[OSM-talk] Motorways and Motorway_link

[Lester Caine]

Richard Bullock wrote:
>> (Trim the crap and return to sanity ;) )
>> The definition in the UK would mean that motorway and motorway_link ARE 
>> always
>> one way and anything that needed to be two way would not be flagged as
>> 'motorway' but no doubt parallels in other countries are not quite so 
>> clear cut?
>> Perhaps the OSM definition of motorway should include the restriction of a
>> single direction carriageway and move anything else to 'trunk'?
>>
> The UK definition is any road defined as a motorway. Anything beyond 
> http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bild:Zeichen_330.svg this sign is a motorway.
> 
> In the UK we even have single-carriageway sections of motorway.
> 
> e.g. 
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=53.71933&lon=-2.63209&zoom=16&layers=B000FTF 
> here
> 
> It's not a sliproad - it's really single carriageway - and it has 
> blue-backed motorway signs. It has all of the usual motorway regulations 
> applying - no cycles, no pedestrians, no learners - you can drive a car 
> legally at 70mph on it (but given the length of it, it's only easy to do so 
> in the downhill direction with most cars) etc.
> 
> There's another one here - part of the A601(M)
> http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=54.12654&lon=-2.74652&zoom=16&layers=B000FTF
> 
> These should be motorways on OSM - they are in reality. Personally, I tag 
> motorways and motorway_links with oneway=yes if they are oneway. That way we 
> don't go making any false assumptions. 

I stand corrected on the two direction sections BUT the examples you give ARE 
motorway_links rather than motorway. Most of the links like this that I 
frequent have now been divided with a barrier. And a word of warning the 
'Maximum speed' for a single carriageway road in the UK is 60 MPH. This 
applies to these links up to the 'start of motorway' sign which may not be 
actually at the end of the link - I've seen traffic cops with speed guns on a 
couple of roads that merge into the motorway ;)

-- 
Lester Caine - G8HFL
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