[Talk-us] WikiProject US Bicycle Route System call for volunteers

[OSM Volunteer stevea]

As it is now spring (or fall), it’s that national biennial bicycle routes time of year!

Yes, AASHTO has ballots pending from state Departments of Transportation (DOTs) for new routes in the United States Bicycle Routing System (USBRS), like “proto-Interstates for bikes” (network=ncn in the USA).  OSM’s WIkiProject USBRS is version 1.6.  Wiki at https://wiki.osm.org/wiki/WikiProject_U.S._Bicycle_Route_System <https://wiki.osm.org/wiki/WikiProject_U.S._Bicycle_Route_System>

Known USBRS routes on the Spring 2016 AASHTO ballot are:

USBR 7 in Connecticut (new state, existing route, connects to Massachusetts)
USBR 10 in Idaho (realignment of existing route)
USBR 176 in Virginia (new route, spur off of 76)
USBR 621 in Georgia (new route, additional spur off of 21)
Note that while Georgia documentation references 721, it is believed this USBR's final number will be 621.

It can take hours, days, weeks to “gather” OSM editing resources (thank you!) to enter hundreds of kilometers of route data ready for approval, hence this post.  Should you wish to add or improve a USBR to OSM, please read our wiki, finding a cloud pointer for new “very high bar standard” state ballots.  Include on new route relations the tag state=proposed, removed after AASHTO approval.  Approval might occur soon after Memorial Day (we should find out for each route here, perhaps additional “surprise” routes).  Or, approval may be announced later in June, it is not known exactly when AASHTO publicizes results.

July 2015 OSM-US was granted explicit permission to add USBR ballots as they are made available to AASHTO by state DOTs.  (Again, we thank AASHTO for this permission; our letter is on cloud).  Procedures to enter these data, then delete state=proposed as routes become approved, are well-established over years of steady growth in the USBRS and careful coordination in this WikiProject.

Also, this WikiProject appreciates completion of routes from AASHTO’s Fall 2015 ballot:  USBR 7 in New Hampshire and USBRs 321 and 521 in Georgia.  These are yellow (partially complete) in our wiki, most others are green (done).  Cloud contents of ballots for as-yet-unentered-into-OSM routes begin to now “roll.”  That is, as DOT-submitted routes become fully entered into OSM and approved by AASHTO, they fall out of (are deleted from) the cloud.  New routes which are either pending or approved but as-yet-unentered-into-OSM, remain in the cloud.  We are “light chartreuse” (largely green, tinged yellowish by a last miles of incomplete route).

Thank you in advance for any additional energy this project might experience of the “just read our wiki and GO” style of participation we enjoy.  Perhaps you are inspired to download a ballot, enter route data and watch yet another national bike route blossom in OSM!  Well, OK:  OSM and OCM, OSM's “Cycle Map” layer.  Lonvia is an interesting layer, too:  routes approved and often signed, so simple a difference.  Like having two different pairs of binoculars.  Everybody wants to get this right, right?!

Checking my watch, it looks like our wiki remains frozen.  Hm, true, though our map seems live.  See you tomorrow? on wiki.  Much to digest.

Humbly and sincerely,

Steve All
WikiProject USBRS coordinator
California
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