[Tagging] Track grades

[Bryce Nesbitt]

On Tue, Jul 8, 2014 at 12:00 PM, Jesse Crawford <jesse at jbcrawford.us> wrote:
>
> As a second but similar question, off-highway vehicles are a popular
> pasttime here and there are many tracks intended for ATVs or dirtbikes, not
> wide enough for SUVs. Is there a best practice for tagging these types of
> paths?
>

I have the same question, having just visited a region with numerous ranch
"roads" exactly the width of the tires on an ATV,
but too narrow for a regular car or truck.  Tagging these with
*highway=track* would be misleading, as would *highway=path*.

An ATV has a track width of about 30 inches (from wheel to wheel).



The three common dirt road widths around here are:
car sized, ATV sized, motorcycle sized.

---
Also many many "4wd" roads are perfectly passable by 2wd passenger cars
during good weather.  The issue that stops
a 2wd car is during dry weather is a need for "high clearance" or the
presence of deep sand.  In determining the passibility of a road
the important characteristics seem to be:

   - Width [minimum]
   - Surface firmness (mud, gravel, sand)  [typical & worst case]
   - Clearance required (rutting, jutting rocks) [typical & worst case].
   - Snow accumulation [season]

I've taken a low clearance 2wd car on many a 4wd road.  But not in bad
weather.  And not all 4wd roads due to either clearance or surface type.
There are no hard lines here: it depends on the skill of the driver, the
speed, the willingness to move rocks out of the way, and the season.
A high clearance 2wd car, with a skilled driver, can tackle almost anything
that resembles a road.

Often a short statement makes the road condition clear:  description=Snow
into early July or so.  Deep ruts form in winter, but are generally graded
smooth in early spring.
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