The median strip, central reservation, roadway median, or traffic median is the reserved area that separates opposing
lanes of
traffic
Traffic comprises pedestrians, vehicles, ridden or herded animals, trains, and other conveyances that use public ways (roads) for travel and transportation.
Traffic laws govern and regulate traffic, while rules of the road include traffic ...
on divided roadways such as
divided highway
A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...
s,
dual carriageway
A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...
s,
freeways, and motorways. The term also applies to divided roadways other than highways, including some major streets in urban or suburban areas. The reserved area may simply be
paved
Pavement may refer to:
* Pavement (architecture), an outdoor floor or superficial surface covering
* Road surface, the durable surfacing of roads and walkways
** Asphalt concrete, a common form of road surface
* Sidewalk or pavement, a walkway alo ...
, but commonly it is adapted to other functions; for example, it may accommodate decorative
landscaping
Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following:
# Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal ...
,
tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
s, a
median barrier
A Jersey barrier, Jersey wall, or Jersey bump is a modular concrete or plastic barrier employed to separate lanes of traffic. It is designed to minimize vehicle damage in cases of incidental contact while still preventing vehicle crossovers res ...
, or
railway
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...
,
rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...
,
light rail, or
streetcar
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport a ...
lines.
Regional terminology
There is no international English standard for the term. Median, median strip, and median divider island are common in North American and
Antipodean
In geography, the antipode () of any spot on Earth is the point on Earth's surface diametrically opposite to it. A pair of points ''antipodal'' () to each other are situated such that a straight line connecting the two would pass through Ear ...
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
. Variants in
North American English
North American English (NAmE, NAE) is the most generalized variety of the English language as spoken in the United States and Canada. Because of their related histories and cultures, plus the similarities between the pronunciations (accents), ...
include regional terms such as neutral ground in
usage.
In
British English
British English (BrE, en-GB, or BE) is, according to Oxford Dictionaries, "English as used in Great Britain, as distinct from that used elsewhere". More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadl ...
the central reservation or central median the preferred usage; it also occurs widely in formal documents in some non-British regions such as South Africa, where there are other informal regional words (for example ''middelmannetjie'', which originally referred to the hump between wheel ruts on a dust road).
[Branford, Jean & Branford, William. A Dictionary of South African English. Oxford University Press 1992 ] Neutral section and central nature strip are coinages in
Australian English
Australian English (AusE, AusEng, AuE, AuEng, en-AU) is the set of varieties of the English language native to Australia. It is the country's common language and ''de facto'' national language; while Australia has no official language, Eng ...
.
Additionally, different terminology is used to identify traffic lanes in a multi-lane roadway. North American usage calls the leftmost lanes located closest to the roadway centerline the "inner" lanes, while British usage calls these lanes the "outer" lanes. Thus, it is less confusing to call these central lanes the "passing", "fast", or "overtaking" lanes in international contexts, instead of using the ambiguous inner/outer distinction. Regional differences between
right-hand traffic and left-hand traffic can cause further confusion.
Physical attributes
Some medians function secondarily as green areas and
green belt
A green belt is a policy and land-use zone designation used in land-use planning to retain areas of largely undeveloped, wild, or agricultural land surrounding or neighboring urban areas. Similar concepts are greenways or green wedges, which h ...
s to beautify
road
A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation.
There are many types o ...
ways.
Jurisdiction
Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels.
J ...
s can: plant
lawn grasses with regular
mowing;
hydroseed or scatter
wildflower
A wildflower (or wild flower) is a flower that grows in the wild, meaning it was not intentionally seeded or planted. The term implies that the plant probably is neither a hybrid nor a selected cultivar that is in any way different from the ...
seed
A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiosper ...
s to
germinate, bloom, and re-seed themselves annually; or create extensive landscape plantings of
tree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...
s,
shrub
A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from tree ...
s,
herbaceous perennials and
ornamental grasses. Where space is at a premium, dense
hedge
A hedge or hedgerow is a line of closely spaced shrubs and sometimes trees, planted and trained to form a barrier or to mark the boundary of an area, such as between neighbouring properties. Hedges that are used to separate a road from adjoi ...
s of shrubs filter the
headlights of oncoming traffic and provide a resilient barrier. In other areas, the median may be occupied by a right-of-way for a public transportation system such as a
light rail or
rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT), also known as heavy rail or metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport generally found in urban areas. A rapid transit system that primarily or traditionally runs below the surface may be ...
line; for example, the
Red and
Blue Lines of the
Chicago 'L'
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name ...
partially run in the medians of the
Dan Ryan,
Eisenhower, and
Kennedy Expressway
The John F. Kennedy Expressway is a nearly freeway in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Portions of the freeway carry I-190, I-90 and I-94. The freeway runs in a southeast–northwest direction between the central city neighborhood of the ...
s.
