[Tagging] highway=motorway and motorroad (implies)

Nathan Edgars II neroute2 at gmail.com
Sat Jun 12 17:22:55 BST 2010


John F. Eldredge wrote:
>If there are any motorways in the USA that allow bicycles, they would be unusual, and probably be roads under local or state jurisdiction, not federal (national) jurisdiction.

All highways in the US are under state or lower jurisdiction except
for those in the District of Columbia and other federal areas like
parks. The vast majority of Interstates are state-maintained;
city-maintained segments exist in Baltimore and New York City.

>The Interstate highway system, usually cited as the US equivalent of motorways, does not allow bicycles, animal-drawn vehicles, or mopeds (all because of their low speeds), but does allow motorcycles, automobiles, trucks, buses, etc.

Completely incorrect in the Western U.S., where Interstates were often
built right on top of the old surface roads (and even where not,
conditions are such that cycling along the Interstate shoulder is
safe):
http://www.azdot.gov/Highways/Traffic/standards/PGP/TM1030.pdf
http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/BIKEPED/docs/freeway_ban.pdf

Nobody who knows these roads would suggest that they're in a lower
class than the segments that prohibit bikes. They should be tagged
highway=motorway bicycle=yes or bicycle=designated.




More information about the Tagging mailing list