Wikipedia talk:WikiProject U.S. Roads/Illinois/Archive 1

Vote to change page names
This is a semi-vote, since it's been established in WikiProject Illinois State Routes/External correspondence (via a good man at IDOT) that the proper name of the route is "Illinois Route X". I'm not sure where I got "Illinois State Route X" from, but I saw it somewhere and didn't just think of it. That said, Illinois Route X is better.

In any event, I'd like to propose renaming all current Illinois State Route X pages to Illinois Route X. If there aren't any objections within 3 days, I'll see if I can get a bot to run through the pages and move all of them. edit: As for the project name and any template changes, those will either have to wait, or just not occur at all. It's not a concern for now. &mdash; Rob (  talk  ) 19:54, 5 April 2006 (UTC)


 * If you can't find a bot, I'll do it :P --SPUI (talk - RFC) 23:31, 5 April 2006 (UTC)

More naming info...
So as to settle the naming issue in the open... I'm going off the following assumptions while we transition from Illinois State Route X to Illinois Route X:
 * An individual state route page shall be called Illinois Route X.
 * Within the article and in the infoboxes, it is allowable to refer to the route as Illinois X, Route X, or Highway X depending on the terminology along the route, if that is known. Illinois X is the most common. If another article is referring to the route, it is a best practice to use Illinois Route X so as to avoid confusion.
 * Referring to more than one state route (non-specific plural), or assuming any given state route (non-specific singular), use the form Illinois state route(s). Otherwise if you're referring to a specific route or set of routes, use the form Illinois State Route. Confusing? Well, think of it as "Illinois Route 5 is a state route" in the same way that "Ronald Reagan is a person." That way you can say "Iowa State Highway 5 and Illinois Route 88 are state routes."
 * Therefore, the article List of Illinois State Routes really could also be List of Illinois state routes. This is a tossup, as in this context you could be referring to state routes both in general and/or in specific. It's unclear. Deal with it.
 * The category Category:Illinois state highways will stay that way, as the name of the state system is the Illinois State Highway System. Also, not everything in the category is a state route (Kingery Highway, Elgin-O'Hare Expressway.
 * The project name may someday move to WikiProject Illinois Routes, but this isn't planned for a while.

&mdash; Rob (  talk  ) 16:18, 6 April 2006 (UTC)

Shields
I'm making SVG shields from the specs, thanks to Rob. Here are the first two:



--SPUI (T - C - RFC - Curpsbot problems ) 21:21, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Done: commons:Category:Illinois Route shields --SPUI (T - C - RFC - Curpsbot problems ) 23:20, 13 April 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps I can help with history/trivia
I worked for IDOT and ISTHA from 1971 to 1976 and worked on the following projects and a surveryor and construction inspector. Lemme know if/how I can help:
 * 1971 Illinois Route 31 bridge over NW railroad near U.S. Route 14 in Crystal Lake
 * 1972 surveying on U.S. Route 45 near railroad bridge in Mundelein (narrow underpass)
 * 1972 surveying Barrington Road (I-59?) between routes 14 and Illinois Route 22
 * 1972 many months at the routes Illinois Route 47/Illinois Route 176 intersections north of Huntley, south of Woodstock. They removed the high-speed ramps at the south interesection.  The existing concrete road was widened from 20 to 24 feet and the cattle-passes (drainage, really) were extended significantly.  Worked with a young Joey Palumbo, who later spent time in Federal prison.
 * 1973 surveying at Illinois Beach State Beach, near Zion
 * 1973 a new four-lane expressway (probably U.S. Route 41, near Belevidere Road?)
 * 1974 surveying Skokie's Lehigh-Howard-Gross Point intersection
 * 1974 many months at Wolf Road reconstruction between North Ave and Lake Street in Northlake
 * 1974 A few weeks on the ISTHA resurfacing project (13 miles) on I-90 near Rockford & Wisconsin border
 * 1975 many months at I-80/I-294 widening and resurfacing near Indiana border
 * 1976 many months at I-294 widening and resurfacing near and south of Deerfield Plaza — Preceding unsigned comment added by Robertkeller (talk • contribs)


 * Feel free to edit whichever pages (I've linked to some of them in your comment) you feel can be expanded. I'm sort of the one-man show on Wikipedia, along with various downstate contributors, bringing together a few pages on the internet (http://www.n9jig.com and the Illinois Highway Ends page come to mind). More content is always appreciated. &mdash; Rob (  talk  ) 17:37, 5 June 2006 (UTC)
 * Also, what on earth is a cattle pass? &mdash; Rob (  talk  ) 14:13, 7 June 2006 (UTC)