In contrast to the median of a major road, those in urban areas often take the form of central
traffic islands that rise above the roadway. These are frequently found on urban
arterial roads. In their simplest form, these are just raised concrete curbs, but can also be landscaped with grass or trees or decorated with bricks or stones. Such medians are also sometimes found on more minor or residential streets, where they serve primarily as a traffic-calming or landscaping element rather than a safety enhancement to restrict turns and separate opposite directions of high-volume traffic flow.
In some areas such as
California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, highway medians are sometimes no more than a demarcated section of the paved roadway, indicated by a space between two sets of
double yellow lines. Such a double-double yellow line or painted median is legally similar to an island median: vehicles are not permitted to cross it, unlike a single set of double yellow lines which may in some cases permit turns across the line. This arrangement has been used to reduce costs, including narrower medians than are feasible with a planted strip, but research indicates that such narrow medians may have minimal safety benefit compared to no median at all.
The medians of United States
Interstate Highways
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, commonly known as the Interstate Highway System, is a network of controlled-access highways that forms part of the National Highway System in the United States. Th ...
break only for emergency service lanes, with no such restrictions on lower classification roads. On British
motorway
A controlled-access highway is a type of highway that has been designed for high-speed vehicular traffic, with all traffic flow—ingress and egress—regulated. Common English terms are freeway, motorway and expressway. Other similar terms ...
s, the median is never broken (except on the
tidal flow
Tidal is the adjectival form of tide.
Tidal may also refer to:
* ''Tidal'' (album), a 1996 album by Fiona Apple
* Tidal (king), a king involved in the Battle of the Vale of Siddim
* TidalCycles, a live coding environment for music
* Tidal (servic ...
of
Aston Expressway
The A38(M), commonly known as the Aston Expressway, is a motorway in Birmingham, England. It is long and was opened on 24 May 1972.[dual carriageway
A dual carriageway ( BE) or divided highway ( AE) is a class of highway with carriageways for traffic travelling in opposite directions separated by a central reservation (BrE) or median (AmE). Roads with two or more carriageways which are ...](_blank)
s.
Width
The central reservation in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
and other densely populated European countries (where it is known by their local names) is usually no wider than a single lane of traffic. In some cases, however, it is extended. For instance, if the road is running through hilly terrain, the carriageways may have to be built on different levels of the slope. An example of this is on the
M5 motorway
The M5 is a motorway in England linking the Midlands with the South West England, South West. It runs from junction 8 of the M6 motorway, M6 at West Bromwich near Birmingham to Exeter in Devon. Heading south-west, the M5 runs east of West Brom ...
as it climbs up the side of the
Gordano Valley
Gordano (or the Gordano Valley; ) is an area of North Somerset, in England. It has been designated as a National Nature Reserve.
The name Gordano comes from Old English and is descriptive of the triangular shape of the whole valley from Cleved ...
south of
Bristol
Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...
. In
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
and many other cities, suburban dual carriageways may have trees or cycle lanes in the middle as a wide central reservation.
Two examples on the UK road network where the carriageways are several hundred yards/metres apart, are on a section of the
M6 between Shap and Tebay, which allows a local road to run between them, and on the
M62 where the highest section through the
Pennines
The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Common ...
famously splits wide enough to contain
a farm. The other major exception is the
A38(M) Aston Expressway
The A38(M), commonly known as the Aston Expressway, is a motorway in Birmingham, England. It is long and was opened on 24 May 1972.[reversible lane
A reversible lane (British English: tidal flow) is a lane in which traffic may travel in either direction, depending on certain conditions. Typically, it is meant to improve traffic flow during rush hours, by having overhead traffic lights and ...](_blank)
).
