This is an essay on style. It contains the advice and/or opinions of one or more WikiProjects on how to format and present article content within their area of interest. This information is not a formal Wikipedia policy or guideline, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community.

This template may have no transclusions, because it is substituted by a tool or script, it is used as part of a short-term or less active Wikipedia process, or for some other reason.

Parameters to adjust settings:

• type: the type of road the article is about. This parameter changes the infobox colour scheme used for headings, and the label used for locations. The following are options are available:

• If a road traverses both rural and urban regions you should generally set the road type to the rural version of the road type.

• uc_former: Used to override the above colour schemes for certain types of roads. The allowed values are:

Plainlisting

This template automatically turns bulleted lists into plain lists.

Plainlist creates properly formatted and accessible lists while allowing information to be displayed neatly without any numbers or bullet points. Other formatting should be avoided where possible.

The code

|parameter = 
*Item 1
*Item 2
*Item 3
*Item 4

within this infobox, will be displayed as

AUshielding

Specific instructions on the template parameters can be found at the following link: ((AUshield))

• Route shields should be limited to the Infobox, Road Junction list, and as images to accompany the text (if required).
• Route shields should never be used within the text itself.
• Route shields should always have an accompanying descriptive text for accessibility reasons, and also to aid understanding for international readers.

Junction list

((plainlist|
*((AUshield|S|2)) Foobar Highway <small>(State Route 2)</small>
*((AUshield|None|S)) Example Road
*((AUshield|None|S)) Fake Street
*((AUshield|N|1)) Test Freeway <small>(National Highway 1)</small>))

• Shielding should be spaced from the left margin (as above) if other shielding is present. Only space for a single shield if there are any duplexes present. Editors should apply their own discretion, in applying spacing. When spacing is used generally it would follow the shield above. In other words, just go with what looks best as far as spacing goes, sometimes it will look neat if spaced, and sometimes it will look odd.
• Note: Do not include a note linking to the full list further down the article. Per the Manual of Style for Infoboxes, this is not the purpose of the infobox – the table of contents provides that function.

Route number

((plainlist|
*((AUshield|S|2)) State Route 2 <small>(Point A to Point B)</small>
*((AUshield|R|41)) National Route 41 <small>(Point B to Point C)</small>
))

• This section should only be accurate to the suburb/locality level, if the allocation is complex enough to require further explanation, it should occur within the article itself (a diagram may help also).
• Towns should be linked to appropriate articles if they exist. State borders should be denoted by their postal abbreviation.
• If a route number applies to the whole road, there is no need to include the location info, i.e. when the (Start point to End point) would be the same as the whole road.
• There is generally no need to mention sections of the road that aren't allocated a route number – just make the sections which do have a route number include the start/end points per the above example.

Former

((plainlist|
*((AUshield|Met|2)) Metroad 2 <small>(1974-1999)</small>
*((AUshield|R|96)) National Route 96 <small>(1999-2011)</small>
))

• Periods without shielding should only be mentioned if they occur between periods with shielding.

Route shields section of infobox

The route shields displayed at the top of the infobox should only be used on articles about a route itself. This includes articles such as Highway 1 (Australia) and A8, Sydney; but not standard highways and roads such as Westlink M7 or Oxley Highway, even if the roadway has a single shield over its entire length. This is for a multitude of reasons

• The shields are sometimes too large in comparison to the infobox title text (i.e. the road name).
• The shields often don't accurately represent particular roadways, which often only traverse part of an entire "route", or have short stretches of various largely unrelated routes mixed in.
• The information is duplicated in the |route= section, far more accurately.
• We can instead also separate tourist drives with the |tourist= parameter. And give them the same accuracy.
• We can instead ensure that all instances of a shield image comply with WP:ACCESS

Promotional logos can and should be included at the top of the infobox (taking into account copyright considerations), see Majura Parkway as an example of this.

Example infobox

As part of the upgrade process, there are many parameters that were once used, but are no longer recommended. The following is a basic infobox for a non-complex route without locator map, including usage notes:

((Infobox Australian road
| road_name                = Do not include alphanumeric allocation.
| road_name2               = Common alternative names only.
| state                    = 
| state2                   = 
| route_image              = Route shield (very limited articles only)
| image                    = Can also be used for a logo
| image_alt                = 
| caption                  = 
| imagesize                = 
| type                     = See table
| uc_former                = See table
| length                   = 
| length_rnd               = Generally should be 1 or greater, if required.
| length_ref               = 
| est                      = date road originally opened
| closed                   =
| gazetted                 = 
| gazetted_ref             = 
| built                    = Company that built the road
| maintained               = Organisation that maintains the road (Local council, State transport authority, etc.)
| history                  = ''Very basic'' history of route if required. See [[Parkes Way]]
| route                    = see guidelines
| former                   = see guidelines
| tourist                  = see guidelines
| direction_a              = Direction at which end exists (use abbreviations for directions other than North, East, South, and West)
| end_a                    = Roads at end A
| exits                    =
| direction_b              = Direction at which end exists (use abbreviations for directions other than North, East, South, and West)
| end_b                    = Roads at end B
| region                   = 
| lga                      = 
| through                  = 
| restrictions             = Seasonal closures, vehicle requirements (4WD, Snow chains, etc.)
| permit                   = Permit for access legally required (Generally for aboriginal lands)
| fuel                     = Only used for outback roads, where there is a high likelihood of running out of fuel if not correctly managed. 
                             If fuel is available nearby to a route in multiple locations, this should also not be mentioned
| facilities               = Only used for outback roads, where there is a likelihood of running out of supplies if not correctly managed.
| show_links               = Show links section at bottom of infobox, generally only used on highways and freeways
))