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

[Zeke Farwell]

+1.  In Vermont we have more miles of dirt road than paved road:
https://vtrans.vermont.gov/planning/maps/stats
These should not all be converted to highway=track!

I think it would be good to state on the wiki where the line is between
unclassified/residential and track if we can find it.  Seems pretty clear
to me that "good for most cars" = unclassified/residential, and "only good
for off road vehicles" = track.  But the middle ground of "fine for high
clearance vehicles, sketchy for others, might need 4WD, but still an
official town road" is less clear.  There are quite a few of these in my
area currently tagged as "highway=track", but maybe "highway=unclassified,
surface=unpaved, smoothness=very_bad" would be more appropriate?  I'm happy
to start converting roads like this if we have consensus and it's
documented on the wiki.


On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 3:15 PM brad <bradhaack at fastmail.com> wrote:

> +1   Most the roads around me, or places that I've visited,  that are good
> dirt or gravel are not 'track'.    IMHO a track is a poorly maintained 2
> track or jeep road.
>
>
> On 2/24/21 12:06 PM, Clifford Snow wrote:
>
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 10:57 AM Brian M. Sperlongano <
> zelonewolf at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> So, I realize that "any dirt or gravel road" is the most broad
>> interpretation of highway=track, but if you follow the ref, it's taken
>> directly from the West Virginia wiki page which discusses road
>> classification in that state.  I took that at face value that WV mappers
>> actually have that interpretation.  Since I haven't exhaustively looked at
>> all of the state wiki pages, I don't know if that's a unique interpretation
>> or is an interpretation that is representative of a broader subset of US
>> mappers.  The goal of writing that section in the wiki is to document how
>> we actually map in the absence of any prescriptive guidance from community
>> consensus.
>>
>> However, dear US mappers, if we as a community feel that this
>> interpretation sourced from WV's page is overbroad and not an appropriate
>> usage in the US, it is entirely within our power to form a consensus
>> otherwise and document that instead.
>>
> I have lived in a number of US states. I agree that definition is overly
> broad. For example, close friends live in a rural area with a dirt road
> leading to their property. It is well maintained and definitely not a track.
>
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