---
title: "Yield Street"
url: "https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/local-streets/yield-street/"
id: "LOC-YLD-07"
description: "A Local Typology narrow enough that opposing vehicles yield to each other, viable only where traffic volume genuinely stays low."
updated: "2026-09-26"
---

# Yield Street

`LOC-YLD-07`

Recommended Local

Yield Street

A Local street narrow enough that two vehicles cannot pass without one yielding, using the street's width itself as a traffic-calming device.

## 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

### [Are Streets Too Complicated Now?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Xs5EA5_uU)

City Beautiful

Asks whether today's proliferation of lines, signals, and lane types on streets is overcomplication or a needed response to modern demands, a question that runs directly through CS's Element-scale catalog and the density-tiered Corridor retrofit paths this video is tagged to.

Typical at: Suburban Compact

Rural and Urban are edge cases. Undeveloped and Core are unlikely pairings, since local street volumes at Core density typically exceed what yield control can handle safely.

## Speed and modal hierarchy

Design speed & speed limit

\[SPEED LIMIT 20\]

Follows the Local default: 20 mph hard maximum, no exceptions.

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

Modal hierarchy

Pedestrian > Bicycle > Vehicle > Transit > Freight

Marked as needing confirmation rather than fully locked.

## Design notes

This pattern only functions where traffic volume is genuinely low. It thins out toward Urban and Core, where local street volumes typically outgrow what a shared, yield-controlled width can safely absorb.[1]

## Related patterns

[Living Street / Woonerf](https://commonwaysystem.org/patterns/local-streets/living-street-woonerf.md) (LOC-LSW-06) (the reciprocal pattern, sharing width-as-calming-device but going further to treat vehicles as guests)

## References

1.  Precedent-based [NACTO, _Urban Street Design Guide_, "Yield Street."](https://nacto.org/publication/urban-street-design-guide/streets/yield-street/)