Wikipedia:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Newsletter/Newsroom/Issue2-6

Issue #6 (09/08/2008)
Publication deadline: 12 PM Pacific-3 PM Eastern on September 8.

Please sign up for what you want to write. Have it done by the publication deadline.

Introduction

 * Editor: ComputerGuy890100

Both August and July were slow months for USRD, and many of the only achivements were the 100 GA's and 10,000 articles, which were both in the last issue.

This newsletter is covering both July and August because of the last issue's late publication. We are sorry for the delay, but our September issue will be published back on schedule.

Feature 1: Earthquake causes gap in freeway

 * Editor: ComputerGuy890100

On July 29 at 11:42:15 am PST (18:42:15 UTC), an earthquake, now named the 2008 Chino Hills earthquake, struck Southern California. The quake caused a portion of California State Route 91 to split and open a small gap on the freeway in Anaheim Hills, approximately 7 miles from the epicenter in Chino Hills. The California Department of Transportation said that the gap is minor and does not pose a danger for drivers. There was also a landslide caused by the earthquake in the same area near California State Route 91.

Source:

Feature 2: New York subproject appears on the Wikipedia Signpost

 * Editor: ComputerGuy890100

On the August 9, 2008 edition of the Wikipedia Signpost, WikiProject New York state routes appeared as the WikiProject report. User:Mitchazenia was interviewed by User:Shoemaker's Holiday about the recent 5 FAs and featured topic. This is the first time WP:USRD or any subproject appeared on the Wikipedia Signpost's WikiProject report.

Source: Wikipedia Signpost/2008-08-09/WikiProject report

Feature 3: New York State Routes leaves jurisdiction of USRD

 * Editor: CountyLemonade

The New York State Routes Wikiproject (NYSR) has seceded from its parent project, USRD. A member of the project, Mitchazenia, states that, "[The] project has enough to sustain itself, and has much more room to grow." The secession occurred 1 September. The Newsletter wishes to take a neutral stance in the issue and therefore will not endorse any specific view or person.

Source: WT:USRD

Project news

 * Nominations and votes are needed for September's selected article and selected picture.
 * The creation of new state highway subprojects are strongly discouraged. Instead, consider helping to fix the five projects currently demoted to task forces - Alabama, Kansas, Louisiana, Nevada, and South Carolina.
 * Utah was promoted after the activity level increased.
 * There are only 146 articles above Good Article status within the scope of WikiProject U.S. Roads, only 1.4% of all assessed articles. Meanwhile, there are about 6110 stubs - almost two-thirds of all assessed articles. Please help improve the articles!
 * Please help get a few articles up to A-Class at USRD's A-Class review! We need your help!

State updates
Write the updates below. If signatures are present, remove them before adding to the newsletter.

WP:MDRD: List of numbered highways in Maryland became a featured list on July 21. Maryland Route 36 became an A-class article on August 5, and became a featured article on August 29. U.S. Route 40 Alternate (Keyser's Ridge-Cumberland) became a GA on August 27.

WP:MISH: M-28 (Michigan highway) became a featured article and M-28 Business (Ishpeming-Negaunee, Michigan) became a Good Article on August 14. M-107 (Michigan highway) and M-28 Business (Ishpeming–Negaunee, Michigan) were promoted to A-Class on August 27 and September 4 respectively. M-185 (Michigan highway) is up for a more collaborative ACR seeking opinions and resource ideas for expansion and improvement in addition to promotion. M-553 (Michigan highway) and M-554 (Michigan highway) passed and became GAs on August 27. M-95 (Michigan highway), U.S. Route 41 in Michigan and M-94 (Michigan highway) passed as GAs on August 31, September 6 and September 7, respectively, completing the Marquette County GA drive.

WP:IH: Interstate 82 was promoted to GA status on September 6.

WP:ORSH: Interstate 82 was promoted to GA status on September 6.

WP:UTSH: Featured Articles: U.S. Route 491 passed its FA and A-Class reviews (August 5 [ACR] and 16 [FA]). A-Class Review: SR-128 passed on July 29. SR-68 passed its ACR on August 27 and its GAR on August 18, and is up for peer-review. Good articles: US-50 and SR-103 passed on June 28 and August 27 and respectively, while I-215 passed September 2.

