Despite a shift to GPS as the primary means of navigation for many airplanes, the National Airspace System is still mostly a network of routes defined by radio navigation. That’s changing. Newer T-routes are “airways” in the sense that they go between two points to form a road in the sky, but they are different in that those points exist only on a chart, and are navigated via GPS.
T-routes are shown in blue on low altitude en route charts and can be filed just like a Victor Airway. They are often found in busy Class B airspace as a means to more easily transition, but they can also be found where a navaid has been decommissioned and a route is still needed. Above Flight Level 180 you’ll find the same thing, but instead of a T-route, they are called Q-routes.
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