With effect from January 2005 and based primarily on safety grounds, the UK's
Highways Agency's policy is that all new motorway schemes are to use high containment
concrete step barriers in the median (central reservation). All existing motorways will introduce concrete barriers as part of ongoing upgrades and through replacement as and when the current systems have reached the end of their useful life. This change of policy applies only to barriers in the median of high speed roads and not to verge side barriers. Other routes will continue to use steel barriers.
In
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
, and some other countries with large sparsely populated areas, opposing lanes of traffic may be separated by several hundred meters of fields or forests outside of heavily populated areas (an extreme example being the
Trans-Canada Highway
The Trans-Canada Highway (Canadian French, French: ; abbreviated as the TCH or T-Can) is a transcontinental federal–provincial highway system that travels through all ten provinces of Canada, from the Pacific Ocean on the west coast to the A ...
near
Ernfold
Ernfold ( 2016 population: ) is a village in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan within the Rural Municipality of Morse No. 165 and Census Division No. 7. Initially situated alongside the original two-lane highway, the village was enclosed b ...
,
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...
, where eastbound and westbound lanes go as far as apart from each other), but converge to a lane's width of separation in
suburb
A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separ ...
an areas and cities. In urban areas, concrete barriers (such as
Jersey barriers) and
guard rail
Guard rail, guardrails, or protective guarding, in general, are a boundary feature and may be a means to prevent or deter access to dangerous or off-limits areas while allowing light and visibility in a greater way than a fence. Common shapes ...
s (or
guide rails) are used.
In
Dedham, Massachusetts
Dedham ( ) is a town in and the county seat of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 25,364 at the 2020 census. It is located on Boston's southwest border. On the northwest it is bordered by Needham, on the southwest ...
, the
Norfolk County Correctional Center (a state prison) is located entirely within a wide median of
Massachusetts Route 128
Route 128, known as the Yankee Division Highway, is a state highway in the U.S. state of Massachusetts maintained by the Highway Division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). Spanning , it is one of two beltways (the oth ...
. This 502-bed facility was opened in 1993 as
infill
In urban planning, infill, or in-fill, is the rededication of land in an urban environment, usually open-space, to new construction. Infill also applies, within an urban polity, to construction on any undeveloped land that is not on the urban m ...
construction in the previously unused real estate that had been isolated by the divided highway in the early 1950s. An extreme example of a wide median can be found on
Interstate 75 near
Cincinnati
Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...
,
Ohio
Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...
; nearly the entire village of
Arlington Heights, as well as the downtown district of
Lockland
Lockland is a village in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States. The population was 3,449 at the 2010 United States Census. Lockland is located in southwest Ohio, north of Cincinnati. Its population has declined since the latter part of the 20th c ...
, are both located between the two directions of I-75.
Inverted median
Some freeways in North America include "inverted" medians, which separate roadways running in the opposite direction from the standard for the country they are located in. Roads are so designed for a number of reasons, including to save space or for the creation of
continuous flow intersections.
* The north–south
Golden State Freeway (
I-5) in the
Tehachapi Mountains of California between
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
and the
San Joaquin Valley
The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven ...
. For several miles, the direction of traffic on both sides of the median is reversed — northbound traffic is on the western roadway and southbound traffic on the eastern roadway.
*
I-85
Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, n ...
in central North Carolina between Lexington and Thomasville features an inverted median, constructed so that an in-median, right-exit
rest area can feature a historic bridge.
*
I-77
Interstate 77 (I-77) is a north–south Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It traverses diverse terrain, from the mountainous state of West Virginia to the rolling farmlands of North Carolina and Ohio. It largely supplants the ...
in
Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...
, has a reverse median at its intersection over
I-85
Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, n ...
for on- and off-ramps without taking too much land from neighboring properties and without building many more bridges.
*
I-84
Interstate 84 may refer to:
* Interstate 84 (Oregon–Utah), passing through Idaho, formerly known as Interstate 80N
* Interstate 84 (Pennsylvania–Massachusetts)
Interstate 84 (I-84) is an Interstate Highway in the Northeaster ...
used to have an inverted median through
Waterbury, Connecticut, east of the 2-level "mixmaster" interchange with
Route 8. This section of freeway was reconstructed in the 1970s, which eliminated the inverted median.
