I was wondering what the consensus is concerning the beginning and ends of motorways? The wiki provides no guidance
I would guess that a motorway should be mapped between the location of the signs of where it begins and ends
However, in my area there are two locations where this is not followed:
A “motorway start” sign is mapped here Node: 9821605008 | OpenStreetMap and a “motorway end” sign just north of it on the westbound carriageway. However, the road is still mapped as a motorway west of these signs for 1.5 km. Is this wrong? Maybe it should be mapped as motorway from the last point where entering it can be avoided (this node Node: Хемус (2450465077) | OpenStreetMap )?
This road section in a tunnel Way: Автомагистрала Хемус (17045989) | OpenStreetMap and the continuation eastbound on a bridge are mapped as motorway, though there are signs “motorway end” just before the tunnel and “motorway start” just after the bridge (these ways are also correctly tagged with shoulder=no) so the section does not have motorway status. Is it wrong to map it as a motorway? Note that the section can only be reached by motorway-status roads.
I would not expect this. These signs are (at least in Poland) often in the middle of motorway link, say at OpenStreetMap
It makes no sense to split it into parts and make it partially trunk_link (some person tried to force this mapping and failed).
Also, in Poland expressways are basically built with highway=motorway standards and should be also mapped as highway=motorway despite having different signs (these roads are tagged instead as highway=trunk - misusing this tag but that is a separate problem).
For classifications that correspond to a legal situation within a country. The pattern highway=X+X=no/yes can be used to map the difference between what would be a logical classification or change in classification in OSM. And the actual start/stop of the legal situation
So basically, to complete a classification until a logical place can be found to change it you can use highway=motorway+motorway=no.
The start of a motorway should be when the road starts, where somewhere within reason of that road there is a start motorway sign.
I had a similar question and it looks like the common understanding is that if the next crossing is not to far away the remaining part should remain motorway/motorway_link.
For 1) I would contact the administration for the highway, is this maybe some old set of signs that should been removed when the highway was extended?
For the tunnel, based on mapillary it looks to me the eastbound tube did not have the signs “ever” and for the westbound tunnel the signs are removed somewhere around 2020
That a motorway link should be mapped fully as highway=motorway_link no matter where the sign is was clear to me. My question is about when a major road (typically highway=trunk) changes into a highway=motorway. The consensus so far seems to be that it should be mapped as changing at a convenient junction, not too far away from the sign, and not at the sign itself.
It is the motorway that is new (and so are the signs): the road west of the Shell petrol station used to be highway=trunk and used to continue straight east to what is now trunk road 1&6 (Botevgradsko Shosse).
Lack of signage is another issue in Bulgaria: they sometimes get stolen and sold as scrap metal… The signs at the eastern end (at the bridge) are still there; I just mapped them. It does make the legal status unclear though so we have to make assumptions about where it starts and ends when signage is lacking. “end of speed limit” signs are also very rare in Bulgaria, so mappers here are used to have to make assumptions.
The tunnel/bridge section does not have junctions nearby, so it seems to me the best solution is to map it as a trunk road between where the actual motorway properties end and begin (i.e. where the speed limit signs are and the shoulder disappears). Agree?
Not sure is it happening anywhere - but if non-motorway road (for example, has traffic lights) was officially signed as motorway we should not map it as a motorway.
Even more reason to contact the road authority on what the intend is.
For the tunnel, I see the maxspeed for the tunnel is 80 km/h while the connecting roads are 140 km/h so maybe the Bulgarian road authority made the choice not to use maxspeed signs but change the classification of the road.
I suspect that tunnel may not fulfill some minimal criteria for motorway infrastructure (say, shoulder needs to be 3m wide but is 0.5m wide), so it cannot be legally signed as motorway.
highway:class:*= could simply be class:*= . But then apparently Key:class - OpenStreetMap Wiki has been deprecated. There is overlap with designation= , if it doesn’t have to be limited to legal restriction. So I don’t find it worth extending yet. Key:designation - OpenStreetMap Wiki
This use of =motoroway + motorway=no has already been documented. However, I have thought it can be changed to eg motorway==from (downstream after end of motorway sign) vs =to (upstream before start of motorway sign), or =ended vs =upcoming / =approach / =approaching / =imminent / etc . Key:motorway - OpenStreetMap Wiki
There are maxspeed signs too, even more than there are motorway begin/end signs
That is indeed the case, there is hardly any shoulder at all in the tunnel and on the bridge. The question is how to map it…
There are shoulders at all other tunnels and bridges of that motorway, and no motorway begin/end signs at those tunnels/bridges.
I think this is also the prevailing practice for maxspeed=*, since some jurisdictions have overriding laws that prevent the speed limit sign from being posted immediately at the beginning of the speed zone, for safety reasons.
