Road Networks

Road networks are a core part of the server experience. Without them, you can't connect towns, cities and countries (unless you use alternate modes of transport) and roads are by far the easiest and cheapest way of connecting your places. This wiki page will explore the different road types, different classifications, and how to mark your road networks effectively on the Dynmap.

## Road Types

There are three main types of road used on the server: **Dirt Road**, **Gravel Road**, and **Concrete Road**.

The **dirt roads** are used in rural locations, and they can be up to 5 blocks wide with passing places if needed. Dirt roads are constructed from coarse dirt blocks, and are most effective for tracks leading to houses or farmland and are usually not used for public roads.

The **gravel roads** are used in rural and remote locations, and they can be up to 7 blocks wide. Gravel roads are good for connecting rural communities to each other or for use in private driveways or as parking areas.

The **concrete roads** are the main type of road, allowing for faster speeds and smoother drives. Concrete roads can be used to connect villages, towns, cities or for use on dual carriageway and motorway networks. Concrete roads can be built out of either grey, dark grey or black concrete and any road markings can be made out of either yellow or white concrete.

## Road Classifications

Roads are classified in four main ways: **Two-Way Road**, **Dual Carriageway**, **Expressway** and **Highway**. All four of those categories can also be classed as trunk roads, which are major roads used for the connection of important cities or as a primary route across a region. There can be other classifications used in rural or city areas, like single-track or one-way roads, however the four listed above are the main ones used.

**Two-way roads** are one of the most common due to their size and ease of construction. Two-way roads have two three-block wide carriageways with a one block marking down the middle, bringing the size to 7 blocks wide. One block wide markings at the side of the carriageway are also occasionally added to mark the road as a trunk road or to allow extra space on the carriageway if needed. Two-way roads are seen in cities, connecting rural towns or as trunk roads across regions. They are easy and quick to construct, however the lack of overtaking lanes can make them impractical on busier routes.

A **dual carriageway** is a road with two lanes on either side and a central reservation dividing the two carriageways. They are easily identifiable compared to their expressway or highway counterparts due to the fact dual carriageways only have two-block wide lanes, compared to an expressway or highways three-block wide lanes. A dual carriageway is common across more rural areas or in locations where an expressway or highway would take up too much space, but the road still needs to be wide enough to allow vehicles to overtake each other. Dual carriageways offer no protection to stranded vehicles due to their usual lack of side markings or total lack of hard shoulders, making them more dangerous.

An **expressway** is a road with two lanes on either side and a central reservation dividing the two carriageways. The lanes on an expressway are three blocks wide, making them more practical than a dual carriageway and allowing them to carry heavier traffic loads. Expressways are easily identifiable compared to a highway due to their lack of a side marking or hard shoulder. Expressways usually have service or parking areas spread out in convenient locations, allowing refuelling without leaving the road. Expressways must have three block long slabbed roads for increasing or decreasing gradients, and they also usually have segregated junctions, however this is not necesarry. Expressways also offer little to no protection in case of stranded vehicles, due to their lack of side markings or hard shoulders.

A **highway** is a road with two or three lanes on either side and a central reservation dividing the two carriageways. The lanes on a highway must be at least three blocks wide, with at least a side margin and one block of clear, smooth terrain next to it, but preferably a hard shoulder lane that is at least 2 blocks wide. Highways must have three block long slabbed roads for increasing or decreasing gradients, and they must have segregated junctions to protect the traffic flow. Road lighting is mandatory, and smoother, non 45 degree corners are advised, but not mandatory. Highways also must have service or parking areas, allowing refuelling and rest without leaving the road. Highways are the best class of road to connect large cities with large traffic flows, due to their size and driver protection measures.

Below is a gallery of all the road classifications discussed, so you can see what they look like.

A two-way road, the A21 in the Republic of IllyriaA two-way trunk road in the Republic of Santa CruzA dual carriageway, the A2 in the Cape Horn FederationAn upgraded dual carriageway trunk road with side markings, the A1 in the Kingdom of South AtacamaAn expressway, the M1 in Central ArgentinaA highway, the M1 in the North Argentine ConfederationThe perfect highway, obeying all the guidelines, the SG-3 in South Germany
## Marking Road Networks

On the Dynmap, you have the ability to draw lines and mark your roads. However, this needs to be done in a specific way so that road markings don't get combined or overwritten. PLEASE NOTE: You do not have to mark your roads on the Dynmap if you don't want to, but if you do: please only mark number classified roads, and not settlement roads or street names, to help prevent server lag.

The four classes of road each have their own colour associated with them, which you will need when marking your roads. The colours are as follows:

* Two-way road: ffffff (WHITE)
* Dual Carriageway: fadd20 (YELLOW)
* Expressway: fa7720 (ORANGE)
* Highway: fa1919 (RED)

To get started marking your roads, you need to run the command */dmarker addcorner* at the start and end of the initial straight or corner that you want to mark. You have to mark in sections, usually mark each straight, then each corner. Just marking at the start and the end of your road will draw a direct straight line between the two points.

Once you have done that, you need to run the following command, but please pay attention to what you need to enter into each section before you begin: /dmarker addline <name> <id:idname> <set:setname> <color:colorhex>

* The <name> section must contain what you want the road to be labelled as on the Dynmap, for example: **"A26", "M5"** etc.
* The <id> section is VERY important, you must lay it out like the following, and you must note these down somewhere safe... **id:CountryTag\_RoadNumber\_#**, where # is an identification number starting at 1 and going up, identifies each section of the line in case you need to edit it in the future. An example of this is... **id:ILY\_A21\_1**
* The set is the category in the Dynmap that this will be applied to, this should always be... **set:Roads** (case-sensitive)
* The colour depends on the classification of the road, so it will be... **color:fa1919** or **color:ffffff** depending on the road type (spell color the american way)

The full completed command for a section of your road should look like this... */dmarker addline "A21" id:ILY\_A21\_1 set:Roads color:ffffff*

If done correctly, you should see your line appear on the map. Now continue this, makiung sure to increase the id # as you go up, or else the line won't save. When you start on a new road, reset the id # to 1. Keep a note of these, as if you ever need to use */dmarker updateline <id:idname> <set:Roads>*, then you will need the id #

To delete a line, run the command */dmarker deleteline <id:idname> <set:Roads>*

For any more information, please visit this website: https://github.com/webbukkit/dynmap/wiki/Using-markers