Variable-access lanes

Feature : Variable-access lanes

Description

Special road traffic lanes that are opened and closed by traffic management

Group

restrictions

Tags

access:lanes=*|variable|*

Variable-access lanes, including peak-hour lanes, are special lanes for road traffic that are designed to be opened and closed by traffic management.

How to map

Variable-access lanes are included in the number of lanes (lanes=*) and are marked in access:lanes=* by setting the lane value to variable. Further restrictions and other details about the lane can be added with the usual lane tagging.

If the lane is a "running hard shoulder", you should add shoulder=no, since the "running hard shoulder" is already included in the lane count and there is no shoulder next to the "running hard shoulder". However, sometimes there can be an actual shoulder next to the "running hard shoulder", in which case you should still use shoulder=right.

If known, more specific information about the circumstances when the lane is consistently open or consistently closed, may be added using conditional restrictions (access:lanes:conditional=*).

Examples

Photo when open	Photo when closed	Tags on the way
		There is a peak-hour lane on the left, with width restriction. highway=motorway lanes=3 access:lanes=variable|yes|yes maxwidth:lanes=2|| shoulder=right
		There is a peak-hour lane for the off-ramp on the right, replacing the hard shoulder. highway=motorway lanes=5 access:lanes=yes|yes|yes|yes|variable maxwidth:lanes=2|||| turn:lanes=none|none|none|slight_right|slight_right destination:lanes=Den Haag|Den Haag|Den Haag|Voorburg;Den Haag-Nieuw Laakhaven;Binckhorst|Voorburg;Den Haag-Nieuw Laakhaven;Binckhorst destination:ref:lanes=A12|A12|A12|S108|S108 shoulder=no
		This short segment of the peak-hour lane on the right is never closed with a red cross, because otherwise the off-ramp would become unreachable. highway=motorway lanes=4 turn:lanes=none|none|none|slight_right destination:lanes=|||Born;Nieuwstadt;Tüddern;Düsseldorf destination:ref:lanes=|||N297;A 46 shoulder=no
		The peak-hour lane on the left ends. highway=motorway lanes=3 access:lanes=variable|yes|yes turn:lanes=merge_to_right|none|none shoulder=right
		The peak-hour lane on the right ends. highway=motorway lanes=4 access:lanes=yes|yes|yes|variable turn:lanes=none|none|none|merge_to_left maxspeed=100 shoulder=no
		This road segment has a hard shoulder on the right next to the peak-hour lane on the right. highway=motorway lanes=3 access:lanes=yes|yes|variable shoulder=right

Status

This tagging scheme originates from the Netherlands, where it is consistently used. [1]

Some possible alternative schemes are discussed on talk page, feel free to join the discussion.