Proposal:Cycle expressways

cycle expressways
Proposal status:	Proposed (under way)
Proposed by:	Balchen
Tagging:	cycleway=expressway
Applies to:
Definition:	A cycleway with high design speed, limited access, no or very few at-grade crossings, right of way
Statistics:
Draft started:	2022-08-03
RFC start:	2022-08-03

Proposal

Norwegian sign "Sykkelekspressveg"

A new value cycleway=expressway identifying a cycleway that is built to the highest standard of cycleway in the territory. It should only be used for wide cycleways designed for safety, high traffic volume and uninterupted flow. These cycleways are referred to as bicycle highways, bicycle superhighways, or cycle expressways in English. Please note that this tagging is only concerned with the road itself, not with route signage or network relations. See below for more details on this. A cycle expressway may still be signed (see example signs below), but this signage is independent of route signage or network relations.

Specific standards will vary between countries. As an illustrative reference, typical traits will include several or all of the following:

• design speed higher than 25 kph
• extended line of sight
• at least two lanes
• lanes wide enough to pass another cyclist in the same lane
• limited access (prohibited for pedestrians which can be marked with foot=no, and physically separated from footways with fences or similar)
• no or very few at-grade crossings with other road classes (such as carriageways or shared foot/cycleways)
• gentler slopes
• turning lanes
• right of way at all intersections
• well lit (can be marked with lit=yes)

Applies to ways.

Rationale

German sign "Radschnellweg"

Cycle expressways are becoming increasingly common across Europe. They are distinctly higher quality cycling roads compared to regular cycleways, equivalent to motorways for cars. highway=cycleway currently captures the basics of a cycleway, and adding lanes=*, foot=no, or width=* can provide additional detail on the quality of the cycleway, but there are no tags to capture the complete meaning of a road being a cycle expressway (see list of typical traits above).

The definition is formalised in Norway as "sykkelekspressveg", in Sweden as "supercykelväg", in Denmark as "cykelsupersti", and in Germany as "Radschnellweg". The Finnish "Baana" also fit the classification. The term "expressway" generally means the highest grade of highway and captures all of these definitions and terms.

It is common in the Nordic countries to refer to "Fietssnelweg" in the Netherlands and Belgium as the equivalent to the three above. This proposal's discussion has revealed that "Fietssnelweg" is often used to desribe a cycle network with an intention of a physical road quality -- an intention that sometimes does not turn into reality -- and it is becoming difficult to clearly delineate what exactly a Fietssnelweg means in terms of road quality. Undoubtedly, many, many segments of Dutch/Belgian Fietssnelweg is a cycle expressway according to the above traits, but the Fietssnelweg term is also sometimes used on "missing links" between these expressways that are part of the signed route, so there is not a 1:1 correlation. Also, with the generally higher quality of cycle roads in NL/BE, the separation between expressway and regular cycleway is smaller than in many other countries. With that in mind, please be mindful of the difference between a road's physical quality and a road's network relation, even if they correlate a lot of the time. This proposal is meant to only cover a road's physical quality.

For completeness: London's cycle superhighways are not cycle expressways. They are a network classification with little correlation with quality.

Relation to cycle route/network

The proposal discussion has included a lot of talk about cycle networks, route relations, and similar. This proposal is not meant to cover cycle routes, cycle networks, route/network relations, or route signage. Furthermore, these are typically also not indicators of a cycle expressway (see above for indicators -- local communities will decide specifics according to local rules and regulations).

A road's physical road class concerns how it is built. Road classes are observable, physical, mechanical traits. The effects for road users of a road having a certain physical class are mainly capacity, speed, and safety. Cross section, physical barriers, line of sight, curvature, width, number of lanes, surface, lighting, gradients/slopes, at-grade or grade-separated junctions are physical traits that are defined in a road class standard.

A road's network function concerns how it allows travel between localities, districts, or regions, or to/from destinations (houses, businesses, parking, etc). The effects for road users of a road having a certain network function are mainly signage, continuity in road numbering, length of road continuity, right of way, AND in the public desire to upgrade the road's physical class to improve capacity, speed, and safety.

There is a separate proposal on how to capture a cycleway's network function/classification more accurately than today. This is more relevant to the case of London's cycle superhighways and the Dutch and Belgian Fietssnelwegen. That proposal covers network function in more depth than is warranted here, so please read that too if you are concerned with cycle routes and cycle networks. See also cycle_highway=* for use on route relations.

Cycle route relations have a tag cycle_highway=* that indicates if a cycle route focuses on "functional cycling, such as commuting by bicycle". A cycle expressway will often be included in such routes, but such a route does not need to be implemented with a cycle expressway (see the above discussion on Fietssnelweg). The two tags concern different aspect (route vs physical) and are complementary.

Tagging

highway=cycleway + cycleway=expressway is proposed as the tagging to represent a cycle expressway.

The value goes along well with established values such as highway=* + cycleway=lane and highway=* + cycleway=track used to denote other distinct types of cycleways.

Examples

Fietssnelweg, the Netherlands

Sykkelekspressveg, Norway

External discussions

- https://lists.openstreetmap.org/pipermail/tagging/2022-August/065101.html

Comments

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