Re: [Talk-us] highway tags in the US
For instance, OR217 and US26 west of Portland are both divided, multi-lane, limited access highways. Despite not being interstates, they *ARE* motorways. Hmm, are you sure? maybe they just look like motorways; there are a lot of almost-motorway roads Hmm. I'm confused by that. I don't quite understand what it would mean for something to just look like a motorway but not be one. As far as I can tell, this is an open community project, and terms have to be defined by the group to be useful. There is no US Department of Transportation statement declaring what kind of road qualifies as a motorway, nor what kind doesn't. So we need to muddle through it ourselves. There are an awful lot of people in the US who recognize what a freeway is, regardless of whether they know which bureaucrat signs the check for the little bumpy dots between the lanes. If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we should call it a duck. If it is high-speed multi-lane restricted access way with cloverleaf entrances, we should call it a motorway. Regardless of whether it is part of the US Interstate Highway system or not. I hope I don't sound confrontational. Are we saying the same thing? I've definitely been pondering this myself as to how to classify or judge these tags. Good discussion. - Alan ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] highway tags in the US
On Fri, 2008-02-29 at 11:02 -0600, Alex Mauer wrote: Dave Hansen wrote: For instance, OR217 and US26 west of Portland are both divided, multi-lane, limited access highways. Despite not being interstates, they *ARE* motorways. Hmm, are you sure? maybe they just look like motorways; there are a lot of almost-motorway roads I'm pretty sure I know one when I see one these days. http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/index.php/Map_Features A restricted access major divided highway, normally with 2 or more running lanes plus emergency hard shoulder. Equivalent to the Freeway, Autobahn etc.. Bingo. It's truly restricted access. No access except from onramps. It's divided. It also has emergency shoulders. Is is effectively an interstate. -- Dave ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/talk-us
Re: [Talk-us] highway tags in the US
Karl Newman wrote: Agreed. The criteria listed on the Wiki page promote too many highways to motorways. It's too hard to distinguish between them; in dense urban areas you could end up with a lot of motorways. It seems to me the motorway tag should be reserved for interstates, with some exceptions for major US highways. You left out tertiary from your descriptions. I would see tertiary as an important thoroughfare road through a town--higher speeds and less traffic controls than unclassified. How about these guidelines, based on speed limits and lanes: * motorway: Interstate, 2+ travel lanes, ramp access only, speed limit 65 MPH+ * trunk: US highway, 2+ travel lanes, ramp access only, speed limit 60-70 MPH * primary: US highway, 1-2 travel lanes, or State highway, 2 travel lanes, speed limit 55-65 MPH, can have occasional stoplights/traffic controls * secondary: State highway, 1-2 travel lanes, or larger county highway, speed limit 45-55 MPH * tertiary: County highway, other unnumbered thoroughfare, speed limit 40-50 MPH * unclassified: urban commercial district or rural low-density housing, normally no direct driveway access to housing in urban or suburban areas, speed limit 30-40 MPH * missing_tag: It seems like there needs to be another classification for residential branch roads which are main roads through subdivisions but still have direct driveway access to housing. * residential: urban or suburban roads primarily for providing access to housing, speed limit 15-25 MPH I agree, with the modification that trunk doesn't need to be ramp access only, and that county highways are secondary. I've used tertiary for the missing_tag you describe, as this seems to be in line with the European tertiary roads. (these comments are also on the wiki, I believe. -Alex Mauer hawke ___ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org http://lists.openstreetmap.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/talk-us
