---
title: "Arterial Transit (BRT/LRT)"
url: "https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/arterials/arterial-transit/"
id: "ART-ATR-04"
description: "An Arterial Typology with dedicated bus rapid transit or light rail treatment, reinforcing the Arterial base order rather than overriding it."
updated: "2026-09-10"
---

# Arterial Transit (BRT/LRT)

`ART-ATR-04`

Recommended Arterial

Arterial Transit (BRT/LRT)

An Arterial with dedicated bus rapid transit or light rail infrastructure, most often a separated running way or exclusive lane.

## Related Media

The items below come from outside the Commonway System, external videos, podcasts, and articles related to this page's topic, not part of the guidebook itself.

Aligned

### [More Lanes Are (Still) A Bad Thing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHZwOAIect4)

Not Just Bikes

Lays out induced demand, Braess's Paradox, and traffic evaporation with real case studies (LA 405, Houston Katy Freeway, Cheonggyecheon), then shows the Dutch one-lane-plus-transit cross-section as the actual fix.

Typical at: Compact Urban Core

Suburban is an edge case. Undeveloped and Rural are unlikely pairings.

## Speed and modal hierarchy

Design speed & speed limit

\[SPEED LIMIT 30\] \[SPEED LIMIT 35\] \[SPEED LIMIT 40\]

Follows the Arterial density-tiered baseline for its typical Compact, Urban, and Core contexts. Transit priority in the modal hierarchy below does not change the vehicle speed cap.

See [Design Speed & Speed Limits](https://commonwaysystem.org/guide/design-speed.md).

Modal hierarchy

Transit > Pedestrian > Bicycle > Vehicle > Freight

Unlike Local Transit and Collector Transit, this ordering reinforces the Arterial base order rather than overriding it, since Transit already sits at the top of the Arterial base hierarchy.

## Design notes

Arterial is the one Functional Classification where the base modal hierarchy already puts Transit first, ahead of Pedestrian. Dedicated BRT or LRT treatment strengthens that existing priority with physical infrastructure rather than reordering it.[1]

## Related patterns

[Local Transit](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/local-streets/local-transit.md) (LOC-LTR-10) and [Collector Transit](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/collectors/collector-transit.md) (COL-CTR-05) (explicitly contrasted on this page: those two override their base order for Transit priority, while this pattern reinforces an order where Transit is already first)

## Getting there: Retrofit path options

[Transit priority lane retrofit](https://commonwaysystem.org/retrofits/corridor/transit-priority-lane-retrofit.md) (RFT-CDR-06)

## References

1.  Precedent-based [NACTO, _Transit Street Design Guide_ (2016).](https://nacto.org/publication/transit-street-design-guide/)