Safety impact
An August 1993 study by the US
Federal Highway Administration
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program ...
quantified the
correlation
In statistics, correlation or dependence is any statistical relationship, whether causal or not, between two random variables or bivariate data. Although in the broadest sense, "correlation" may indicate any type of association, in statistic ...
between median width and the reduction of both
head-on accidents and severe injuries. The study found that medians without barriers should be constructed more than wide in order to have any effect on safety, and that safety benefits of wider medians continue to increase to a width of .
A consequence of this finding is that decreasing the size of a median to from to add lanes to a highway may result in a less safe highway. Statistics regarding medians with barriers were not calculated in this study.
Bus rapid transit
Central reservations may also be used for reserved
bus lane
A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses, often on certain days and times, and generally used to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. The related term busway describes a roadwa ...
s, as in Istanbul's
Metrobus, Los Angeles's
J Line and Bogotá's
TransMilenio. Center-lane running and
island platform
An island platform (also center platform, centre platform) is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange. Island platforms are popular o ...
s installed in the medium reduce conflicts with stopped and parked cars as well as pedestrians near the curb, thus speeding service.
Railway use
In some cases, the median strip of the highway may contain a train line, usually around major urban centers. This is often done to share a
right-of-way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
, because of the expense and difficulty of clearing a route through dense urban neighborhoods. A reserved right-of-way is contrasted with
street running
A street running train is a train which runs on a track built on public streets. The rails are embedded in the roadway, and the train shares the street with other users, such as pedestrians, cars and cyclists, thus often being referred to as ru ...
, in which rail cars and automobiles occupy the same lanes of traffic.
File:Shin-Mido-Suji on Higashi-Mikuni.jpg, Japan National Route 423 in Kita-ku, Osaka
is one of 24 wards of Osaka in Japan.
Incidents and accidents
2021 Osaka building fire
Notable locations
Kita-ku, particularly the Umeda area surrounding Osaka Station, is one of the main commercial centers of Osaka. Kita-ku is also a fin ...
with the Osaka Metro Midōsuji Line in the median.
File:Perth skyline and Kwinana Freeway 2009.jpg, The Kwinana Freeway
The Kwinana Freeway is a freeway in and beyond the southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking central Perth with Mandurah to the south. It is the central section of State Route 2, which continues north as Mitchell Freeway to C ...
in Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
, Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
contains the Mandurah railway line
File:Bremen-havenspoor.JPG, Median strip tramway in Bremen
Bremen ( Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state cons ...
, Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...
, an example of a median strip occupied by a tramway track.
File:J24 688 U-Bahn-Linie 2, Zug Richtung La Cisterna.jpg, A part of the Pan American Highway
The Pan-American Highway (french: (Auto)route panaméricaine/transaméricaine; pt, Rodovia/Auto-estrada Pan-americana; es, Autopista/Carretera/Ruta Panamericana) is a network of roads stretching across the Americas and measuring about in to ...
in Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
contains the line 2 of the Santiago Metro
The Santiago Metro ( es, Metro de Santiago) is a rapid transit system serving the city of Santiago, the capital of Chile. It currently consists of seven lines (numbered 1-6 and 4A), 136 stations, and of revenue route. The system is managed by ...
in its median.
Train lines that run in the median of highways include:
Asia
*
Beijing Subway Line 13 and
Batong line run in the median of the
G45 Daqing-Guangzhou Expressway and
Jingtong Expressway, respectively.
*
Israel Railways in the
Tel Aviv metropolitan area
Gush Dan ( he, גּוּשׁ דָּן, ''lit.'' "Dan bloc") or Tel Aviv metropolitan area ( he, מֶטְרוֹפּוֹלִין תֵּל אָבִיב) is a conurbation in Israel, located along the country's Mediterranean coastline. There is no sing ...
along the
Ayalon Highway Ayalon ( he, אַיָּלוֹן, איילון, ‘place of deer’) is the name of an Israeli placename and a Hebrew family name. It is the modern transliteration of Ajalon. It is derived from ( ‘deer’). It may refer to the following:
Places
* ...
.
*
Kita-Osaka Kyuko Railway
is a railway operator in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. Its sole line, officially named the , operates as an extension of the Midōsuji Line of the Osaka Metro.
The , established on 11 December 1967, is majorly owned by Hankyu. ''Kitakyu'', as it is ...
and the
Osaka Metro Midōsuji Line along
Japan National Route 423 (Shinmidō-suji) between
Toyonaka, Osaka
is a city in Osaka Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on October 15, 1936.
