[Talk-us] Trunk

Greg Troxel gdt at lexort.com
Fri Oct 6 13:53:33 UTC 2017


Richie Kennedy <richiekennedy56 at gmail.com> writes:

> On Thu, Oct 5, 2017 at 7:48 PM, Paul Johnson <baloo at ursamundi.org> wrote:
>
>> Alternatively, a single
>> carriageway that is limited access, ie, no intersections, no driveways, only
>> ramps (eg, Chickasaw Turnpike in Oklahoma).  Essentially, almost a motorway
>> but not quite there.
>
> I *strongly* dispute Paul's assertion that a highway that has fully
> controlled  access but is single carriageway should be "trunk" instead
> of "motorway." Access control, not number of lanes, should be the
> primary guidance behind a motorway or trunk classification.

I'm with Paul here.  To be motorway, there are three critical
characteristics:

  divided
  >=2 lanes each direction (so passing is possible)
  limited access

If those aren't all true, then it just isn't a motorway.  (I gather
there is a road in Alaska labeled Interstate that doesn't meet all
those, and I don't mind if the locals want to make an exception.  But if
it isn't signed I-, then I don't think there should be exceptions.)



To answer Martijn's question, I also agree with Paul that "trunk" is
something that has a substantial part of the feel of a motorway.  It
might be only one lane in each direction (in NE we do not use the term
super two), it might not be really divided, and it might have occasional
driveways (at most one every quarter mile on average?)  or at-grade
intersections with lights every few miles.

We should realize that the current tags are the result of a long
historical process, including a few mappers that had a minority few that
there should be more higher-classification roads, and did massive
amounts of armchair retagging.
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