One thing to know is there is no correct way to tag a feature on OSM.
area:highway was resurrected from an abandoned proposal, something not toughly talked though by collaborating mappers, and just one of the reasons it is not rendered by the main maps.
This area was mapped using the
highway=footway + area=yes method which is also commonly used. Linear paths were added because path area=yes were not routable features and was requested. But if you would also want to add area:highway as an additional tag along with highway=footway + area=yes that would be ok.

i made a page for the Chicago metro area for discussion. osm.wiki/Chicago_Area/Highway_Classification

The discussion and collaboration died when OSM community ambassador Dirk Munson left the company. I havn't seen any meetups since.

Was sticking to US and State routes marked as primary. Major buisness lined roads that traverse the highways and rivers as secondary, other major roads and county routes as tertiary, separated highways as motorway, and partially separated highways / connector highways as trunk. At least that is what is was originally within the Chicago area until someone started playing around with an unfinished proposal.
I've toyed a bit upgrading some of the loop area streets as primary for connectivity, part of michigan avenue, ohio street, ida b wells. but at what point do you not just mark all of the major roads as primary? Those roads dont nessesarily mean it is the prefered rout of everyone, or that its even the fastest route though the area. The US/state routes from my experience are actually better to drive because they have more lanes and less traffic lights along those routes. It really needs to be discussed a bit more.

osm.wiki/United_States_roads_tagging/Routes#Honorary_and_Tourist_Routes I did give it an extra HIST as that is what the signage says.

ahh, I did see that, didnt have a lot of info but, made some adjustments and it seems to look accurate now. Ill have to scour the web and see if i can find some belter diagrams.

When did this change take place? I didn't know there was any revised plan? source link?

Please do not edit indoor features without using indoor editors and reviewing the how-to of indoor editing.

one example of these edits that have been happening are changeset/133938278

Why did you add extra elevators to the route and connect routes on multiple levels?

I originally had the routes marked footways, but some editors had recently started changing a bunch to indoor corridors and remapping multilevel footways on a single level adding connection/elevators exe.. where they shouldn't be. I recently had to remap everything and switched the multilevel routes to corridors to settle the bad indoor routing that was being created.

I am not opposed to swithcing the main roues tags to highway=footway+indoor=yes but highway=corridor also needs be able to be routed for foot directions.

I am a frequent visitor at Ohare being my home airport. But I originally uesd the official Ohare maps combined with some of the airline terminal maps provided on their apps, some resent video tours found on youtube and my personal knowledge to create the indoor maps and routes. I used indoor editors such as ID-indoor and OsmInEdit while creating the indoor maps.

A road and B road were both gate access roads before the grade separated freeway was installed. It is not signed and now one-way in the opposite direction but you can still find the name in the tiger data and official maps. Ogden Ave is originally C road but was dedicated Ogden Ave. Technically has 2 names still used on base documentation. You should check out USGS official maps for public info. https://apps.nationalmap.gov/viewer/

Roads are able to change type and also keep the designation and name. it transitions from a separated highway to a connector road that leads to and from the base. For example, someone coming off of Ogden is not entering a highway or someone coming off base is not entering the highway while taking A road to SR444.

you can use openlevelup.net to view maps and use the side tib to get to the editors.

its look broken at the moment... i submitted a bug. so it might take a day or so to get working again.

or https://projets.pavie.info/id-indoor/#background=Bing&level=1&map=17.79/-87.90383/41.97570 is still usable

you can try https://osminedit.pavie.info/

If your going to edit an area that has indoor map features, you should use an indoor mapping editor.

If your going to edit an area that has indoor map features, you should use an indoor mapping editor.

looks like you removed a bunch of indoor mapping features. removing rooms and pathways.