[Tagging] FWD: Re: narrow=yes, vs lanes=1, vs width

[Rob Savoye]

On 7/27/20 10:10 AM, Paul Johnson wrote:

> 3 and 4 digit forest service roads?  They're there exclusively there for
> the benefit of forestry (namely logging, replanting and fire
> suppression).  If they happen to help someone else get where they're
> going, great, but that's not what they're built and maintained for. 

  Actually around here, almost all roads have a 3-4 digit reference
because we're in a national forest. They apply to most every "highway",
residential, ATV tracks, hiking trails, and driveways, and aren't
exclusive at all. Even the county maintained roads have a ref:usfs. The
ref:usfs often changes at intersections, and the ref for the county road
may not. Much of the map data (Tiger, etc...) is really out of date and
wildly wrong, so I go there and see what the sign says it is.

  The only roads exclusively for forestry or emergency access have a
locked gate with a USFS lock. Non USFS locks are for private driveways.
Some gates have two locks, one for forestry access, the other for
home-owners. Both are usually posted as well. Fire fighter officers
carry special master keys for these, or occasionally resort to
bolt-cutters or chainsaws.

  Most of these roads weren't built by the forest service, they are
left-over from the mining era in the 1800s, and pre-date the formation
of the forest service. They just adopted them, and stuck reference
numbers on them. Lately many are being closed off, so I've been doing a
lot of field trips to update things based on reality.

	- rob -