WP:WASH: List of U.S. Routes in Washington (nom) and List of Interstate and U.S. Highways in Washington (nom) failed as Featured List candidates and the list of U.S. Highways was peer reviewied. Washington State Route 531 had its A-Class nomination withdrawn and was peer reviewed before getting re-nominated and promoted on August 26. Interstate 5 in Washington, after going through a major expansion, is being peer reviewed. Interstate 82 was promoted to GA status on September 6 while Washington State Route 124 is being peer reviewed and is at GAN.

Leaderboard

 * Editor: Scott5114

Deletion debates

 * Compiler: ComputerGuy890100


 * An archive of all previous debates.


 * Articles for deletion
 * Roadgeek closed as no consensus.
 * Roadfan closed as no consensus.
 * Roadgeek closed as no consensus.
 * Roadgeek closed as no consensus.
 * Reversible express lanes in Seattle, Washington closed as merge.


 * Deletion review
 * Roafan closed as relist at AfD.

Coming and going

 * Compiler: ComputerGuy890100

Featured member: CountyLemonade
CountyLemonade (talk) has been a Wikipedia editor since 2008-03-21. He is a major contributor and participant of the Utah subproject and has over 1,000 edits. He, along with Admrboltz, Davemeistermoab, DeFaultRyan, and NE2 have brought the task force back to an active project. CountyLemonade has participated in reassesing articles to C-Class and has contributed to two GAs, Utah State Route 269 and Interstate 215 (Utah).

Thank you, CountyLemonade, for all of your hard work!


 * Editor: ComputerGuy890100

Nomination for current member

 * The following is an archived roads featured member nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page, on WT:USRD, or another applicable discussion page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

The result of the featured member nomination was CountyLemonade. ĈőмρǖтέŗĠύʎ890100 (t ↔ Ĕ ↔ ώ) 17:06, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

I think that User:CountyLemonade should be the next Featured Member, because of all his work with WP:UTSH and WP:MISH. -- Admrb♉ltz (t • c • [ log]) 07:46, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Support CountyLemonade has participated in many areas of USRD. --CG was here. (T - C - S - E) 17:42, 29 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Support CountryLemonade has been a key player in the turnaround of the Utah state highways wikiproject by creating, expanding, and upgrading many articles. Also, has an attention to detail with fonts and other signage issues and has been key to incorporating those details into the project templates and standards.Dave (talk) 23:58, 30 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Comment - I'm honored by the nomination, but Dave, at least get my name right! The lemonade here comes from a county level; it isn't national yet :) CL — 04:21, 31 July 2008 (UTC)
 * Just anticipating your future promotion =-). Dave (talk) 01:42, 2 August 2008 (UTC)
 * It's official. CountyLemonade is the feature member for July/August. ĈőмρǖтέŗĠύʎ890100 (t ↔ Ĕ ↔ ώ) 17:02, 2 August 2008 (UTC)
 * The above is an archived roads featured member nomination. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page, on WT:USRD, or another applicable discussion page. No further edits should be made to this section. 

From the editors—newsletter decommissioned
A recent discussion on WT:USRD annouced that this newsletter will cease to exist after this edition. The newsletter is very small and not updated as much, like June 21's edition, which was a week late. The newsletter is being replaced by a blog that will feature news and a featured member. So, to all readers, a farewell from the editors and contributors of the newsletter.
 * —ComputerGuy890100

The newsletter, when created, was necessary; many of the subprojects of the USRD were not inter-communicating, so a means of passing along news throughout all of the members was needed. Now, in part due to this newsletter, USRD has become more unified and news is spread differently. The newsletter has seen a drop in activity and has reached a point to where one or two editors are working overtime and composing all the sections. As mentioned before, we will get a replacement blog that will work in a much more efficient manner. The leaderboard will still be at its usual place here. Thanks to all the readers, the editors and the contributors of this newsletter in the past two years. Here's to USRD.
 * —''CountyLemonade