[Talk-us] Usage of highway=track in the United States

[Clifford Snow]

On Fri, Feb 19, 2021 at 3:57 PM Brian M. Sperlongano <zelonewolf at gmail.com>
wrote:

> The usage of the tag highway=track is controversial.  Through
> discussion with both US-based and foreign mappers, it is apparent that
> this tag is used differently in the US than it is in the rest of the
> world.  Further, the usage in the US appears to be different from how
> it is documented on the OSM wiki[1].
>
> The wiki description is "roads for mostly agricultural use, forest tracks
> etc."
>

Around me highway=track is usually associated with some logging roads
located in the mountains. But not exclusively. Some logging roads are added
as unclassified. While they mostly serve as roads for logging trucks they
have other uses. Most of the logging roads have a metal gate blocking
access although only a few have been mapped. The companies logging in the
area put up gates to protect their forests. Some farms the roads to the
fields are tagged as service and others as track. For agriculture use I
could go either way.

For a while people were showing logging roads as service since their
purpose was to pull logs out of the forest. I haven't seen much of that
recently.

>
> In the US, the 2007 TIGER import assigned highway=track to CFCC code
> A51, which is described as "Vehicular trail, road passable only by 4WD
> vehicle, unseparated".
>

Apparently around me Census never got the memo. They added logging roads as
residential. My county has been pretty much cleaned up but there is much
more to be done.

Best,
Clifford


-- 
@osm_washington
www.snowandsnow.us
OpenStreetMap: Maps with a human touch
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