---
title: "Road-Adjacent Greenway"
url: "https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/corridors/road-adjacent-greenway/"
id: "CDR-RAG-05"
description: "A corridor where a multi-use trail or linear park runs parallel to, but physically separated from, a road for some or all of its length, without an active rail line involved, addressing connection points and crossing treatment between the two."
updated: "2026-09-26"
---

# Road-Adjacent Greenway

`CDR-RAG-05`

Recommended Corridor

Road-Adjacent Greenway

A corridor where a multi-use trail or linear park runs parallel to, but physically separated from, a road for some or all of its length, without an active rail line involved, addressing connection points and crossing treatment between the two.

## Why this pattern exists

A greenway running beside a road is a common and valuable configuration, but it creates a specific design problem distinct from a road with no parallel path: where and how people move between the two, and how crossings of the road itself are handled where the greenway needs to cross it. Left unaddressed, this produces either a greenway that is disconnected from the destinations along the road, or unsafe informal crossing points.[1]

## Key considerations

-   Connection points between the road-side facilities and the greenway should be planned at regular, predictable intervals
-   Any point where the greenway needs to cross the road should use an appropriate Crossing-family Element pattern, not an ad hoc treatment
-   Distinguish this from Multi-Use Trail/Greenway (a Segment-scale pattern describing the trail itself); this pattern is about the trail’s relationship to the parallel road, not the trail’s own design

## Related patterns

[Rail-With-Trail Corridor](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/corridors/rail-with-trail-corridor.md) (CDR-RWT-04) (related but distinct: rail involved); [Multi-Use Trail/Greenway](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/collectors/multi-use-trail-greenway.md) (COL-MUT-06) (Segment scale, the trail itself); relevant Crossing-family Element patterns

## References

1.  Legal / regulatory [AASHTO, _Guide for the Development of Bicycle Facilities_, 5th Edition, 2024.](https://store.transportation.org/item/collectiondetail/267)