User:Floydian/Writing a highway article

This mostly applies to Ontario with regard to sources, but you can probably adapt this to any road article.


 * This guide assumes:
 * {| class=wikitable


 * style="display:inline:block;"|
 * The road is notable, full stop. If you find yourself trying to justify, in your mind, the mere existence of the article you are about to write being questionable: Get outside opinions; or, don't bother. You will probably have a hell of a time finding any secondary sources.
 * The road was at some point given a designation that consistently put it on a map, of some kind, throughout its existence. (i.e. you can produce a map for the first year after it came into existence, and one for the final year... give or take).
 * You are competent, willing and able (see also: Pinball Wizard).
 * You are familiar with Wikipedia; sourcing, templates, and dealing with those who are incompetent.
 * You are either familiar with the road you are covering, or well-versed in transportation matters in the region it travels through.
 * }
 * These steps are written as I (Floydian) write Ontario Highway 29, a former Ontario highway.

Step 1 – Basic template
 * Start by copying the infobox and the first paragraph of an article that covers a nearby road/highway. Ideally this would be a well-written article with everything filled out, possibly one you can use as a guide for building yours! For this article, I used Ontario Highway 42, which I wrote about many years ago, and which connects to Highway 29. At the very least, copy an infobox from an article in the same state/province, of the same type of road (county, highway, etc).
 * Get a basic grasp of the road you are writing about, geographically. In my case, I know the rough idea of where Highway29 went... It connected Brockville in the south with Smiths Falls in the north. It went further north to Arnprior once upon a time.

Step 2 – First references
 * Write out your map reference(s). At the very least, you have a near-present map that you can use in tandem with Google Maps, and an older map if needed, that can verify the subject route as close to it's present or most-recent course.
 * Determine which counties and townships the route travelled through. Measure out lengths and become as familiar as possible with the route. Reference these to a map or atlas, since Google can be picky with showing county lines. For Ontario, learn which geographic townships the route travelled through. Highway assumption and reversion logs generally indicate a length and a county/township – Match those lengths using a combination of Google Earth, old county atlases, and topographic maps if possible.

Step 3 – Deeper research
 * What counties did the highway travel through? Look up the county name plus "municipalities" to find the current layout of locations.
 * Newspapers.com – even without a subscription you can search. Many fellow editors have subscriptions and will be happy to help!
 * ProQuest – Your local library may give you access to digitised local newspaper archives.
 * Google News – It's fucked now, don't waste your time
 * Archives.org – More on this site later...