Road Classification

Roadway Classification:

The U.S. DOT’s Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) classifies our Nation’s urban and rural roadways by road function. Each function class is based on the type of service the road provides to the motoring public, and the designation is used for data and planning purposes. Design standards are tied to function class. Each class has a range of allowable lane widths, shoulder widths, curve radii, etc. The following photo and information illustrate that Railroad Flat Road project was classified to be a rural major Collector.

Collectors are major and minor roads that connect local roads and streets with arterials. Collectors provide less mobility than arterials at lower speeds and for shorter distances. They balance mobility with land access. The posted speed limit on collectors is usually between 35 and 55 mi/h.

Rural Majored Collector Roads

• Provides service to any county seat not on an arterial route.
• Provide service to the larger communities not directly served by the higher systems.
• Serve other traffic generators of the greatest intracounty importance equivalent to towns.

Example: consolidate schools, shipping points, regional parks, important mining and agricultural areas.

• Serve the principal business area or a concentration of community facilities in rural communities with a population of between 500 to 5000.
• Rural major collectors tent to connect to rural arterials