Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Blog/February 2009

U.S. Transport article featured on main page
While not part of the USRD wikiproject, Hours of service, a U.S. roads related article, will be the featured article on February 26th. The author, User:ErgoSum88, has helped on several USRD articles, notably Interstate 70 in Colorado and Interstate 70 in Utah and Dinosaur Diamond Scenic Byway. Congratulations! Dave (talk) 22:54, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

Wildfires in Oklahoma cause closure of I-35
Wildfires have broken out throughout Oklahoma due to warm, windy conditions, and in McClain County in central Oklahoma, they have forced the closure of part of I-35, causing traffic to be diverted around the fire. Source - Algorerhythms (talk) 19:56, 24 February 2009 (UTC)

New contest: the USRD Road Trip
We have a new USRD contest starting soon for those of you eliminated from the Cup after round one (and that you can apply your Cup round two improvements to if you're still in it!). The USRD Road Trip will involve expanding articles to B-Class in cities throughout the United States. Signups are now open and the game will begin on at 0 UTC on February 17. —Scott5114↗ [EXACT CHANGE ONLY] 03:01, 9 February 2009 (UTC)

Leaderboard for 8 February
Oklahoma has moved up past Guam and New Jersey has been added to the leaderboard, thus eliminating Washington out of the top ten; Arizona, Guam, New Jersey and D.C. have not lost any points, Michigan has lost four thousanths of a point, Utah gained twenty-three thousnaths of a point, New York lost thirty-six thousanths of a point, Connecticut has lost three thousanths of a point and Oklahoma lost thirty-seven thousanths of a point. Now, here's the condensed leaderboard (if you want the full version of the board just head on over to WP:USRD/A/S): – CG 18:06, 8 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Non-states should probably not be in the leaderboard. --Rschen7754 (T C) 19:51, 8 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Rschen, I think you meant to say "thanks for doing this ComputerGuy". Dave (talk) 20:23, 8 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Okay, no more non-states next time and thanks Dave. – CG 21:06, 8 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Don't get me wrong, I do appreciate somebody doing this every month. I'm just making a suggestion. --Rschen7754 (T C) 21:59, 8 February 2009 (UTC)

Featured member for February
The featured member for February is Juliancolton.

Julian has been active in Wikipedia as an administrator, and member of both the U.S. Roads Wikiproject and WikiProject Tropical cyclones. Julian has a number of articles for both projects that he has improved to GA or FA status, as well as active in several review processes, vandalism reverting and various administrator functions. Julian joined wikipedia in June 2006 and began work on USRD articles in early 2008. Thanks for the hard work!

The featured member for March is now being discussed, if you want to nominate someone for featured member, head on over to WT:USRD/B.

Construction to start in Norman, Okla.
VMS signage along Interstate 35 around Norman, Oklahoma indicates that the long-awaited I-35 reconstruction and expansion project will begin on February 15. I-35 is currently four lanes through Norman, the third largest city in the state and home to the University of Oklahoma. The project will eventually add a third lane in each direction.

The first phase of this project will begin at Main Street and continue north to US-77. Also, as part of this project, a new overpass will be added to bring Rock Creek Road over the interstate. The second phase will focus on the interstate south of Main Street, continuing to the McClain County line. This section of interstate is arguably the most crucial, including the Main Street, SH-74A (Lindsey Street) and SH-9 east interchanges. SH-74A is the departure point for OU football traffic. Bridges along this stretch will be rebuilt, and the SH-9 and SH-74A interchange complex will be rebuilt to reduce weaving. The Main Street interchange, currently a cloverleaf, will be rebuilt as either a diamond interchange or a SPUI.

Due to the low capacity of the current interstate, the work may result in serious delays. Good alternatives to the highway include 24th Avenue West to US-77 (Flood Avenue) and 48th Avenue West from Main Street north. Another alternative is SH-77H, which carries traffic from the east side of Norman all the way to I-240. —Scott5114↗ [EXACT CHANGE ONLY] 22:40, 4 February 2009 (UTC)


 * Oh great! Finally, at least one DOT is going ahead with a major project. I'm going to Oklahoma soon, so horray! I might see some construction progress! – CG 01:29, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

County challenge is officially over!
We have a winner! The official County Challenge winner is User:Dough4872, who did all 21 counties in the state of New Jersey! Congratulations! Mitch 32 ( Go Syracuse ) 20:59, 4 February 2009 (UTC)
 * Congrats Dough! Hey, Mitch, could you preserve the page as a historical reference? How about another one, maybe even harder, in the future or a chance for others to still win 2nd place, 3rd place, etc? – CG 01:17, 5 February 2009 (UTC)

Article promotions
The following articles have been promoted to GA, GT, A, FL, FA or GT status in February. Please take the time to read these newly-promoted quality articles and congratulate those that worked to improve the article: