When to use track roads or tertiary roads etc. Newfoundland, Canada

[Andrew_F]

The 4 examples really don’t meet the Tertiary definition. To move from unclassified to Tertiary “A road linking small settlements, or the local centres of a large town or city.”
While I think Unclassified may be better I usually won’t bother to change a road 1 level unless something really is out of sorts. It is why I do pay more attention to the difference between Unmaintained Track Road (not suitable for all cars and vehicles,) and unclassified (which is the level most any vehicle can drive without worry about damaging a vehicle.

Paved or unpaved really does not matter moving beyond unclassified although most higher level roads are paved that should not be a primary factor in making the decision.

Getting out of the woods is not a factor in determining if a road is a Tertiary Road, an unclassified road is a good quality road that will get you in or out.

@GnasherNF

When I started mapping, there were not many unpaved roads mapped in Newfoundland. Most roads that were mapped were tagged as secondary and tertiary roads, so I used them as the example to follow and made most of my roads either secondary or tertiary. The last link listed above is an excellent example as those roads were added in 2012 (not by me) as all secondary. I have actually been downgrading these roads, NOT upgrading them as stated. Feel free to examine the history of these ways to verify.

I only realized there was an issue with tagging these roads as secondary/tertiary when I noticed all the roads I was adding were being changed to highway=track with no tracktype applied. I am willing to admit my mistakes and change the way I tag. I already have, and will continue to remain open to change as it comes up.

Let me clearly state - I want these road networks to be accurate. That is why I add them. I do not want them to be inaccurate.

Traffic patterns on the unpaved roads in Newfoundland are similar to roads in a city. In a city, residential roads lead to tertiary roads, which lead to secondary roads, which lead to primary roads, and then to trunk roads, each carrying more traffic. In the rural areas, tracks lead to roads, which sometimes lead to tertiary roads which cover or link larger areas, which then lead to the paved road network. If you are navigating the woods (why else use a map?), a tertiary road will get you out, and are generally wider and better maintained.

Here are some examples of unpaved roads I tag as tertiary:

1. https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/146628702 - starts here and continues west, only broken by bridges. Over 60km long and links paved highways, and connects all of the roads and buildings in between to the paved network.
2. https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/146236518 - starts here and continues east. Over 90 km long and only broken by bridges. Again, links all roads and tracks and buildings in between to the paved road network on both ends.
3. https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/146220394 - stretches east and west along the south side of Red Indian Lake. Over 70km long and links to the paved road network and the nearest town of Millertown to the east. There are a lot of side roads along this route and it is very easy to get lost in unmapped, dead-end roads.
4. https://www.openstreetmap.org/way/146307435 - connects the TCH in the south to the paved Botwood highway in the east. All other roads and tracks and buildings in this area connect to the paved network through these tertiary roads.

It is important that these unpaved roads are tagged as unpaved. If a mapper has worries about people accidentally getting routed onto these roads (which OSM isn’t responsible for) then note that routing software gives priority to paved networks and most times will only route onto unpaved roads if paved roads are not available.