---
title: "Continuous Sidewalk / Raised Junction"
url: "https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/intersections/continuous-sidewalk/"
id: "INT-CSJ-06"
description: "The Commonway System's locked default treatment for Local-to-Collector intersections, keeping the sidewalk and bike path uninterrupted across the junction."
updated: "2026-09-10"
---

# Continuous Sidewalk / Raised Junction

`INT-CSJ-06`

Recommended Intersections & Crossings

Continuous Sidewalk / Raised Junction

A junction where the sidewalk and bike path continue across the intersection at a consistent grade, and the roadway ramps up to meet them rather than the reverse. Dutch terminology;[1] carries an implicit yield to pedestrians and cyclists crossing.

## 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

### [The Dutch Solution for Safer Sidewalks - Continuous Sidewalks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OfBpQgLXUc)

Not Just Bikes

Shows the same sidewalk-continuity concept behind Continuous Sidewalk / Raised Junction in practice: the roadway rises to meet the sidewalk at a crossing, rather than the sidewalk dropping to meet the road, so geometry itself signals the priority shift.

Aligned

### [Are Roundabouts Actually Better Than Traffic Lights?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=012fMI3TdRo)

Streetcraft

A real head-to-head test (Carmel, IN) backing the case for roundabouts on time, fuel efficiency, and crash severity, while being upfront about roundabouts' accessibility gap for blind pedestrians.

Aligned

### [This is the key to safer streets](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsSp8gxzfjo)

Streetcraft

A full traffic-calming toolkit walkthrough, plastic mini-roundabouts, curb extensions, chicanes, the speed bump/hump/cushion/table family, and a Cincinnati road-diet case study with dramatic before/after crash data.

Typical at: Compact Urban Core

Suburban is an edge case, thinning for the same reason as Bicycle Boulevard: a disconnected, cul-de-sac-heavy grid gives it fewer places to apply. Undeveloped and Rural are unlikely pairings.

## Design notes

This is the Commonway System's locked default treatment for Local-to-Collector intersections, giving priority to people walking and biking at the exact point where a slower Local street meets a faster Collector.

## Related patterns

[Default (Standard Local Street)](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/local-streets/default.md) (LOC-DEF-01) (the page that names this pattern as its own locked default Local-to-Collector treatment), [Bicycle Boulevard / Neighborhood Greenway](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/local-streets/bicycle-boulevard.md) (LOC-BBG-12) (explicitly named on this page as thinning for the same connectivity reason)

## References

1.  Precedent-based [CROW Platform for Transport, Infrastructure and Public Space, _Road Safety Manual_ / _Design Manual for Bicycle Traffic_.](https://www.crow.nl/Onderwerpen/verkeer-en-vervoer/)