Road name colors
A road name in the color blue means that the road is a freeway for all or most of its length, meaning that the road has no driveways or cross traffic.
A road name in the color turquoise means that the road is an expressway for all or most of its length, meaning that the road has few driveways/cross traffic but is mostly free of these things.
A road name in the color orange means that the road is a surface street for all or most of its length, meaning that it has no control of access and has cross traffic/driveways and intersections. Most roads are of this type.
A road name in the color green means that the road is a toll road for all or most of its length, meaning that the road has no driveways or cross traffic and requires a fee of some sort to use.
Abbreviations
2di, 3di | 2 Digit Interstate, 3 Digit Interstate
2+, 3+ | Add-on descriptors labelling how many people are required in a vehicle to legally use an HOV lane, or to use an HOT lane for free.
AET | All Electronic Tolling. A newer system where toll transponders are used to communicate with overhead gantries in order to collect a toll, rather than having to stop at a toll booth. This is useful to stop congestion related to toll plazas, make tollways cheaper to construct due to the skipping of having to build entire toll plazas, and to prevent contact with employees during the pandemic.
Alt. | Alternate
AASHTO | American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. These guy's main job is to set the numbering for routes such as Interstates and US routes, but they do other things too. Not in this context.
Aux | Auxiliary. Describes a route that has a connection to a parent route, all 3Di's are auxiliary routes.
BGS | Big Green Sign. Refers to large green signs on freeways that may be mounted on the side or overhead, usually over a certain size. The G can be replaced for other letters (BBS - big blue sign, BWS - big white sign)
BL/BS | Business Loop/Business Spur. Usually used to number a route that has the same importance as an interstate, but may or may not be up to the same standards of a freeway. These may also serve as auxiliary routes of auxiliary routes.
Bus. | Business
Byp. | Bypass
C-E | Collector-Express system, a set of 4 roadways, all parallel. This system is used to separate those not exiting from those who are, with the exits being on the collector side and the express side having none. This is done to relieve congestion in busy areas that may be related to frequent exits. These are different from frontage roads because both the collector roadways and express roadways have no driveways or intersections. The New Jersey Turnpike is NOT one of these, as the turnpike does not classify its roadways as local or express.
CW/CCW | Clockwise, CounterClockwise
CR | County Route/Road
DDI/DCD | Diverging Diamond Interchange or Double Crossover Diamond, a new kind of interchange used in various states where traffic on a divided roadway crosses over itself at 2 intersections, requiring motorists to drive on the opposite sides of the road for a period of time. The idea is to prevent left turns from being super hard as crossing the opposing lanes is no longer required, and the traffic signal phases are now limited to just 2. Points of conflict are also reduced from more than 32 to just 14 over the entire interchange.
DOT/DOH | Department of Transportation/Highways
E | East
EB | Eastbound
Emod | Highway Gothic Series E Modified. This is used as the national standard typeface for most signs in the US.
ETC | Electronic Toll Collection, see AET
Ext. | Extension
FHWA | Federal HighWay Administration, controls spending related to roads in the US.
HOT | High-Occupancy-Toll lane, an HOV lane where single riders may also use the lane for a fee.
HOV | High-Occupancy-Vehicle lane, a lane, usually physically separated from the roadway or all the way to the left side separated by a double white line, where a certain number of people are required to be in the vehicle in order to use the lane. These are proposed as a way of solving congestion and air pollution caused by freeways, with the logic being that more people carpooling = less people on the freeway = less cars = less emissions. Their efficacy at solving these two problems is questionable.
I- | Interstate
ITS | Intelligent Transport Systems. Includes things such as Variable Message Signs (VMS) and Variable speed limits. Often humans are involved in creating this data before it is released to the public for their viewing pleasure.
LGS | Little Green Sign. See BGS
MP | Milepost. See MM
MM | Mile Marker. See MP
MUTCD | My favorite book, the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. Contains and specifies every single standard for every line, sign, and cone seen on the roadway, ranging from size to typeface.
