Pattern Index

Every pattern currently in the Commonway System, grouped by Scale: Network, Corridor, Segment/Intersection (the one Scale that further subdivides by Functional Classification), Facility, and Element. See Scale Hierarchy for what each Scale covers and how they relate.

Network level patterns

Network patterns describe the topology of a whole connected system, or a defined sub-system within it, not any single physical place. You would not stand in one spot and see a Network pattern, you would see it on a map: a grid versus a radial layout, how branching or connectivity shapes route choice across an entire area.

Corridor level patterns

Corridor patterns describe a linear stretch of the network connecting two places, often crossing multiple contexts along the way. This is the level where transitions get designed on purpose, a road's character changing as it moves from farmland into town, or a fixed transit alignment shaping a cross-section for miles at a stretch, rather than being left to happen segment by segment with no coordination.

Local street patterns

Local streets have many access points and short trips, so keeping speeds under 20 mph, no exceptions, matters more than moving vehicles quickly. Walking and biking come first, then transit, then vehicles and freight.

Collector street patterns

Collectors link local streets to the arterial network, carrying more through traffic while still running past homes and storefronts. Speeds top out at 30 mph, 35 only behind rigid crash-protective separation, with walking, biking, and transit still taking priority.

Arterial street patterns

Arterials move higher volumes of through traffic over longer distances, so the core rule is separation: no on-street parking or driveway access competing with through movement. Posted speed always matches the road's actual design speed. Transit takes priority here, ahead of people walking and biking.

Freeway patterns

Freeways sit outside the Commonway System's detailed design scope entirely. They're listed here for completeness, not because the system sets rules for them: no modal hierarchy, no speed regulation.

Intersections and crossings

Intersections aren't tied to one Functional Classification, since any two street types can meet at a corner. The default is a roundabout wherever a Collector-or-larger street is involved, stepping up to a turbo-roundabout at busy Arterial-to-Arterial junctions. Signals are a documented last resort, and a continuous sidewalk is the default where a Local street meets a Collector.

Facility level patterns

Facility patterns describe something that attaches to a segment or intersection rather than being one: a bus shelter, a parking garage, a plaza. Each is internally complex enough to have its own element-level layout inside it.

Element level patterns

Element patterns describe the physical components a segment, intersection, or facility is built from: curbs, medians, signage, striping, signals, street trees, lighting. This is the most granular Scale in the system, and the level most other patterns eventually point down to.