Geography Climate
Toyonaka has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen ''Cfa'') characterized by warm summers and cool winters with light to no snowfall. The averag ...
and
Kita-ku, Osaka
is one of 24 wards of Osaka in Japan.
Incidents and accidents
2021 Osaka building fire
Notable locations
Kita-ku, particularly the Umeda area surrounding Osaka Station, is one of the main commercial centers of Osaka. Kita-ku is also a fin ...
.
*
Manila MRT Line 3
, locale = Metro Manila, Philippines
, start =
, end =
, type = Light rapid transit
, system = Manila Metr ...
runs in the median of the
Epifanio delos Santos Avenue (EDSA) between the latter's intersection with
Taft Avenue
Taft Avenue ( fil, Abenida Taft; es, Avenida Taft) is a major road in the south of Metro Manila. It passes through three cities in the metropolis: Manila, Pasay and Parañaque. The road was named after the former Governor-General of the Philippin ...
in
Pasay
Pasay, officially the City of Pasay ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasay; ), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 440,656 people.
Due to its location jus ...
and a junction with
North Avenue in
Quezon City
Quezon City (, ; fil, Lungsod Quezon ), also known as the City of Quezon and Q.C. (read in Filipino as Kyusi), is the List of cities in the Philippines, most populous city in the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a populatio ...
.
**The
LRT Line 1 also runs in the median of EDSA from the North Avenue junction where the tracks connect with neighboring Line 3 to the
Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan. However, trains for this line only run until
Roosevelt instead of North Avenue.
*The under-construction
MRT Line 7 runs along the medians of
North Avenue, at-grade in some portions of
Commonwealth Avenue, Regalado Avenue and
Quirino Avenue.
*
Tuen Ma line
The Tuen Ma line () is a rapid transit line that forms part of the Mass Transit Railway (MTR) system in Hong Kong. Coloured brown on the map, the Tuen Ma line is in length, making it the longest line of the MTR network. It has a total o ...
between
Shek Mun station
Shek Mun () is a station on the of Hong Kong. To the west, it serves the Shek Mun Industrial Area and northeastern portion of City One, including Siu Lek Yuen Playground. A new campus of the Hong Kong Baptist University (including a primary ...
and
Tai Shui Hang station
Tai or TAI may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Tai (comics) a fictional Marvel Comics supervillain
*Tai Fraiser, a fictional character in the 1995 film ''Clueless''
*Tai Kamiya, a fictional character in ''Digimon''
Businesses and organisation ...
along the A Kung Kok Street.
Europe
* The
Athens Airport-Kiato railway and
Athens Metro line
M3 along
Attiki Odos
* The
Ferrocarril de Sóller along Carrer Eusebi Estada in
Palma de Mallorca
Palma (; ; also known as ''Palma de Mallorca'', officially between 1983–88, 2006–08, and 2012–16) is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands in Spain. It is situated on the south coast of Mallorca ...
* The
Paris Metro Line 8
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
along the D1, between
Créteil – Université and its terminus at
Pointe du Lac
* Line
25N from
Brussels Airport
Brussels Airport, nl, Luchthaven Brussel, vls, Vliegpling Brussel, german: Flughafen Brüssel is an international airport northeast of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. In 2019, more than 26 million passengers arrived or departed at Brus ...
junction to
Mechelen
Mechelen (; french: Malines ; traditional English name: MechlinMechelen has been known in English as ''Mechlin'', from where the adjective ''Mechlinian'' is derived. This name may still be used, especially in a traditional or historical contex ...
along the
E19
* The line from
Schiphol Airport along the
A4 and
A10 motorways to Amsterdam
* The
Noord-Zuid metro line along the
s116 Nieuwe Leeuwarderweg through
Amsterdam-Noord
Amsterdam-Noord (; ) is a borough of Amsterdam, Netherlands with a population of about 90,000. The IJ, the body of water which separates it from Amsterdam-Centrum and the rest of the city, is situated southwest of Amsterdam-Noord. The borough, ...
