[Talk-us] US Trunk road tagging

[Paul Johnson]

On Thu, May 6, 2021 at 3:04 PM Zeke Farwell <ezekielf at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, May 6, 2021, 3:25 PM Minh Nguyen <minh at nguyen.cincinnati.oh.us> wrote:
>>
>>
>> In traffic engineering jargon, "freeway" refers to a controlled-access
>> divided highway, while "expressway" refers to a limited-access divided
>> highway or sometimes a controlled-access undivided highway ("super
>> two").
>
> Minh, can you further explain the distinction between "limited-access" and "controlled-access"?  To me these terms seem synonymous.

Wikipedia has the best explanation that doesn't get too deep in the
weeds.  Suffice to say controlled access would be what we tag as
highway=motorway, with the exception that controlled access roads by
definition cannot end or have at-grade intersections, and anyone
suggesting highway=motorway should match that gets shouted down here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controlled-access_highway

Limited access is a bit more broad and also includes things like
bicycle freeways.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limited-access_road