[Talk-us] "highway" tags in the US

[Bone Killian]

am12 at bolis.com wrote:
>> ghway system.
>>     
>
> I have to disagree.  Once some years back the major freeway between San
> Jose and Oakland was called California state highway 17.  The next day it
> was Interstate 880.  What changed?  Nothing, except funding.
>
>   
I see your point. but the name of the road *did* change.  I think the 
fact that it was a separated freeway with cloverleafs, etc is apparent 
from the structure of the nodes and ways, not from the tags.  When it 
became an interstate, the name changed, and the shields changed.  
Navigation software would start saying "turn left on Interstate 880"  
instead of "turn left on CA 17" .

Maybe (by way of compromise) we should use two different tags, one that 
describes the physical characteristics of the road, and one that 
describes the administrative status of the road?

So, in the example of I-880, the tags should change like this

from:
highway=motorway
admin=california_highway
name=State Highway 17

to:

highway=motorway
admin=interstate_highway
name=Interstate 880


Yes/No/Maybe?