Wikipedia:Naming conventions (Australian roads)

This guideline documents an English Wikipedia naming convention.

It is a generally accepted standard that editors should attempt to follow, though occasional exceptions may apply. Any substantive edit to this page should reflect consensus. When in doubt, discuss first on the talk page.

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Below are formal conventions for the listings of Australian roads. These guidelines largely formalise pre-existing conventions in regards to Australian roads. As always use common sense when applying these guidelines.

Article titles[edit]

Roads[edit]

Roadways are named by their current public official name as listed in the appropriate government gazette [preferred], or as otherwise used for general administrative purposes, and not their common name, or their internal name according to the relevant government department. For example:

Princes Motorway, as opposed to F6, Southern Freeway, Freeway 6, Freeway Route 6, National Route 1 (Waterfall — Yallah), M1 (Waterfall — Yallah), Main Road 6006, etc.
Sometimes the signposted name may also be preferable if the official name has no non-administrative usage:
- Karrinyup Road and Morley Drive are officially known as the Karrinyup–Morley Highway
- Airport Drive and Warrigal Road are officially known as Airport Connection Road and Warrigal Highway respectively

These circumstances are generally rare, and would likely require discussion to gauge what name would be best

Routes[edit]

Articles are generally not created for routes containing notable roads, excluding Highway 1 (Australia). Routes which consist of a majority of non-notable roads are named by secondary name [preferred] (if one exists), or by a route number.

Former Metroad 10, is now A8 (Sydney), as the route is notable as a whole, but most of its component roads are not.
M1/A1 through Sydney, is made up of notable roads which have their own articles.
Former Metroad 7 (previous to the M7), is made up of largely unnotable roads, but had the secondary name "Cumberland Highway", which is preferred to "A28 (Sydney)"

State / Territory Gazettes and other sources[edit]

ACT - http://www.gazettes.act.gov.au/
NSW - http://www.nsw.gov.au/gazette
NT - http://www.nt.gov.au/ntg/gazette.shtml
QLD - http://publications.qld.gov.au/
SA - http://www.governmentgazette.sa.gov.au/
TAS - http://www.gazette.tas.gov.au/
VIC - http://www.gazette.vic.gov.au/
WA - http://www.slp.wa.gov.au/gazette/gazette.nsf

Older gazette editions generally aren't available from the above websites. They may be available from Trove or any of the various state and national libraries and archives in either hardcopy or electronic form. This information may also be found on the websites for the applicable names board or land and planning authority in each state.

Disambiguation[edit]

The following apply only when an article needs to be disambiguated:

Roads are to be named "<road> (<city>)" or "<road> (<town>)" for roads entirely within a city or town.
Roads are to be named "<road> (<state>)" in other areas.
Interstate roads are to be named "<road> (Australia)".
Split roads with separately notable sections are to be named as "<road> (<point a> – <point b>)".

Infobox[edit]

"road_name" is the article title, excluding disambiguation.
- If the road is a notable split road, then the disambiguation should be included)
All common names are to be included in "road_name2" and separated by " / ", this includes both public common names and those used in reputable sources. (Soft limit of 3 common names based on approximate popularity)
- Any other road names may still be mentioned elsewhere in the article if inclusion is appropriate.

Lead[edit]

All common names are to be included in the lead, this includes both public common names and those used in reputable sources. (Soft limit of 3 common names based on approximate popularity)
- Any other road names may still be mentioned elsewhere in the article if inclusion is appropriate.