Search the guidebook

Frontage / Service Road

LOC-FSR-04
Recommended Local

Frontage / Service Road

A Local street running alongside a higher-speed Arterial or Freeway, giving property access and slower-mode movement a lane physically separated from the through traffic next to it.

Typical at: Rural Suburban Compact Urban

Undeveloped and Core are edge cases.

#Speed and modal hierarchy

SPEEDLIMIT20
Follows the Local default: 20 mph hard maximum, no exceptions, even where this road runs alongside a higher-speed Arterial or Freeway.

#Design notes

The safety rationale is separation, not speed: keeping people walking and biking off a roadway designed for faster through traffic.1 This is the Local-scale companion to the Arterial safety rule that access needs are served by a separate road rather than mixed into through lanes.

Default (No Parking, No Direct Property Access) (ART-DEF-01) (the Arterial-scale rule this pattern serves as the Local-scale companion to), Stroad (Commercial Arterial) (ART-STD-05) (the Avoid pattern that results when this separation isn't provided)

#References

  1. Legal / regulatory AASHTO, A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets.(opens in new tab)

Suggest changes to this page (opens in new tab) Text-only version Last updated September 26, 2026