Wikipedia:Featured list candidates/List of Interstate Highways in Michigan/archive1

List of Interstate Highways in Michigan

 * The following is an archived discussion of a featured list nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the article's talk page or in Wikipedia talk:Featured list candidates. No further edits should be made to this page.

The list was not promoted by SchroCat (talk) 08:10, 31 July 2014 (UTC).


 * Nominator(s):  Imzadi 1979  →   02:27, 4 June 2014 (UTC)

I present to you the list of Interstate Highways in Michigan. This is the first, of what I hope will be, a series of similar lists for the Michigan State Trunkline Highway System, and hopefully the first of several similar lists on highways in the U.S. The list used List of Interstate Highways in Texas as a starting point, but it uses specialized templates developed to implement WP:USRD/STDS/L, a project standard for lists of highways. We hope to use feedback from this nomination to improve both this list and the new list standard.  Imzadi 1979  →   02:27, 4 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Support - I reviewed this at the ACR and feel that it meets all the FLC criteria and sets a model for what highway lists should look like.  Dough 48  72  02:31, 4 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Comment I like it a lot, but a question: In the table cell for I-75, it says "only highway on both Upper & Lower peninsulas, only freeway in the Upper Peninsula". What is the difference between a highway and a freeway? To me they've been synonymous. If that's the case, then the first distinction is unnecessary. --Golbez (talk) 17:21, 20 June 2014 (UTC)
 * The term freeway refers specifically to a controlled-access highway. -happy5214 18:18, 20 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Perhaps a wikilink might help... --Rschen7754 18:32, 20 June 2014 (UTC)
 * The term freeway is linked in the Description section, which explains the specific requirements to be an Interstate Highway.  Imzadi 1979  →   01:18, 21 June 2014 (UTC)
 * This doesn't explain the difference between "freeway" and "highway", though, and it just says "highway," it doesn't specify "Interstate Highway". I hope you see my confusion here, as someone who grew up with freeway and highway being completely synonymous, that maybe there's a better way of describing this. Maybe say "The only freeway in both peninsulas, and the only interstate highway in the UP"? --Golbez (talk) 16:28, 23 June 2014 (UTC)
 * except that "highway" and "freeway" are not synonymous. There are three concepts at work here. An "Interstate Highway" (yes, the capitalization matters), is a type of freeway, but not all freeways are Interstates. A freeway is a specific type of highway, one with full control of access (meaning traffic can only enter at specified junctions and adjacent property owners cannot build driveways to access the highway) and grade-separated junctions (meaning that intersecting roads pass over or under the freeway on a different grade, or level). Beyond that, to be an Interstate, the freeway has to meet specific criteria for lane widths, shoulders, etc and it has to be numbered as part of the Interstate Highway System. Michigan has several freeways that aren't Interstates, some of which are constructed to Interstate Highway standards, some that are not. In short, if you were to draw a Venn diagram of the concepts, "highway" is a big circle, "freeway is a smaller circle within that, and "Interstate Highway" is within that, like the rings of a bullseye. In any case, I-75 is the only highway of any kind to traverse a route on both peninsulas, and as a result it is the longest in the state, again of any type. It is also the only freeway in the UP; the divided-highway sections of US 41/M-28 and US 2/US 41 are not freeways.  Imzadi 1979  →   23:55, 23 June 2014 (UTC)
 * "except that "highway" and "freeway" are not synonymous." Except that I don't think I'm alone in thinking they are. It's perhaps a regionalism, or a distinction that I never really learned. I'm not saying they aren't; I'm saying, to many (most?) people, they are. It seems easiest to link to definitions, or be more specific as to what you mean by freeway and highway, like perhaps specifying controlled-access. Otherwise I suspect this question will continue to come up and you'll continue to have to answer it. --Golbez (talk) 05:26, 24 June 2014 (UTC)
 * it's not a regionalism; it's a matter of definition. Rather than continue an intractable argument, I've added two redundant links to the notes. However, if someone complains about overlinking, I may have to remove them.  Imzadi 1979  →   06:41, 24 June 2014 (UTC)
 * I don't mean the distinction between "freeway" and "highway" is a regionalism; I'm saying, growing up thinking they're the same, and using one or the other, is. It's easy to find dialect maps online with the question "Do you call it a freeway or a highway?" I'm not trying to be obtuse, I'm just saying, if it's confusing to me, it's likely confusing to others. Thank you. --Golbez (talk) 13:18, 24 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Also, another comment... this probably goes to project standards but it's just something I thought of so I'll put it here. It seems to me that it would be very useful for the auxiliary highways to include in the notes or another column what their purpose is, or at least their metro area. Looking at that list, I could not tell which are beltways around Detroit. Or bypasses. Or spurs. So, for example, I might include that 194 is a connector to Battle Creek; 196 is a spur to link 94 and 96; 275 is in the Detroit area; etc. --Golbez (talk) 17:29, 20 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Added, thanks for the suggestion. As I've noted above, our project standards are going to be refined by this and future FLCs.  Imzadi 1979  →   01:18, 21 June 2014 (UTC)
 * any final verdict on your support or opposition?  Imzadi 1979  →   22:08, 24 June 2014 (UTC)
 * Comment—I will be out of town until July 1. Any comments requiring attention will be addressed after that time.  Imzadi 1979  →   10:59, 27 June 2014 (UTC)

– SchroCat (talk) 08:10, 31 July 2014 (UTC)
 * The above discussion is preserved as an archive. Please do not modify it. No further edits should be made to this page.