[Talk-us] US highway classification

[Nathan Mills]

 On Fri, 27 May 2011 09:26:41 -0400, Nathan Edgars II wrote:

> No, trunk is also used for a major intercity highway that's not a
> freeway. Take a look at the UK and their network of trunks.

 I'm sorry, I thought I posted to talk-us. My mistake. ;)

 Seems to me that trunk has no meaning if it is used in that way. In the 
 UK, roads are classified based on the national government's 
 classification of the roads (hence the confusing-to-us 'unclassified' 
 tag. Since we don't have a single overarching national road network like 
 that, I don't think that's a relevant model to use here. Generally 
 speaking, I think any divided and controlled access highway probably 
 ought to be tagged as a motorway barring specific local circumstances 
 that cause it to deserve a demotion and any divided, but merely limited 
 access and not fully controlled access, highway probably ought to be 
 tagged as trunk barring specific local circumstances.

 The 'major intercity' road ought to be tagged as primary unless there's 
 a specific reason to upgrade, IMO. That leaves the data more useful to 
 end users.

 Also, I don't know how major a road between Dumas, TX and Texline, TX 
 really is. If it weren't a US highway, I'd probably demote it all the 
 way to secondary.