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AppendixHow
do you identify a particular section of or location on a road?Highway
engineers have their own terminology for roads. Specifying a particular road intersection
is pretty straightforward (assuming that the two roads do not cross at more than
one location). But what about a dangerous curve somewhere along a 20-mile highway
between intersections? It is important to have an understandable frame of reference.
And it is essential to link accident and complaint data with a particular "problem"
section of road. Here are the typical ways highway engineers identify road locations:
- Milepost: The numerical distance from a base point (often a political
boundary, such as the county line) to a specific location is marked by signs.
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Reference Point: A location is marked or signed using a fixed, identifiable
feature such as an intersection, railroad crossing, or bridge as a reference point.
-
Link Node: "Node numbers" are assigned to highway intersections
or other reference points. The section of road between nodes is referred to as
a "link." Engineers measure the distance from a node to a particular
spot. Link node references are not identified by public signs, but are utilized
in highway department record systems.
- Coordinate or Geographical Information
system (GIS): Other roadway reference systems use map coordinates determined
by Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite reference positioning.
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