[Talk-us] the meaning of trunk in the US

Richard Welty rwelty at averillpark.net
Mon Mar 22 02:25:40 GMT 2010


this discussion is triggered by a difference of opinion between myself 
and NE2 about
the classification of US 301 & FL A1A between Ocala, Florida and 
Jackonsville, Florida.
I'm bringing it up in the hopes of achieving concensus, in preference to 
having an edit war in
the database.

the discussions i have participated in/observed about trunk suggest that 
most of the US
mappers see it as a high speed, restricted access highway which has some 
grade level
crossings, usually with traffic lights or with stop signs for the low 
speed roads. the
number of such crossings are limited, and there are generally no 
driveways with direct
access.

however, there is apparently some language on the wiki about major 
intercity routes.
what i found in a quick dive into the wiki is this:
       http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Trunk#International_equivalence

*US* 	Divided highway without ramps.
Higher speeds (65+mph). This includes some US highways and some state 
highways.


so a week and a half ago, i drove US 301 from Ocala to Callahan,
and A1A from Callahan to I-95. i have driven this route a number of 
times, but this
was the first since i started working on this project, so i paid careful 
attention to the
nature of the road.

1) US 301 is divided, 2 lanes each way, from Ocala to I 10. It is not 
divided, 1 lane
     each way, from I 10 to Callahan.
2) at times, US 301 has speed limits of 65. passing through towns, its 
speed limit
     frequently drops to 35.
3) it is very lightly traveled, it is in fact quite overbuilt (probably 
when I 4 and I 95
     were completed, most of the traffic moved over to them.)
4) even in the 65mph divided sections, there are driveways directly 
connecting to the
     road
5) A1A from Callahan to I 95 is 1 lane each way for most of its route, 
with some
     divided/2 lanes each way close to I 95.

the 1 lane each way sections of US 301 and A1A have very much the 
character of ordinary
country highways.

i would argue at a minimum that the 2 lane sections do not even remotely 
qualify for
trunk. i really don't think, given the slow downs for the towns, the 
light traffic, and the
direct connections of driveways, that even the divided sections of A1A 
and US 301
qualify for trunk.

NE2, on the other hand, sees US 301/FL A1A as major intercity routes and 
wants them
to be trunk roads.

we really need a clear definition of what trunk is in the US.  opinions?

richard

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/talk-us/attachments/20100321/847f6a5f/attachment.html>


More information about the Talk-us mailing list