These Waystops are underneath a major Highway 90 between Houston to Missouri City, Texas (example at 29°38’51.0"N 95°27’49.1"W). I never accept nominations under a major highway bridge as I always look up and down and then consider it unsafe and interfering with traffic with your stop on the shoulder or u-turn with auto horns blaring behind you. What do you think?
Hello and welcome,
This Wayspot is actually on the sidewalk, where pedestrians are allowed:
Being it’s located where pedestrians can be, and the lane next to it doesn’t allow car traffic, I have no issues with the safety here. You can even see the crosswalk on Street View, which is another indication this area is for pedestrians to cross safely.
Just because something is under a highway bridge doesn’t make it ineligible. If there is no pedestrian access, or is unsafe for pedestrians to access, this would make it an unsafe area and ineligible. Niantic games are supposed to be played while walking, biking, etc, not in a car, bus, or other vehicle.
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Thank you for your feedback. Drivers and passengers can also stop above the Wayspot and play here. It’s two bridges over this.
I don’t think they legally would be able to stop their vehicles and play there, unless it’s an emergency. We do get warnings when we start going above a certain speed limit while playing, and we cannot interact with the Wayspot when above that speed.
The point is that where the Wayspot is currently is a safe location; if there is a place above or below that’s unsafe, that doesn’t disqualify it. This one can be accessed on the bottom level by pedestrians who might be crossing the street, or waiting for the bus.
I’m not in New York City, but I’d imagine many Wayspots there are above the subway system, but are safe to access from a sidewalk, in a park, in a building, etc.
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This spot is a major traffic, especially during rush hour. You could ride a bike on the highway here; the traffic’s that bad. But go ahead and play dangerously. s/
If you feel that it’s unsafe, you can request removal, but being it’s in a safe location, I don’t know if Niantic will remove it. Again, no one should be playing in an unsafe location, which is part of the player guidelines, so playing in traffic would be unsafe.
Going down to the level where the Wayspot is located is safe though, and not against the player guidelines.
I am quite familiar as I have been here a long time but haven’t posted on the new forum.
Mod Edit: Removed unnecessary sentence.
Please be respectful. Being you are new to the forums, we do not know how long you have been Wayfaring, so we are going to assist everyone equally.
Many people disagree with Niantic’s stances on different aspects, and it’s ok to have disagreements. It’s just best to be respectful of all here.
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Let’s get back on topic about this highway Waystop. I would like to hear other opinions.
As @DTrain2002 says, it does have safe pedestrian access. Niantic defines this as being able to safely walk up to and touch the object (or, if it’s something like a mural painted high upon a wall, you need to be able to touch the base of the wall). This has a pedestrian crossing leading to it and you can safely stand there. The fact that there are roads above it is irrelevant, as the pedestrians are not stood on those roads.
As for people in vehicles, no sensible driver would attempt to stop on one of those roads above for the purposes of playing a game, and Niantic also reminds us to follow real world rules when interacting with their games, and that their games aren’t intended to be played in vehicles. So if someone did hypothetically try to play from their vehicle on those roads, the liability is solely with that person, and they probably need their driver’s licence taking off them.
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Hi @hankwolfman
I was looking so long for something written about that. Can you give me a source for that?
Everytime I’ve something in review which is fe on a rooftop, I ask myselve
I’m sure it was somewhere on the old forum. I’m getting ready for bed so I don’t fancy a deep dive into the wayback machine right now haha
Don’t hurry. Good night 
https://wayfarer.nianticlabs.com/new/help/location-guidelines
- Place the pin at the base of overhead objects
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Not being able to safely walk up to and touch the object is why wayspots on roundabouts removed (I recall 4 War Memorials on roundabouts in South East London [Beckenham, Shortlands, Orpington and Mottingham] got removed in 2022 for this very reason) due to them not having a safe pedestrian access like an underpass or a bridge.
The photo of the wayspot in this topic definitely has safe pedestian access.
Usually I think so, because to me is clearly unsafe for pedestrian access. But where I live there are literally small fitness areas inside avenue roundabouts with no pedestrian crossing that were build by the city council, so I just think I don’t know the concept of accessibility.
IMO this is where case-to-case basis comes into head. It’s either the council has poorly planned infra for general pedestrians on a non-pedestrian accessible stretch of land. Or there is a local knowing that the land is ok for pedestrians.
Put into context: if this fitness station was made on a roundabout of the OP’s case, I err towards bad planning. Roundabout of a suburb, low max speed limits, and fairly grass-is-not-lava type of town, probably err to having safe pedestrian access.
I have no additional context with your case, photos and location specifics may help us think about the specific instance accurately.
Where I live this is a Pokéstop. Cannot provide pictures besides Google Maps screenshots because this is a way where cars are going up top 80kmh. It is a public fitness station (never saw anyone there), but it is also cleary not safe for pedestrian access. There is no pedestrian crossing, no traffic lights, no “stop” signs and there is not even proper sidewalks where its entrance is supposed to be. I never even tried to report this place because ever time I take an Uber and pass by this avenue, the speed doenst allow me to spin any Pokéstop.
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You can safely access it. Case closed.
This does strike to me as an odd urban decision. Looking at your screenshot, the pedestrian lane seems to cut off on both sides (at the butterfly exit even!! What in the world). The fitness station has existed prior to 2011 based on the streetviews so it is possible it was a contiguous path until it wasn’t?
Even more odd, there are pedestrians shown on at least two views (or jaywalkers, odd it was caught within months from each other).
If you ever want to try to report it, the help chat may be an avenue for you. I’d personally wait and hope someone local can chime into how this place is though.
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