Tag:highway=motorway

The tag highway=motorway is used to identify the highest-performance roads within a territory.

Typically highway=motorway should be used only on roads with control of access, or selected roads with limited access depending on the local context and prevailing convention.

Generally roads with control of access are proclaimed in government documents, and have an official status as a controlled access road, sometimes this can include the term motorway, freeway or expressway among others in the road name. These kinds of roads usually have a special designation by the law, with a set of laws specifically applied on them. Generally some restrictions are placed on the kind of vehicles or traffic which can be on roads which should be classed as highway=motorway, such as no pedestrians, bicycles, livestock, horses and so on.

Selected limited access roads which can be classed as motorways include those that:

• Generally resemble a controlled access road and must be free from intersection controls (such as traffic-signals, rotaries and roundabouts, and stop signs or stop markings);
• Typically have at least two lanes in each traffic direction with some degree of separation;
• Have access roads only for servicing purposes, such as a limited number of driveways serving non-residential property, service roads to infrastructure, or rest-area roads or bays, which may be more typical in regional or rural settings

For roads which do not meet the above requirements consider using highway=trunk (high-importance non-motorway roads) and/or motorroad=yes (motorway-like access restrictions), subject to local tagging conventions in your country. See Highway:International equivalence for guidance on the use of the highway=motorway tag in different countries.

The tag highway=motorway_link should be used for the link roads, sliproads or ramps which lead to and from a motorway. Where one motorway terminates or begins on another the highway=motorway_link can be used to separate and identify the different motorway roads and the continuing route; that is, generally two diverging or converging highway=motorway ways should not meet or join in OpenStreetMap, but rather be separated by highway=motorway_link ways.

Implied values

While the box on the right lists some implied tags, they have been changed several times, they are often country-specific and the community does not agree about the implications. It is suggested to include implied tags when mapping motorways regardless.

Most motorways have  shoulders along each carriageway, but you may use shoulder=no to indicate missing shoulder. If a motorway uses emergency bays or emergency refuge areas instead of a shoulder then highway=emergency_bay can be added to nodes where they exist.

In some places areas some highway=motorway allow cyclists and pedestrians (on a shoulder). It means that explicit foot=no, bicycle=no, shoulder=yes may be useful even if seemingly obvious^[1].

How to map

A motorway is normally represented by a series two parallel ways, one for each carriageway tagged with highway=motorway. These ways should all point direction of travel and be tagged with oneway=yes. In the less usual case of a motorway where traffic travels in both directions along the same carriageway use a single way and tag it with oneway=no. When drawing parallel ways, place the nodes for each direction next to each other, which results in a better representation on most maps. The following tags may be applicable:

Use highway=motorway_junction at each point along a motorway with numbered exits to identify the exit number.

International equivalence

Quality tool

• You may use CheckAutopista to inspect mapping quality (see also the github project)

See also

• man_made=gantry - overhead structure, usually for holding signs
• highway=toll_gantry - gantry for toll purposes

References