On Tue, Jun 13, 2017 at 10:49 AM, Paul Johnson <ba...@ursamundi.org> wrote: > I only saw this since NE2 had mass-upgraded everything in the US highway > system to trunk nationwide. Typically, trunk in the US has been meant to > mean an expressway, ie, basically a freeway, but it might have intersections > (the midwest is full of these, Tesla's first autopilot crash happened on > such an expressway). Or it might be fully controlled, but only a single > carriageway (Cimarron Turnpike). Or it's dual carriageway, but only one > lane on a carriageway (thankfully, this is rare, the only one I remember > driving on appears to be 2+2 now). Odd beasts that are more controlled than > a primary, yet, not a freeway.
Yeah, 'trunk' and 'unclassified' are odd beasts in the US because we don't really have legal classifications corresponding to the ones of those names in several European countries. I pretty much follow the same practice as you. Trunks that I'm aware of having travelled include Taconic Parkway (most of the crossings are now elevated, but grade crossings do remain and are quite hazardous), US 7 in Vermont (crossings elevated, but the carriageway is usually two lanes plus a climbing lane), Queens Boulevard in New York City (an urban surface street, but with four median-separated carriageways) and any number of urban ways with dual carriageways and 'major' crossings elevated, but at-grade minor intersections and even driveways opening on the way. 'Unclassified,' I wind up using as something of a catchall for "isn't primarily residential, and serves the hinterland rather than connecting two places" If a way is the main route, say, between two villages, that's at least 'tertiary'. How the road is placarded hardly enters into the equation. There are placarded and numbered county roads around here that deserve every designation from 'track' to 'trunk'. I think I could still find placards on some county roads that have been de facto abandoned since the 1940s and are grown to trees - but remain public rights-of-way that the hiking clubs encourage people to use on foot. Anything 'unclassified' and higher, I explicitly tag surface and smoothness if either is significant. "highway=tertiary surface=compacted smoothness=very_bad" is not uncommon out in the countryside. I'm less assiduous with 'track', which can be presumed to have a less-than-friendly surface to drive on. _______________________________________________ Talk-us mailing list Talk-us@openstreetmap.org https://lists.openstreetmap.org/listinfo/talk-us
