Little Green Signs

Little Green Signs

Just What the Heck Are These?

May 13, 2008NY Statewide 9-1-1 Coordinators

Nick Wagner, Cortland County 2

Highway Reference Markers




Actually, this is a quite complicated program initiated by NYS DOT.These signs are placed approximately 1/10 of a mile apart on all State, US and Interstate highways in New York State.County and Regional maps of these markers hopefully are available from the DOT.




At 2 a.m. in the middle of February in a snow bank, its very hard for a shaken up driver that has never been anywhere near here before to tell your dispatcher where he is.

This reference marker will identify, within some degree of accuracy, where the caller is located.




Each row of numbers obviously mean something.

Without getting really, really technical and confusing, I’ll attempt to explain…




The top row is the highway or route designation.

In some cases, this number will be followed by a letter.

Interstate highways are identified with an “I”.

It may often be misread as a one.




The middle row has four numeric spaces.

The first digit is the NYSDOT Region, one of eleven.

Region ten is signified by the numeral 0 and region eleven is signified by the letter X.

The second digit is the county code. The counties are alphabetized within its region and assigned numbers according to the list.




Row 2 digit 3 and 4 give the county order number.

This may be construed to be the number of counties that the route has passed through since entering the state.




The bottom row…Digit 1 is the control segment number.This is the division of a route within a county and increases by one when crossing a city line.The last 3 digits of the bottom row are sequencing numbers, or distances from the beginning of a control segment.




The bottom row is generally where the confusion comes in.

For the sake of argument, lets just consider these to be 1/10 mile apart.

A complete explanation can be found at: http://www.empirestateroads.com/rm/2.html



OK, so now what?

Now that you have this knowledge, what are you going to do with it?It really isn’t necessary to remember much of this previous information. It was just to make you aware of how the numbers came together.Understand though, each number, each sign is unique within the entire state.



OK, so now what?

We have found that using this system is quite helpful and generally easy to use…After it is set up!You will need a complete listing of State, US and Interstate routes within your jurisdiction.And the reference markers on them.



OK, so now what?

Space out your tasks.

Look at each roadway individually.

Even then it may be beneficial to break those routes even more, into smaller segments.

Regardless of how you attack the solution, everything is somewhat redundant for each route and each segment.



OK, so now what?

Initially, I laid out an Excel spreadsheet for the entire project.

This is about as simple as I could make it…

But I know what I mean and may have some trouble making it clear to you…

If you have questions…Ask!



OK, so now what?

Column A is the route number, Row 1.

Column B is Row 2 & 3 jammed together, creating one, eight-digit number.

This will make better sense later on.

Column C is the township, and

Column E is the “corrected” mile marker.

On I-81, we use mile markers in tenths, like 6250 for the 62 ½.



OK, so now what?

The Interstate is easy…

Given tenths of a mile…

Reference markers every tenth of a mile…

Not too tough to figure out!

Each marker is the last marker plus 10 (as in 6260 from 6250).



Ciphering

Not being an exact representation, this is a mathematical solution.You need to know where you are before you figure how to get to where you’re going…To begin the calculation, you have to have a known point…Actually two – beginning and end.



Ciphering

Start your calculation by subtracting the low number from the high number.

Divide that result by the number of reference markers in that range.

If you get 260 and have 10 markers, each marker is worth 26 house numbers.



Ciphering

Using the low-end house number, add the result, 26, to it for the next reference number.

The formula for D13 would be something like D12+26 and give you the resulting number.

Copy that formula to each cell up to and including the high house number for the range.



Ciphering

This is not an exact representation but it should be close enough that a unit going to that area should be able to see the caller or the scene.

Your GIS department should be able to create a map layer of all of these reference points for you.



Finding a Location

Ok, now that I’ve done all of this work, how do I find a location?

In the slides, you noted the route number tabs across the bottom…

Select the route that you are wishing to search…

Use the ‘find’ feature in Excel.



Finding a Location

This is initiated by clicking the ‘find’ icon or using (Ctrl+F).

In the search window, enter the 8-digit number from Rows 2 & 3 from before.

Such as 32041013 and enter…

In our second slide, this finds the place to be 460 Rt 13.



Finding a Location

Considering the number used, 32041013, how far might this be from the county line?In this case, it should be approximately 1.3 miles into your county.The last two or three digits of the bottom line, 1013, indicate 13 markers or 1.3 miles.



Finding a Location

On the Interstate and other divided highways, the markers are placed every 1/10th of a mile and on each side of the roadway simultaneously.

In other words, you will see every sign going in one direction.



Finding a Location

On non-divided highways, the markers are still every 1/10th of a mile,But staggered on opposite sides of the roadway, alternating direction from sign to sign.You will still see the sign, it just may be facing the opposite direction.One on the north bound, one on the south bound…east bound – west bound.



More Information…

New York State GIS Clearinghouse is http://www.nysgis.state.ny.us/

NYS Reference Marker System – Not a State Site http://www.empirestateroads.com/rm/2.html

And try https://www.nysdot.gov/portal/page/portal/about-nysdot/faq/small-green-signs-mean



More Information…

Here is the site for NYS-DOT Regional information…

https://www.nysdot.gov/portal/page/portal/regional-offices

Across the top of the page are drop-down menus…one is Regional Offices



More Information…

Don’t worry about copying down these addresses…

This entire presentation will be emailed to the group.



Questions?

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