Local–express lanes

The local–express lane system is an arrangement of carriageways within a major highway where long distance traffic can use inner express lanes with fewer interchanges compared to local traffic which use outer local lanes that have access to all interchanges.

One of the longest examples is Highway 401 in Toronto, where highway ramps between express and local lanes cross over one another; these are commonly known as braided ramps.

[1][2][3][4][5][6] Some places may have only three carriageways on the highway instead of four, utilizing one directional express lanes.

They may be permanent, or they can be reversible express lanes such as in Seattle where they alternate direction.

Generally speaking, a local–express system will have the extra outer lanes present for a long duration of the highway, as opposed to a collector/distributor system where the extra outer lanes are only present at an interchange.

System with four roadways/carriageways, where access ways primarily connect with the outer roadways. Through traffic on the inner carriageways can flow without interruption.