Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Newsletter/Issues/Volume01/Issue02

{| width="100%"  The U.S. Roads WikiProject  Newsletter
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 * width=33% style="border: 1px gray solid; padding: 0.5em; vertical-align: top;" align="left" | Volume 1, Issue 2 || width=33% style="border: 1px gray solid; padding: 0.5em;  vertical-align: top;" align ="center" | 24 February 2007 || width=33% style="border: 1px gray solid; padding: 0.5em;  vertical-align: top;" align="right" | About the Newsletter
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Introduction
The distribution problems present two weeks ago have been fixed and the structure of the newsletter has been expanded slightly. In this issue, the trio of deletion discussions have been closed, a new channel for road discussion has been turned on, and the Good Article family gets an addition. Also featured are the subproject of the month, New Jersey State and County Routes, and the member of the month, Master son.

As more time has been spent on this edition, we hope that you enjoy it.
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Notability of state highways is upheld

 * By TwinsMetsFan

The AFD nominations of County Route 66 (Dutchess County, New York), Minnesota State Highway 127 and Pennsylvania Route 999 were closed on February 11 with a consensus to keep present on all three. Along with the speedy keep of Good Article California State Route 37 on February 8, the closed AFDs, by their collective result, affirmed that state highways are notable. The results of these debates mirrored those of the prior two state highway-related debates for Minnesota State Highway 91 and New York State Route 365, both of which showed an overwhelming consensus to keep.

In response to the recent upsurge in road-related deletion discussions, the Article Improvement Drive was created to improve and expand existing U.S. road articles. MN 127 was selected as the AID's article to expand while Ridge Route, a featured article that is mired in the removal process as of this writing, was named the AID's article for improvement.

For more on the new AID, see below.
 * Sources: WikiProject U.S. Roads/Precedents, Articles for deletion/Pennsylvania Route 999, Articles for deletion/California State Route 37, Articles for deletion/Minnesota State Highway 127, Articles for deletion/County Route 66 (Dutchess County, New York), U.S. Roads Article Improvement Drive


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Project news
As mentioned above, the swell in road-related deletion debates has resulted in the establishment of an Article Improvement Drive dedicated to U.S. roads. Every week, two articles will be selected (one for expansion, one for improvement) as the AID articles for that week. The ultimate goal is to improve the articles to the point where they can be considered for Featured Article status. Nominations for articles and votes for the articles are continually accepted at WP:USRD/AID.

No new state highway projects were created in the past two weeks.

General reminders

 * Ridge Route is in imminent danger of being de-featured. Please help edit it.
 * Anyone interested in Tennessee highways is encouraged to start a state highway WikiProject for Tennessee.


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Deletion debates

 * An archive of all previous debates.

At CFD, the category State highways shorter than one mile was deleted and turned into a list (List of state highways in the United States shorter than one mile). Please help improve the appearance and quality of this list.

At TFD, the template 3diUS, an old infobox for three-digit U.S. routes that is now deprecated and made obsolete by Template:Infobox U.S. Route, was deleted.
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Member news
Let's give these new users a welcome!


 * Bdj95 joined WP:IH and WP:USRD on February 17.
 * TSayles joined WP:WASH on February 19th.
 * Ravensfan5252 joined WP:MDSH and WP:USRD on February 21.
 * Cascadia joined WP:WASH on February 11.
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Featured subproject: New Jersey
In this issue, we shine a light on the New Jersey State and County Routes WikiProject, created on 29 June 2006. The project has written articles on every state highway in New Jersey and has written articles on most of the county routes (which, in New Jersey, are statewide) in the state. The project has had a healthy output since its inception, including the production of Interstate 295 (Delaware-New Jersey), a Good Article. Here's to continued success!

Know of a subproject that has gone above and beyond the call of duty? Nominate it at WP:USRD/NEWS. Please note: projects cannot be nominated more than once a year.
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Featured member: Master son
 master_son  Lets talk has been a Wikipedia editor since April 20, 2006. He currently has over 4750 edits and is a member of the WP:USRD, WP:MNSH, WP:ILSR, WP:NESH, and WP:RIR, as well as WikiProject Linux. He is also the founder of WP:WIH, WP:IASH, and WP:NVSH.

Currently, Master_son is one of the most influential members of the U.S. Roads WikiProject. He has been influential in many tasks, such as assessment, maps, infoboxes, and is also an active member of the new IRC channel #wikipedia-en-roads-us.

Thank you, Master son, for your continued hard work!

Nominations are being taken currently at WP:USRD/NEWS for the next featured member. The editors cannot be nominated at this time, and you may only be nominated once a year.


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Kansas Turnpike is now a Good Article

 * By TwinsMetsFan and Rschen7754

Kansas Turnpike, the featured article of the U.S. roads portal in May 2006, became the fifth U.S. road-related Good Article on February 17. The article, nominated for Good Article status on January 18, is the first of the five Good Articles to depict a tolled highway.

Along with the Featured Article Pulaski Skyway, Kansas Turnpike becomes the sixth U.S. road article to be elevated past B-class and the eighth to be recognized as a Featured or Good Article at some point.

The Kansas Turnpike is a tolled freeway that lies entirely within the U.S. state of Kansas. It runs in a general southwest-northeast direction from the Oklahoma border south of Wichita via Wichita, Topeka, and Lawrence to Kansas City, Kansas. The Turnpike is owned and maintained by the Kansas Turnpike Authority (KTA), headquartered in Wichita.


 * Sources: [ Wikipedia diff], Talk:Kansas Turnpike, Category:GA-Class U.S. road transport articles, Category:FA-Class U.S. road transport articles, Kansas Turnpike


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U.S. Roads IRC channel created

 * By Vishwin60, TwinsMetsFan, and Rschen7754

To centralize off-wiki discussions regarding U.S. roads, an IRC channel dedicated to U.S. roads was recently created at #wikipedia-en-roads-us. Feel free to join the chat and discuss topics pertaining to WP:USRD, its subprojects, and state highway WikiProjects. For instructions on how to use or connect to IRC, or how to join the chat, see WP:IRC.

Currently, this channel has helped in the discussion of important issues related to the roads project as well as in reminders for those involved. It can be stated that the entire project has been made more efficient by the creation of this channel.


 * Sources: #wikipedia-en-roads-us, WP:USRD


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Infoboxes and Navigation subproject started

 * By TwinsMetsFan

After several scattered discussions regarding standards for infoboxes and browsing, a subproject devoted to infoboxes and navigation was created on January 15. Following a month of idea collection, the pages outlining standards for the subproject were drawn up on February 11.

If accepted, the subproject would set a standard for the design, appearance, and maintenance of all infoboxes on articles under the scope of WP:USRD. Additionally, the project would also outline standards for the browsing order across the USRD umbrella.

The pages are currently in the process of gaining consensus. Your input is needed and desired.


 * Sources: Infobox standards page, Navigation standards page


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From the Editors
As always, your feedback on the content and format of this newsletter is greatly desired. With your help, we can make the newsletter better and more informative! Don't be afraid to comment!

Lastly, remember that this is your newsletter and you can be involved in the creation of the next issue released on March 10. Any and all contributions are welcome. Simply let yourself be known to any of the undersigned, or just start editing!
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Contributors to this Issue

 * Rschen7754 (Editor, Distributor)
 * Vishwin60 (Editor)
 * TwinsMetsFan (editor, distributor)
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