[Routing] Default speed limits / built-up areas (was: Re: generalized routing format - pre-computation)

[David Lynch]

On Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 13:15, Sascha Silbe
<sascha-ml-gis-osm-routing at silbe.org> wrote:
>> If you consider that the US
>> population more than doubled during the 20th century, you realize that the
>> majority of US town planning took place after the invention of the
>> motorcar.
>> This means you often get stretches of highway / motorway inside cities
>> with
>> large shoulders, embankments and railings so that it's safe to drive there
>> at high speed.

Also, the interstate network was built to run through the existing
centers of cities instead of around the edges, unlike most of the
motorway/autobahn class roads in Europe.

> So effectively you have high-speed roads with appropriate access
> restrictions (preventing people from entering them) running through the
> cities and once a road enters an area where people are allowed, there's a
> speed limit sign?

America is kind of a strange place when it comes to mixing high-speed
automobiles and non-motorized transport. I grew up not too far from a
city street with a 55 MPH (90 km/h) limit and sidewalks/pavements on
both sides, yet currently live blocks from a motorway with signs
banning bicycles and pedestrians, even though a heavily used access to
a hike/bike trail is located at one of the entrance ramps.

-- 
David J. Lynch
djlynch at gmail.com