[Talk-ca] [Talk-us] NY Bicycle Routes

[Adam Glauser]

Sam's message has me somewhat confused as to who said what.  In terms of 
cycling tagging in North America, where the legal framework is fairly 
similar* most places, my approach has been as follows, FWIW.  First of 
all, it gets confusing quickly because we don't have much in the way of 
bicycle-specific laws.

LCN makes sense for roads designated as "recommended" cycling routes. 
Cities like Toronto have roads and paths which have been deemed to be 
safe for cycling, which may or may not have cycling-specific infrastructure.

RCN I'm not really sure about.  To me, the Route Verte in Quebec would 
be a good example, though practical and perhaps linguistic reasons have 
led to it being classified NCN.

I think that the sections of the Trans-Canada Trail that allow bicycle 
use would be properly tagged with NCN.

As for what is useful for cyclists to determine what is a "good" cycling 
route, I think that the maxspeed and cycleway tags should be the highest 
priority.  There are probably more definitions of what determines a good 
route than there are cyclists, so simply giving information about the 
infrastructure will allow each person to determine the best route for 
their own level of skill.

* A notable exception being bylaws regarding the legality of bicycles on 
sidewalks.