Road hierarchy: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:05, 2 May 2025

Revision as of 17:16, 2 May 2025

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* Local roads and streets

[[arterial road|Arterials]] are major through roads that are expected to carry large volumes of traffic. At the top of the mobility-access continuum, they include [[freeway]]s, whose on- and off-ramps enable operating with less friction at a high speed with high flow. In some places, arterials include large divided roads with few or no driveways that cannot be called freeways because they have occasional at-grade intersections with [[traffic lights]] that stop traffic ([[Limited-access road|expressways]] in [[California]]) or they are just too short (superarterials in [[Nevada]]). [[Frontage road]]s are often used to reduce the conflict between the high-speed nature of an arterial and property access concerns.

=== Freeways ===

At the top of the mobility-access continuum are {{Clarify|date=May 2025|reason=Freeway usually implies controlled-access, not limited-access.|text=limited access roads}}: [[Freeway]]s or on- and off-ramps. These allow the freeway to operate with less friction at an even higher speed and with higher flow. Often freeways are included in the next category, arterials.

[[collector road|Collector]]s (not to be confused with [[collector lane]]s, which reduce [[Grade separation#Weaving|weaving]] on freeways), collect traffic from local roads, and distribute it to arterials. Traffic using a collector is usually going to or coming from somewhere nearby. They should not to be confused with [[collector lane]]s, which reduce [[Grade separation#Weaving|weaving]] on freeways.

=== Arterials ===

[[arterial road|Arterials]] are major through roads that are expected to carry large volumes of traffic. Arterials are often divided into major and minor arterials, and rural and urban arterials.

In some places there are large divided roads with few or no driveways that cannot be called freeways because they have occasional at-grade intersections with [[traffic lights]] that stop traffic ([[Limited-access road|expressways]] in [[California]], [[dual carriageway]]s in [[United Kingdom|Britain]]) or they are just too short (superarterials in [[Nevada]]). Such roads are usually classified as arterials.

[[Frontage road]]s are often used to reduce the conflict between the high-speed nature of an arterial and property access concerns.

===Collectors===

[[collector road|Collector]]s (not to be confused with [[collector lane]]s, which reduce [[Grade separation#Weaving|weaving]] on freeways), collect traffic from local roads, and distribute it to arterials. Traffic using a collector is usually going to or coming from somewhere nearby.

===Local roads===

At the bottom of the mobility-access continuum are local [[Street|streets]] and [[road]]s. These roads have the lowest speed limit, and carry low volumes of traffic. In some areas, these roads may be unpaved.