ESTABLISHING "REGIONAL OR NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE" OF INTRINSIC QUALITIES

  *  THE NATIONAL SCENIC BYWAYS PROGRAM DEFINITION AND LEVELS OF "SIGNIFICANCE"
For byways seeking designation under the National Scenic Byways Program, it is necessary to 
demonstrate that your route has “regional or national significance.”  

The Interim Policy for the National Scenic Byways Program defines regional significance to mean 
“characteristics that are representative of a geographic area encompassing two or more states.” 
(FHWA Interim Policy, May 18, 1995)  

The National Scenic Byways Program recognizes two levels of significance in the designation of 
National Scenic Byways and All-American Roads, and the requirements for each:

-- (REGIONAL SIGNIFICANCE): NATIONAL SCENIC BYWAYS
  To be designated as a National Scenic Byway, a road or highway must significantly meet at 
  least one of the six scenic byways intrinsic qualities.  The characteristics associated with the 
  intrinsic qualities are those that are distinct and most representative of the region. The 
  significance of the features contributing to the distinctive characteristics of the corridor's 
  intrinsic quality are recognized throughout the region. (FHWA Interim Policy, May 18, 1995)   

-- (NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE): ALL-AMERICAN ROADS
  In order to be designated as an All-American Road, the road or highway must meet the criteria 
  for at least two of the intrinsic qualities. The road or highway must also be considered a 
  destination unto itself. To be recognized as such, it must provide an exceptional traveling 
  experience that is so recognized by travelers that they would make a drive along the highway a 
  primary reason for their trip. The characteristics associated with the intrinsic qualities are those 
  which best represent the nation and which may contain one-of-a-kind features that do not exist 
  elsewhere. The significance of the features contributing to the distinctive characteristics of the 
  corridor's intrinsic quality are recognized nationally. (FHWA Interim Policy, May 18, 1995)  

  *  DEMONSTRATING THE "REGIONAL SIGNIFICANCE" OF YOUR BYWAY  
There are three general ways in which to support your argument for regional significance.  You can 
demonstrate that the byway is already recognized for the intrinsic qualities that you have identified;   
demonstrate that the resources along the byway have exceptional significance; or you can create 
an interpretive story that ties together the byway and its resources to create a unique or 
outstanding experience for the traveler.  To the extent possible, you should try to use all three 
approaches, since each will reinforce the others and help you make the strongest case possible.  

Following is a discussion of each of these demonstrations of regional significance: 

1. PREVIOUS RECOGNITION OF THE BYWAY:
You may need to begin by distinguishing between recognition of the byway and recognition of the 
resources along the byway.  Your inventory effort identified important resources and related them 
to the overall byway corridor.  The focus at this stage is to identify whether the byway itself is 
recognized as an entity distinct from, although based on, the resources within its corridor.

To begin, find out if the byway was previously evaluated and found to be significant at either the 
regional or national level.  This might include designation of the road by a federal agency or an 
award or particular status conveyed to the roadway by an established State or Indian tribe program 
or private organization.  

Recognition in any professional or local literature could also demonstrate significance.  Look for 
byways or intrinsic qualities that have been studied and written about by academicians. 

Don’t be discouraged if you cannot demonstrate previous recognition of the byway; you may have 
a hidden jewel that hasn’t been discovered.  

2. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE RESOURCES
All proposed byways should be able to demonstrate that they contain a combination of resources 
that are significant on their own merit and that together constitute a coherent whole along the 
byway.  

You can also evaluate your byway and make the case for significance using these ideas:

-- DISTINCTIVENESS: Demonstrate that the road offers a travel experience relative to its 
  intrinsic qualities that is unique or outstanding in the United States or in its region.  If a 
  byway provides a one-of-a-kind experience, then this would be significant.  If the 
  experiences can be found elsewhere at the same level of quality, then the byway is not 
  distinctive.

-- INTACTNESS: Demonstrate that the intrinsic qualities along the byway represent a state 
  of intactness that is unique or outstanding in the United States and/or the region.  This 
  relates to distinctiveness in that the deteriorated remains of a distinctive experience or 
  resource may be less significance that those that are intact.

-- RELEVANCE: Describe an experience that is significant due to its unique or outstanding 
  relevance both to the traveling public and to local residents.  Topics with limited appeal 
  or with no links to regionally or nationally important events, sites, or people have less 
  relevance.

-- FREQUENCY: Record how the byway offers travelers exceptional experiences within a 
  reasonable distance or time frame.  In all cases, the density or frequency of the sites 
  along the byway is important.  A unique or outstanding site will lend significance only 
  to the length of the road that lies within the viewshed of the site.  That is why the 
  majority of the roads need to offer immediate access to the unique or outstanding 
  sites.

There is no hard and fast rule concerning the minimum number or frequency of experiences, sites 
or views that qualify a road for the National Scenic Byways Program.  However, it is important that 
you consider and demonstrate such things as: how long the byway will engage the traveler, how 
often interesting sites or interpretive information will be encountered, and how much of the byway 
offers few or no experiences with one or more of the six intrinsic qualities.
Generally, a roadway will be considered significant if:

-- Resources and experiences are of high quality and are sought out by travelers from 
  outside the region

-- The story is of interest to a broad segment of the traveling public, and

-- The experiences related to the story occur with frequency along the byway. 

3. QUALITY OF THE INTERPRETIVE STORY 
The quality of your byway’s story is critical for success.  The creativity and quality of the interpretive 
story or program will reflect the rich significance and experience the byway has to offer.  

In limited situations, byway groups may meet the regional significance test only by demonstrating 
that their byway tells a unique or outstanding story that is an important part of the American story 
and that this byway is unusually well qualified to relate this information.  To meet this requirement, 
the story should be:

-- inextricably linked to the byway,
-- regionally or nationally relevant and interesting and,
-- communicated effectively.

A byway may not meet this requirement if other roads in the America’s Byways® collection already 
tell the story, if the story is not of national interest in some significant manner, or if the interpretive 
program could clearly be significantly improved and thus does not represent outstanding quality.

  *  DEMONSTRATING THE "NATIONAL SIGNIFICANCE" OF YOUR BYWAY
For byways considering nomination to the National Scenic Byways Program as an All-American 
Road, it is important to remember that the demonstration of significance increases dramatically 
from the regional to the national level.  All-American Roads must meet the criteria for at least two of 
the intrinsic qualities, and the significance of the features contributing to the distinctive 
characteristics of the corridor's intrinsic qualities must be recognized nationally.

All of the considerations for demonstrating regional significance should be thoroughly evaluated, 
but in addition, the argument for national significance should also evaluate and demonstrate the 
following points:

-- How the road or highway is considered a destination unto itself.

-- How the road provides an exceptional traveling experience that is so recognized by 
travelers that they would make a drive along the highway a primary reason for their trip.  

-- How the characteristics associated with the intrinsic qualities are those which best 
represent the nation and which may contain one-of-a-kind features that do not exist 
elsewhere