* The
Essen Stadtbahn
The Essen Stadtbahn (german: Stadtbahn Essen) is a light rail (Stadtbahn) network in Essen and the two neighbouring towns of Mülheim an der Ruhr and Gelsenkirchen in the German state of North Rhine Westphalia. It forms part of the Rhine-Ruhr S ...
along the
Ruhrschnellweg
, (named A 430 until the early 1990s) is one of the most used Autobahns in Germany. It crosses the Dutch-German border as a continuation of the Dutch A67 and crosses the Rhine, leads through the Ruhr valley toward Bochum, becoming B&nb ...
* The
Øresund Line along the
E20 south of
Malmö
Malmö (, ; da, Malmø ) is the largest city in the Swedish county (län) of Scania (Skåne). It is the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in the Nordic region, with a municipal popul ...
* The
Docklands Light Railway
The Docklands Light Railway (DLR) is an automated light metro system serving the redeveloped Docklands area of London, England and provides a direct connection between London's two major financial districts, Canary Wharf and the City of Lo ...
between
Beckton Park station
Beckton Park DLR station is a station on the Docklands Light Railway (DLR) in the Docklands area of east London. The station is located by the north quay of the Royal Albert Dock. The station is opposite Beckton District South Park, which is ...
and
Cyprus station uses the median of the A1020 road in east
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
.
North America
Canada
* The
Line 1 Yonge–University along
Allen Road
William R. Allen Road, also known as Allen Road, the Allen Expressway and colloquially as the Allen, is a short expressway and arterial road in Toronto. It starts as a controlled-access expressway at Eglinton Avenue West, heading north to just ...
in northwest
Toronto, Ontario
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, Canada
* The
Mascouche line
Mascouche (also designated exo5, known during planning as Repentigny–Mascouche) is a commuter railway line in Greater Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is operated by Exo, the organization that operates public transport services across this reg ...
along the
median
In statistics and probability theory, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half of a data sample, a population, or a probability distribution. For a data set, it may be thought of as "the middle" value. The basic f ...
of the
A 640 between
Repentigny and
Mascouche
Mascouche () is an off-island suburb of Montreal, in southern Quebec, Canada. The city is located on the Mascouche River within the Les Moulins Regional County Municipality and has a population of 51,183, ranking 20th among Quebec municipaliti ...
.
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirte ...
, Canada.
* The
Red Line of
Calgary
Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, maki ...
's
CTrain light rail network is partially located in the median strip of the
Crowchild Trail
* The
ION in Kitchener-Waterloo is partially located in the median strip of
King Street and
Charles Street.
United States
* The
Baltimore Metro Subway along a portion of
I-795 in Baltimore County
*
Union Pacific through Tulsa, Oklahoma in the median of the
Broken Arrow Expressway
State Highway 51, abbreviated to SH-51 or OK-51, is a major state highway in Oklahoma, United States. It runs for east–west across the state, running from the Texas state line to Arkansas. It is the third-longest state highway in the syst ...
, between downtown and
Interstate 44
* The
Chicago Transit Authority's
Red and
Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when ...
lines in the median of the
Dan Ryan Expressway
The Dan Ryan Expressway is an expressway in Chicago that runs from the Circle Interchange with Interstate 290 (I-290) near Downtown Chicago through the South Side of the city. It is designated as both I-90 and I-94 south to 66th Street, ...
, the
Kennedy Expressway
The John F. Kennedy Expressway is a nearly freeway in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Portions of the freeway carry I-190, I-90 and I-94. The freeway runs in a southeast–northwest direction between the central city neighborhood of the ...
, and
I-290 in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
, image_map =
, map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago
, coordinates =
, coordinates_footnotes =
, subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...
* The
H Line (RTD) built in the median of
Interstate 225 from
Interstate 25
Interstate 25 (I-25) is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States. It is primarily a north–south highway, serving as the main route through New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. I-25 stretches from I-10 at Las Cruces, New Mexi ...
to north of Parker Road in the
Denver
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
,
Colorado
Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the ...
metro area
* The
Hardy Toll Road
The Hardy Toll Road is a toll road in the Greater Houston area of the U.S. state of Texas, maintained by the Harris County Toll Road Authority. The route runs from Interstate 610 near central Houston to Interstate 45 just south of the Harris– ...
in Houston, Texas, has a rail line running down the median for a significant portion of its length.
* The
JFK Airtrain is an elevated train along the median of
Interstate 678 in
Queens, New York
Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...
