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

[Kevin Broderick]

Not surprisingly, I tend to fall into the same camp as the other New
England mappers—a way that is rugged enough to encourage 4WD or high
clearance but still wide enough for at least a Jeep or side-by-side is,
IMO, most often a track. Many can be traveled by cars, especially rentals
or those driven by teenagers and maintained by their parents, but usually
at very low speed. My general standard is that if I can drive 25 MPH or
more in a normal passenger vehicle, it's probably an unpaved, unclassified
road; if I have to operate at lower speed and pick a line, it's probably a
track.

I realize that's a physical distinction rather than, on its face, a
functional one; however, it's the distinction I picked up at some point
early in mapping and that has become ingrained. Since it matches pretty
closely to what others (at least locally) are doing, I'm comfortable that
it works in the sense of conveying appropriate information about the way,
including the notion that routing via it should be either avoided or incur
a significant time cost.

I agree with Zeke that there's not much implied in the way of access= by
highway=track. Where I know a way to be a public right-of-way and am
updating it, I will usually add motor_vehicle=yes; when I know it to be
private or permissive, I will indicate that as well.

I'd also note that, IMO, some more urban-oriented travelers tend to
underestimate the role and number of unpaved roads (both what I'd consider
a road and what I'd consider a track) in rural road networks, and that
extends to mappers.

On Fri, Feb 19, 2021 at 10:26 PM Zeke Farwell <ezekielf at gmail.com> wrote:

> Here are some images I've collected of the type of thing I generally tag
> as highway=track:  https://ibb.co/album/N976VK
>
> Basically rural routes used by some vehicles, but where maintenance is
> minimal or non-existent, and 4 wheel drive may be a good idea or even a
> requirement for not getting stuck.  A few are well maintained enough that
> they might serve as a driveway in a rural area.  In that case I might go
> with highway=service, surface=unpaved instead.
>
> It doesn't seem to me that any legal access information can be implied by
> highway=track.  Some are public.  Some are private.
>
> --
> Zeke
>
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-- 
Kevin Broderick
ktb at kevinbroderick.com
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