Tag:traffic_calming=island

traffic_calming =
Description
A traffic calming island is a structure for the purpose of slowing down traffic, temporarily separating two different traffic directions.
Group: highways
Used on these elements
See also
traffic_calming=painted_island traffic_calming=choked_island
Status: de facto
traffic_calming=island $1% $1% $1% $1% More details at taginfo
Tools for this tag
taginfo · AD · AT · BR · BY · CH · CN · CZ · DE · DK · FI · FR · GB · GR · HU · IN · IR · IT · LI · LU · JP · KP · KR · NL · PL · PT · RU · ES · AR · MX · CO · BO · CL · EC · PY · PE · UY · VE · TW · UA · US · VN overpass-turbo Sophox OSM Tag History

A traffic calming island is a structure for the purpose of slowing down traffic, separating at least two lanes of a highway for a short distance. The tag is a bit of a misnomer. Calming effects generally stem from other characteristics, such as a swerving lane (traffic_calming=chicane) and/or a reduction in per-lane width, where the island instead functions as a practical barrier and discourages/enforces drivers to not leave their lane. It follows from this that the tag would not be applicable for islands which are defined exclusively by road paint with no obstructions of any kinds (kerbs, trees, signposts, etc.).

The width of the island is usually under a few meters. The island doesn't necessarily have to have a right-of-way indicator. The area of the island itself can be drawn using area:highway=traffic_island, but the traffic calming feature is meant to be used as a point on the way itself, or tagged on part of the way.

Note that as of mid April 2023, only about 3% of pedestrian crossings with pedestrian refuges (crossing:island=yes or the deprecated crossing=island) are also tagged with traffic_calming=. So as a data consumer, if you are looking for all traffic islands, you should look for crossings with the tags mentioned, too.

How to map

For an island between two lanes of a carriageway, either:

• put a traffic_calming= node on the road (especially if it's a small island),
• split the carriageway into parallel lanes, marked oneway=yes as appropriate, add the traffic_calming= to the ways, and optionally draw the island itself as an area between them using area:highway=traffic_island.

Tags to use in combination

For traffic calming islands drawn as a node :

• direction=* - if an island is made to only slow down traffic in one direction

For traffic islands drawn as an area using area:highway=traffic_island:

• surface=* – Surface of the traffic island, e.g. asphalt, paving_stones
• landuse=grass – For traffic islands covered with grass (other landuse=* or natural=* types may also occur, e.g. landuse=greenery or natural=shrubbery)
• barrier=kerb + kerb=* – For solid traffic islands

Rendering

• One possible rendering may be as a small hollow dot in the middle of a node, or a small hollow line in the middle of a way. When creating software, these choices are yours.
• None, currently, by the osm-carto layer.
• iD and JOSM editors represents this tag with an icon: Example-object
• OsmAnd has a possibility to alert drivers of incoming traffic_calming=* features, a warning icon with a speed bump is shown^[1].

Possible tagging errors

highway=traffic_island

More details at taginfo

More details at taginfo

• highway=traffic_island

If you know places with this tag, verify if it could be tagged with another tag.
Automated edits are strongly discouraged unless you really know what you are doing!

See also

• crossing:island=* – Specifies whether a footway=traffic_island crossing has a refuge island
• highway=mini_roundabout – A road junction where the traffic goes around a painted circle or traversable island and has right of way.
• traffic_calming=painted_island – An island painted on a road
• Proposals:
  • area:highway=traffic_island is mentioned in a 2011 inactive proposal.
  • The proposal landuse=traffic_island for a pedestrian refuge on roads was abandoned.

Weblinks

• Traffic island on Wikipedia

References