[OSM-newbies] The classic U.S. gravel road

[john at jfeldredge.com]

My mother's family moved from the Northeastern USA to California, by automobile, in the late 1920's.  From what she told me, and what I have read, many of the roads in the desert portions of the American West in those days didn't even have gravel on them; they were just a collection of ruts left by previous vehicles, with, if you were lucky, a few signposts at junctions.  It took her family three weeks to drive across the USA, which today would take four or five days by car, or a few hours by plane.

I can well believe that some side roads would still be in this condition.

-------Original Email-------
Subject :Re: [OSM-newbies] The classic U.S. gravel road
From  :mailto:techlady at techlady.com
Date  :Thu Jan 06 14:39:55 America/Chicago 2011


John,

         Thanks for your comment.
         For an education on tracks, check out the Navajo Reservation in Arizona, where there are true "tracks" everywhere. Before the advent of modern roadways, people just made their own, and in desert country a pickup truck or even a horse-drawn wagon can cut a significant track. Because it's a desert, nothing grows back for decades. So they all are still there, mostly abandoned by their makers but visible on Yahoo and Bing. Luckily, the Navajo now have a sophisticated GIS Department with good maps, especially for the roads they maintain. But, it's still an adventure mapping it all, and the place is as big as New England!

 Best wishes,

 Charlotte

 
 At 12:04 PM 1/6/2011, you wrote:
 So far, the only road that I have tagged as a track was a one-lane, unnamed, and poorly-maintained gravel road laid out in an otherwise-overgrown field, and intended for use by trucks maintaining a series of billboards along an Interstate Highway (a motorway, to use the British term).

 -------Original Email-------
 Subject :Re: [OSM-newbies] The classic U.S. gravel road
 From  :
mailto:rwelty at averillpark.net <mailto:rwelty at averillpark.net> 
 Date  :Thu Jan 06 13:37:24 America/Chicago 2011

 
 On 1/6/11 2:23 PM, Charlotte Wolter wrote: Hello everyone,
  
          In the U.S. most rural and some suburban areas have mostly two-lane gravel roads. These are not tracks. They are regularly maintained, usually by the county. They often follow the one-mile grid lines common in the United States.
          However, I haven't been able to find an equivalent in OSM tagging. They are not tracks, which implies something opportunistic and not maintained by government. The photo accompanying "unclassified" shows a narrow paved road like many rural roads I have seen in the U.K. But, these are not narrow--they usually are at least two lanes wide--and they are not paved.
          So, how should I tag them, or do we need something new for the United States?
  i generally use unclassified (or sometimes residential if there is a lot of
  housing) with surface=gravel. set maxspeed as appropriate.
  
  i would only use track for an unnamed road, most of the gravel roads
  have names or street numbers in the US. take a look at the road grid
  in rural Iowa sometime. almost all gravel, heavily used and maintained,
  all numbered/named.
  
  richard
  
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