[Talk-us] Request revert on Changeset #33669446

[Tod Fitch]

It is my understanding that when you see a CalTrans “Begin Freeway” sign it is indicating the section ahead is free of cross traffic (no intersections without grade separation and on/off ramps). That is, freeway implies limited access. And when you see a “End Freeway” sign there will be possible cross traffic ahead. Driving south on US 101 from Salinas there are numerous end/begin freeway signs bracketing each area with possible cross traffic (often service roads to farms that you’d never really notice without the help of those end freeway signs). Last I checked, that section of US101 is largely tagged as trunk which makes sense to me even though when driving it you are inclined to think of it as a freeway.

I believe that as long as there is at least a solid barrier between opposing traffic and access is limited to slip/link/ramp ways then that section is classified as a freeway by CalTrans.

On the other hand, there is a nearly 40 mile sections of CA152 between Casa De Fruita and I-5 which at either end have miles of limited access but which I think are offically non-freeway (tagged as trunk in OSM). So it could be that the length of the limited access section is taken into consideration by CalTrans when deciding to put up a “begin freeway” sign.

Cheers,
Tod

> On Sep 2, 2015, at 3:30 PM, Paul Johnson <baloo at ursamundi.org> wrote:
> 
> . . .   Caltrans calls a 4 lane undivided highway a freeway if it's got ramps, but I'm not sure anybody would consider the broad scope of what some American DOT's call a freeway to be the strict and only thing that makes it a freeway in OSM terms.
>