Tag:highway=motorway

+/- highway=motorway Description High capacity highways designed to safely carry fast motor traffic. Used on these elements Useful combination name=* ref=* oneway=yes lanes=* destination=* Implies access=no motorcar=yes hgv=yes oneway=yes surface=paved Used combinations in World Australia/Oceania Europe (list) Asia (list) Central America (list) South America (list) Africa (list) Status Approved

Contents 1 Description 2 How to map 3 Tagging 4 Examples 5 Rendering 6 Notes 6.1 International equivalence 7 See also

Description

See Controlled-access highway on Wikipedia

A motorway is a major highway with restricted access to adjacent properties, designed for motorized vehicles, normally equipped with a minimum of four or more lanes. In most cases the motorway is a dual carriageway which means that the traffic for each direction is separated by a central barrier or strip of land.

In some countries, cyclists and pedestrians are banned from using motorways. In others, they may be allowed, at least on rural motorways (e.g. the western U.S.).

Equivalent to the freeway, Autobahn, etc.

Its speed limit depends on local traffic conditions. Some motorways in rural areas have no speed limit while some motorways in densely populated urban areas have a speed limit of 60km/h (40 mph) or lower.

Motorways which do not meet all motorway requirements (e.g. some at-grade intersections) are usually tagged as highway=trunk (depending on the country).

How to map

To map a simple motorway you can just draw a line for it. Select all ways which belong to the motorway and tag them with highway=motorway. Make sure the way points in the same direction as one-way traffic goes.

Note: while motorway may technically imply oneway=yes, many of the standard editors and renderers do not handle this properly. Therefore it is common to see a motorway tagged as oneway=yes, and this should not be removed.

In the case of a dual carriageway you should draw one line for each direction and tag each direction on its own. On a single carriageway, oneway=no should be used.

Be sure to place the nodes for each direction next to each other, this gives a much better result when the map is rendered as well as a visual indication that both ways belong together.

Tagging

Tagging scheme for highway=motorway

Tag	Description	Example
name=*	Name of the motorway.	Autostrada dei Fiori
ref=*	Reference name.	A 3
oneway=yes	See section #How to map
lanes=*	Number of lanes.	3
maxspeed=*	The maximum speed which is allowed (in km/h).	130
minspeed=*	Minimum speed which a vehicle must be capable of to use the motorway (in km/h).	50
destination=*	Name of town for the direction of the motorway. Normally the town written on the sign wich belongs to the motorway-link.	Frankfurt
carriageway_ref=*	In the UK, the reference number for the carriageway, as displayed on Highway Agency signing	B

Examples

• 

  highway=motorway
  lanes=4
  oneway=yes
  int_ref=E 451
  ref=A 5
  destination:Darmstadt

Rendering

Mapnik	Osmarender	OpenCycleMap
		?

Notes

• Motorways shall be added to a relation that concludes all ways belonging to one named motorway, see Relation.

International equivalence

Country	Roadsign	Description	More
Australia		Motorways, freeways, and freeway-like roads. Divided roads with 2 or 3 lanes in each direction, limited access via interchanges, no traffic lights. Generally 100 or 110 km/h speed limit. For example: Hume Freeway.	Australian Roads Tagging
Austria		Autobahn
Belarus		автомагистраль (avtomagistral')
Belgium		nl:autosnelweg fr:autoroute d:autobahn maxspeed=120 km/u
Brazil		Auto-estrada
Czech Republic		Dálnice & Rychlostní silnice	WikiProject Czechia/roads tagging
Denmark		Motorvej	[Map Features]
Dominican Republic		Autopista
France		autoroute (A)	Fr:Map Features
Italia		Autostrada, compresi i raccordi autostradali come le tangenziali di Milano e il Grande Raccordo Anulare di Roma.	It:Italian Roads Tagging
Germany		Autobahn	WikiProject Germany/Autobahn
Hong Kong		Designated expressways and other public roads with expressway-like rules.	HK:Hong Kong tagging
Hungary		Autópálya
Korea		Divided, grade-separated highway with 2 or more lanes in each direction designated by a red and blue shield (toll roads). Also, some National Routes (blue oval) which have been upgraded to Motorway status (toll-free).	Ko:Map Features Korea_Motorways
Netherlands		Autosnelweg	Kaarteigenschappen
Norway		Motorvei & Motortrafikkveg
Poland		Autostrada	WikiProject Poland/Klasyfikacja dróg
Portugal		Auto-estrada - the national road institute changed the reference to IP (Itinerário Principal) or IC (Itinerário Complementar). There are still some "Auto-estradas" not renamed so they keep the name.
Romania		Autostradă
Russia		автомагистраль (avtomagistral'), которая уже имеет статус trunk.	RU:Map_Features:highway
Slovak Republic		Diaľnica & Rýchlostná cesta
Spain		Autopista/Autovía	WikiProject Spain/Autopista Normalización
Sweden		Motorväg	Sv:Map_Features#Vägar
Switzerland		Autobahn / autoroute
UK		motorway
US		A freeway, turnpike, or interstate Grade-separated highway, normally divided with 2 or more lanes in each direction. Access by ramps only. This includes all Interstate Highways (with a couple of rare exceptions) and some US and state highways (or portions thereof).

See also

• highway=motorway_link - The link roads (sliproads/ramps) leading to and from a motorway.
• highway=motorway_junction - Indicates a junction (UK) or exit (US) ref should be set to the exit number or junction identifier.

Related terms: motorway. highway.