[Talk-us] Historic 66 as highway=trunk in OK

[Bradley White]

> For example, US Hwy 101 is the main route connecting the cities (e.g.
> Eureka) and towns along the coast of northern California. Right now
> only some segments are tagged as highway=trunk. I would like to
> upgrade all of it to highway=trunk, up to Hwy 199, where most traffic
> leaves 101 and heads to I-5, at Crescent City.

I did this a year or two ago, then changed it back following the
previous time this discussion came up last year. Someone else has
recently changed it back to trunk in its entirety as you describe (as
well as US 395, CA 70); I explained in a changeset comment that the
"major intercity highway where no motorway exists" definition (per
Highway:International_equivalence) is contentious and not commonly
used, but that I have no plans on reverting their changes.

Caltrans doesn't appear to have "divided" as a requirement for an
expressway build, or even necessarily a freeway (See:(California)
State Highway Map 2005; David Rumsey Map Collection) - these terms are
used to describe the level of access control on a given highway. US
101 through Redwood Ntl Park is signed with "Freeway Entrance" and is
fully access controlled, but is an undivided 4-lane road. Many 2-lane,
undivided roads are considered expressways in California, for example:

- Vasco Road connecting Antioch & Livermore
- Portions of CA 4 west of Angels Camp
- CA 108 east of Sonora (fully access controlled 2-lane road)

Once you know what to look for - reduced access to adjacent
properties, smoothed road geometry (esp. when bypassing old highways),
hard shoulders, usually 65 mph - they aren't too hard to differentiate
from conventional 2-lane highways with no access control. Where these
are obvious I generally tag them as trunk roads as opposed to primary.
Specifically in the case of CA 108, I reject that a fully access
controlled two-lane road is anything less than a trunk, if we have
decided to use 'trunk' to mean 'expressway'. California doesn't use
AASHTO definitions so I won't either.

Reno, NV has a couple urban arteries that straddle the divide between
trunk and primary (specifically: McCarran Blvd/NV 659, Pyramid Hwy/NV
445 north of McCarran, Veterans Pkwy, foothills portion of Mt. Rose
Hwy/NV 431). These roads carry traffic at speeds higher than other
nearby arteries (45-55 mph as opposed to 40 mph). They are built to
the highest level of access control specified by Washoe RTC -
generally no direct access to properties, except for retail/commercial
areas (where access is quite frequent), or rural areas where no other
roads provide access to properties. They range from undivided w/
center turn lane to divided with concrete jersey barriers & headlight
blinders (similar to a freeway). The majority of these roadways have
bike lanes, and many have sidewalks. They are quite similar to San
Jose's expressway system, except for a lack of grade-separated
interchanges. Are these primary, or trunk? I don't really know. They
currently sit at an awkward mix of trunk and primary depending on how
definitively myself and others think they are "expressways" or not.

I don't deny that "divided highway with partial control of access" is
a rigorous definition, with which it is certainly possible to tag
unambiguously with. I just question whether it is a good choice in the
US to use 'trunk' to mean 'expressway' in the same way that 'motorway'
means 'freeway', when the US has a formal freeway system, but lacks a
formal expressway system. Most other countries that also lack a formal
expressway system do not use the trunk/expressway definition (UK,
Canada, etc). In my area, sticking strictly to "divided highway with
partial control of access" means very few highways at all will see
'trunk' tagging. Certainly, this reflects what's on the ground here if
we use this definition - but why use a definition that either has to
be used ambiguously or seldom at all?

I support orthogonalizing expressways & trunk by using
'expressway=yes/no' for access control (maybe
access_control=full/partial/no?), 'highway=trunk' to mean non-freeway
road with national-level importance, and using 'oneway' to denote
whether a highway is divided or not. Then let rendering decide how to
draw the road from there. Want to see formal expressways drawn
separately? 'Expressway=yes' & 'oneway=yes'. Want a more general view
of the most important US highways? 'Highway=trunk'.

As it stands, I will continue to use 'trunk' on any section of highway
that is somewhere between a freeway and a conventional 2-lane highway
per US consensus. Hopefully one of these days consensus will shift.