What are Class One and Class Two Highways in California?
California does not use these definitions. Those definitions are primarily used back east. The Department uses definitions from the Federal Planning Manual, which was published by the FHWA. Where do the terms come from? It turns out there are functional classification defintitions and access classification definitions. “Class 1” through “Class Five” sometimes appear as access classification schemes at the state DOT level. However, they are not the suggested federal functional classification terms, and Caltrans doesn’t appear to use them at all. In fact, it doesn’t look like there actually is complete standardization at the state level, although most state DOTs seem to use the FHWA functional classifications in some capacity. Note that, to complicate things even further, different counties might well use different methods/terminologies for classifying roads and that one should always check with one’s local county DOT or dept. of Public Works to determine exactly what their terms mean. F