N | North
NB | Northbound
PATpkNEExt. | Believe me, I know this is long. In reference to I-476 north of I-276, this atrocity stands for "Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension".
RoW | Right-of-Way, can either mean the area of land acquired by a DOT for highway building, or used as a noun to describe who gets priority to proceed through an intersection/interchange. For the most part, anybody moving straight or not changing their position gets the right of way, and anybody moving (Turning, making a lane change) loses the right of way and must yield to those who aren't.
RR | Railroad
S | South
SB | Southbound
SH/SR | State Highway/Route/Road. Usually I'll fill this in with the state abbreviation (CA-134 instead of SR-134).
Temp. | Temporary
Twp | Township
VMS | Variable Message Sign. These can be either rotating drum type or dot matrix type. Rotating drum can only display limited messages, while dot matrix can display infinite messages so long as it fits in the sign.
W | West
WB | Westbound
Definitions
A, B, C, D, E, F | In reference to Highway Gothic, the standard typeface for signs in the US. These are referring to the different widths of the different series, with A being the most thin and F being the most wide. there is also an E modified, the most common type modified for readability.
Anthem | A song or text that fits the vibe of a roadway for one reason or another.
Alignment | The path a route takes.
Assembly | A structure holding a group of signs that function as a unit. An example of this would be something like three signs that say "WEST" "134" "->". While three different signs are used for this message, they all function together as one.
At Grade | A road that sits at ground level (grade). Usually referring to intersections, where two roads meet at the same level (or where they meet "at grade". thats how this would normally be used)
Banner | A small sign, usually providing supplemental information about the route. Such as instead of just "10", there would be a small sign that says "10" "WEST" to differentiate it from the east side and to provide directional information. there are more kinds of banners, but these are the most common.
Blank | A sign made with a generic pattern so that they can be reused many times. These are often used in construction because it's cheaper and they can have their message changed very easily instead of producing a new sign.
Braided | Referring to two ramps, often running very close to each other and crossing over, but not providing access between them. This is often used when two interchanges are so close to each other that the onramp wouldn't have time to properly merge before the offramp exits.
Bubble Shield | A 3di shield that has been stretched horizontally from the 2di version, thus giving it a disproportionate shape that is too round and "bubbly"
Business Route | A loop or spur of a highway into a town. Loops are often old alignments of other highways.
Button Copy | A physical design from the early days of US signage where tiny glass or plastic retroreflectors are placed to contour the legend of a sign. Light from a vehicle's headlights bounces off the reflectors at night, making the sign appropriately visible. They've been removed from all standards now due to cost and newer, better technologies but some still remain around the US today.
Carriageway | A single roadway. Used in the context of a divided highway, which would have two carriageways. I despise this word more than anything, so you'll probably hear me just say roadway instead. Doesn't mean the word isn't still relevant.
Cat's Eye | An early type of glass retroreflector used on very old signs.
Centerline | The line dividing two directions of traffic on a non-divided highway. In the US this line is always painted yellow.
Channelized | Usually of left turn lanes, raised islands or striping used to physically separate different directions of traffic or turning lanes.
Clearview | A new sign font used on trial basis in some states. Usage of this font is generally frowned upon because it's widely accepted to be unappealing, ineffective and ugly compared to its original counterpart, Highway Gothic. However, some psychopaths believe it to be the opposite. Friendly reminder that these definitions are not biased in any capacity...
Clinch | To have travelled the entire length of a roadway in at least one direction. I won't say this because personally I think it sounds stupid, so I'll just put a star next to the roadway's name if I've travelled its whole length.
Concurrency | Two or more route numbers existing on the same road. While generally not a problem, sometimes this can have wonky side effects such as Wrong Way Concurrencies (two routes signed on the same highway, however with opposite directional banners. An example would be the section of I-81 N and I-77 S in Virginia, where both numbers are on the same roadway, but are joined in a way where you are simultaneously traveling north and south)