X
Massachusetts	Route X	Massachusetts Route X
Michigan	M-X	M-X (Michigan highway)
Minnesota	Minnesota State Highway X	Minnesota State Highway X
Mississippi	Mississippi Highway X	Mississippi Highway X
Missouri	Route X	Missouri Route X
Montana	Montana Highway X	Montana Highway X
Nebraska	Nebraska Highway X	Nebraska Highway X
Nevada	State Route X	Nevada State Route X
New Hampshire	New Hampshire Route X	New Hampshire Route X
New Jersey	Route X	New Jersey Route X
New Mexico	State Road X	New Mexico State Road X
New York	New York State Route X	New York State Route X
North Carolina	NC X	North Carolina Highway X
North Dakota	North Dakota Highway X	North Dakota Highway X
Northern Mariana Islands	Northern Mariana Islands Highway X	Northern Mariana Islands Highway X
Ohio	State Route X	Ohio State Route X
Oklahoma	State Highway X	Oklahoma State Highway X
Oregon	Oregon Route X	Oregon Route X
Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania Route X	Pennsylvania Route X
Pennsylvania Quadrant	State Route XXXX	State Route XXXX (Y County, Pennsylvania)
Puerto Rico	PR-X	Puerto Rico Highway X
Rhode Island	Route X	Rhode Island Route X
South Carolina	South Carolina Highway X	South Carolina Highway X
South Dakota	Highway X	South Dakota Highway X
Tennessee	State Route X	Tennessee State Route X
Texas	State Highway X	Texas State Highway X
Utah	State Route X	Utah State Route X
U.S. Virgin Islands	U.S. Virgin Islands Highway X	U.S. Virgin Islands Highway X
Vermont	Vermont Route X	Vermont Route X
Virginia	State Route X	Virginia State Route X
Washington	State Route X	Washington State Route X
West Virginia	West Virginia Route X	West Virginia Route X
Wisconsin	Highway X	Wisconsin Highway X
Wyoming	Wyoming Highway X	Wyoming Highway X

The official name is to be used when writing about the road in an article; only use the article title in another article if the sentence would otherwise be ambiguous. Never use a colloquial title other than those listed above, unless you are mentioning that it exists in the article.

Official nicknames for highways (i.e. Golden State Freeway, Tri-State Tollway, New Jersey Turnpike) may be used if the DOT uses it. However, colloquial names such as The Loneliest Road should not be used.

[edit] Footnotes

1. ^ Named highways are at <name of road> Highway.

[edit] Creation of redirects

Redirects from the official name (as indicated in the above linked lists) to the article should be created at the same time a new state highway article is created. Redirects from the official name are of the form <Official name> <route number>. Often, the official name is ambiguous and will need to be disambiguated. Following standard Wikipedia disambiguation rules, the convention for disambiguation of an ambiguous official name is to follow the above format with the state name in parentheses, e.g. <Official name> <route number> (State name).

Lists to help you make these redirects are at Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Redirects.

[edit] Bolded text

When writing an article about a state highway, use the official name as indicated in the table above.

[edit] Linking

See also: Help:Pipe trick

When linking to a state highway article, be sure to use the official name, especially for the cases where the official name and article title are different. For these cases, use the redirect from the official name when creating links if the context is already established.

You can use the pipe trick to aid in forming a link. For instance, to link to the article with the title Florida State Road 50, type [[State Road 50 (Florida)|]] to get State Road 50. As long as the redirect from State Road 50 (Florida) to Florida State Road 50 exists, the link will be equivalent to typing [[Florida State Road 50|State Road 50]]. There is nothing wrong with linking to a redirect; do not "fix" these "pipe-tricked" links. This will ensure that articles are standardized but also not redundant.

Direct links using the article title can be used for situations where the context is not clear or for describing highways ending at state lines. For instance, one may be writing an article about roads through swampland in the United States and want to talk about SR 50 in Florida. In that case, you can write "The Cheney Highway, part of Florida State Road 50, crosses the St. Johns River swamp." Or you can word it differently: "The Cheney Highway, part of State Road 50, crosses the St. Johns River swamp in Florida."

[edit] Infobox and junction tables

The infobox should use the official name of the road, which is not necessarily the same as the article title. For the junction list, or for a ELG or junction list table, use a short form of the official name or an officially used abbreviation as the displayed text.

[edit] No mass moving of pages

Any edit(s) that is/are construed by an administrator as an attempt to change the naming convention of the highways of a state without consensus, such as mass-moving articles, is to be reverted, and the user is to be warned. Users that are obviously aware of this provision already (such as participants in this poll or the ArbCom case, or users that were previously warned) are to be blocked by an administrator.