; it runs north from
John F Kennedy International Airport before turning east at Jamaica Avenue
* The
New Mexico Rail Runner
The New Mexico Rail Runner Express ( AAR reporting mark NMRX) is a commuter rail system serving the metropolitan areas of Albuquerque and Santa Fe, New Mexico. It is administered by the New Mexico Department of Transportation (NMDOT) and the R ...
on the median of
Interstate 25
Interstate 25 (I-25) is a major Interstate Highway in the western United States. It is primarily a north–south highway, serving as the main route through New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming. I-25 stretches from I-10 at Las Cruces, New Mexi ...
from CP Hondo into the state capital of
Santa Fe, New Mexico
Santa Fe ( ; , Spanish for 'Holy Faith'; tew, Oghá P'o'oge, Tewa for 'white shell water place'; tiw, Hulp'ó'ona, label= Northern Tiwa; nv, Yootó, Navajo for 'bead + water place') is the capital of the U.S. state of New Mexico. The name “S ...
* The
Red Line (MARTA) built in the median of
Georgia 400 between the northern
Atlanta
Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...
neighborhood,
Lindbergh, Atlanta
Lindbergh, officially Lindbergh/Morosgo, is a neighborhood in the Buckhead district of Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the neighborhood consists of multi-use development combining retail, office and residential space.
Geography
Lindbergh is bordered o ...
and
Sandy Springs, Georgia
Sandy Springs is a city in northern Fulton County, Georgia and an inner ring suburb of Atlanta. The city's population was 108,080 at the 2020 census, making it Georgia's seventh-largest city. It is the site of several corporate headquarters, ...
* The
TriMet MAX Red Line light rail runs in the median of
Interstate 205 in
Maywood Park, Oregon
Maywood Park is a city in Multnomah County, Oregon, United States. The name came from a comment made by the wife of the man who developed the original subdivision, E. F. Taylor, who remarked one winter night how attractive the woods were in May. ...
.
*
Union Pacific's main line through
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, runs on the median of the
MoPac Expressway
MOPAC is a popular computer program used in computational chemistry. It is designed to implement semi-empirical quantum chemistry algorithms, and it runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux.
MOPAC2016 is the current version. MOPAC2016 is able to perform c ...
. The highway is named for the now defunct
Missouri Pacific.
* The
WMATA Orange Line
The Orange Line is a rapid transit line of the Washington Metro system, consisting of 26 stations in Fairfax County and Arlington, Virginia; the District of Columbia; and Prince George's County, Maryland, United States. The Orange Line runs f ...
and the
WMATA Silver Line
The Silver Line is a rapid transit line of the Washington Metro system, consisting of 34 stations in Loudoun County, Fairfax County and Arlington County, Virginia, Washington, D.C., as well as Prince George's County, Maryland. The Silver Line r ...
west of
Washington, D.C. following
Interstate 66
Interstate 66 (I-66) is an east–west Interstate Highway in the eastern United States. It runs from an interchange with I-81 near Middletown, Virginia, on its western end to an interchange with U.S. Route 29 (US 29) in Washing ...
and
Virginia State Route 267 between
Fairfax and
Loudoun County, and
Arlington, Virginia
Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county ...
*The
BNSF main line and
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous U.S. States and nine cities in Canada. ...
''
Coast Starlight
The ''Coast Starlight'' is a passenger train operated by Amtrak on the West Coast of the United States between Seattle and Los Angeles via Portland and the San Francisco Bay Area. The train, which has operated continuously since Amtrak's format ...
'' and ''
Cascades'' services between
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...
and
Portland, OR has trackage in the median of
Interstate 5 just North of Woodland, Washington.
* The
SEPTA
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five c ...
Market-Frankford Line briefly runs in the median of the
Delaware Expressway after it emerges from the Market Street Tunnel before continuing along Front Street.
;California
* Parts of
Bay Area Rapid Transit
Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes on of rapid transit lines, including a spur line in eastern Contra Costa County which u ...
outside
San Francisco
San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...
:
** (including
eBART) along
California State Route 24 and
California State Route 4
State Route 4 (SR 4) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, routed from Interstate 80 in the San Francisco Bay Area to State Route 89 in the Sierra Nevada. It roughly parallels the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, a popular are ...