Project directory
Hello. The WikiProject Council has recently updated the WikiProject Council/Directory. This new directory includes a variety of categories and subcategories which will, with luck, potentially draw new members to the projects who are interested in those specific subjects. Please review the directory and make any changes to the entries for your project that you see fit. There is also a directory of portals, at User:B2T2/Portal, listing all the existing portals. Feel free to add any of them to the portals or comments section of your entries in the directory. The three columns regarding assessment, peer review, and collaboration are included in the directory for both the use of the projects themselves and for that of others. Having such departments will allow a project to more quickly and easily identify its most important articles and its articles in greatest need of improvement. If you have not already done so, please consider whether your project would benefit from having departments which deal in these matters. It is my hope that all the changes to the directory can be finished by the first of next month. Please feel free to make any changes you see fit to the entries for your project before then. If you should have any questions regarding this matter, please do not hesitate to contact me. Thank you. B2T2 22:45, 25 October 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia Day Awards
Hello, all. It was initially my hope to try to have this done as part of Esperanza's proposal for an appreciation week to end on Wikipedia Day, January 15. However, several people have once again proposed the entirety of Esperanza for deletion, so that might not work. It was the intention of the Appreciation Week proposal to set aside a given time when the various individuals who have made significant, valuable contributions to the encyclopedia would be recognized and honored. I believe that, with some effort, this could still be done. My proposal is to, with luck, try to organize the various WikiProjects and other entities of wikipedia to take part in a larger celebrartion of its contributors to take place in January, probably beginning January 15, 2007. I have created yet another new subpage for myself (a weakness of mine, I'm afraid) at User talk:Badbilltucker/Appreciation Week where I would greatly appreciate any indications from the members of this project as to whether and how they might be willing and/or able to assist in recognizing the contributions of our editors. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 16:00, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Wikipedia Day Awards
Hello, all. It was initially my hope to try to have this done as part of Esperanza's proposal for an appreciation week to end on Wikipedia Day, January 15. However, several people have once again proposed the entirety of Esperanza for deletion, so that might not work. It was the intention of the Appreciation Week proposal to set aside a given time when the various individuals who have made significant, valuable contributions to the encyclopedia would be recognized and honored. I believe that, with some effort, this could still be done. My proposal is to, with luck, try to organize the various WikiProjects and other entities of wikipedia to take part in a larger celebrartion of its contributors to take place in January, probably beginning January 15, 2007. I have created yet another new subpage for myself (a weakness of mine, I'm afraid) at User talk:Badbilltucker/Appreciation Week where I would greatly appreciate any indications from the members of this project as to whether and how they might be willing and/or able to assist in recognizing the contributions of our editors. Thank you for your attention. Badbilltucker 16:00, 30 December 2006 (UTC)

Switch to Infobox road
Per WP:USRD/INNA, this project should switch to Infobox road, since this standardizes the look of any U.S. Road article. Comments?  V 6 0  VTalk · VDemolitions  ·  VRoads 00:43, 6 February 2007 (UTC)
 * However, this is recommended, not required. --Rschen7754 (talk - contribs) 02:50, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Lincoln Heritage Trail
Please consider expanding Lincoln Heritage Trail. I started the article, but I couldn't find much information for the article. --Eastmain 08:36, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

TfD nomination of All USRD Clean-up Templates
All of the USRD Clean-up Templates have been nominated for deletion. You are invited to comment on the discussion at the template's entry on the Templates for Deletion page. Thank you.  master son T - C 16:47, 5 August 2007 (UTC)

Reminder from USRD
In response to a few issues that came up, we are giving a reminder to all state highway wikiprojects and task forces:


 * 1) Each project needs to remain aware of developments at WT:USRD and subpages to ensure that each project is aware of decisions / discussions that affect that project. It is impossible to notify every single project about every single discussion that may affect it. Therefore, it is the state highway wikiproject's responsiblity to monitor discussions.
 * 2) If a project does not remain aware of such developments and complains later, then there is most likely nothing USRD can do about it.
 * 3) USRD, in most to nearly all cases, will not interfere with a properly functioning state highway wikiproject. All projects currently existing are "properly functioning" for the purposes mentioned here. All task forces currently existing are not "properly functioning" (that is why they are task forces). Departments of USRD (for example, MTF, shields, assessment, INNA) may have specific requirements for the state highway wikiprojects, but complaints regarding those need to be taken up with those departments.
 * 4) However, this is a reminder that USRD standards need to be followed by the state highway wikiprojects, regardless of the age of the wikiproject.

Regards, Rschen7754 (T C) 05:17, 8 November 2007 (UTC)