** along
Interstate 238
Route 238, consisting of State Route 238 (SR 238) and Interstate 238 (I-238), is a mostly north–south state and auxiliary Interstate highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. The southern segment is signed as SR ...
and
Interstate 580
**
MacArthur station, a
cross-platform interchange
A cross-platform interchange is a type of interchange between different lines at a metro (or other railway) station. The term originates with the London Underground; such layouts exist in other networks but are not commonly so named. In the U ...
station where three lines meet in the median of State Route 24
* The
Los Angeles Metro
** The
C Line runs in the median of the
Interstate 105 for majority of its length.
** The
L Line runs in the median of the
Interstate 210 in Pasadena.
*
Metrolink
** The
San Bernardino Line
The San Bernardino Line is a Metrolink line running between Downtown Los Angeles east through the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire to San Bernardino, with express service to Redlands. It is one of the three initial lines (along with th ...
runs in the median of the
Interstate 10
Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally p ...
between
Interstate 710 and El Monte.
** The
Orange County Line
The Orange County Line is a commuter rail line run by Metrolink from Los Angeles through Orange County to Oceanside in San Diego County, connecting with the Coaster commuter rail service to San Diego. The Orange County Line carries passenger ...
,
Inland Empire-Orange County Line and
Amtrak's Pacific Surfliner runs in the median of
Interstate 5 north of
Oceanside, California
Oceanside is a city on the South Coast of California, located in San Diego County. The city had a population of 167,086 at the 2010 census. The city is a popular tourist destination, owing to its historic landmarks, beaches, and architecture.
...
.
***
North County Transit District's
Coaster also uses this median segment to access the Coaster yard at the north end of the segment. NCTD owns the
right-of-way
Right of way is the legal right, established by grant from a landowner or long usage (i.e. by prescription), to pass along a specific route through property belonging to another.
A similar ''right of access'' also exists on land held by a gov ...
.
* The
VTA Blue Line runs for much of its length in the medians of
California State Route 87 and
California State Route 85
State Route 85 (SR 85), known as the West Valley Freeway along its entire length, is a state highway which connects the cities of southern San Jose and Mountain View in the U.S. State of California. The highway intersects with major highways ...
.
*
Sacramento RT Light Rail Blue Line runs in the median of
Interstate 80
Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one ...
and includes
park and ride
A park and ride, also known as incentive parking or a commuter lot, is a parking lot with public transport connections that allows commuters and other people heading to city centres to leave their vehicles and transfer to a bus, rail system ( ...
facilities at most of the stations in this section.
Oceania
* The
Joondalup and
Mandurah railway lines in both
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
and
Mandurah in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
are set up like this. The former is mainly located in the median of the
Mitchell Freeway
The Mitchell Freeway is a freeway in the northern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking central Perth with the city of Joondalup. It is the northern section of State Route 2, which continues south as Kwinana Freeway and Forrest High ...
. The latter line has its northern section in the median of the
Kwinana Freeway
The Kwinana Freeway is a freeway in and beyond the southern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, linking central Perth with Mandurah to the south. It is the central section of State Route 2, which continues north as Mitchell Freeway to C ...
while its southern section is located in
Mandjoogoordap Drive. The planned
Morley–Ellenbrook railway line will begin at
Bayswater station and travel up the median strip of the
Tonkin Highway
Tonkin Highway is an north–south highway and partial freeway in Perth, Western Australia, linking Perth Airport and Kewdale with the city's north-eastern and south-eastern suburbs. As of April 2020, the northern terminus is at the intercha ...
for some of its length.
City planners also commonly use media strips to accommodate urban
tram
A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...
tracks along a central
segregated track, and examples of this layout are found across Europe. Some of the earliest practices of incorporating central tramways into
road designs were pioneered in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...
by
John Alexander Brodie, and later emulated in Manchester, such as along
Princess Parkway or
Kingsway.
South America
* The
Santiago Metro Line 2 in
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...
along the
Pan American Highway
The Pan-American Highway (french: (Auto)route panaméricaine/transaméricaine; pt, Rodovia/Auto-estrada Pan-americana; es, Autopista/Carretera/Ruta Panamericana) is a network of roads stretching across the Americas and measuring about in to ...
See also
*
Lane
*
Motorway service area
*
Rest area
*
Road surface marking
*
Shoulder (road)
*
Traffic lane
In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in eac ...
References
{{Infrastructure
Road infrastructure
Road surface markings
da:Rabat (vej)
de:Straßenquerschnitt#Trennstreifen