Contraflow lane - wikipedia Contraflow lane This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. ( April 2015 ) For temporary usage of contraflow, see Contraflow lane reversal. In transport engineering nomenclature, a counterflow lane or contraflow lane is a lane in which traffic flows in the opposite direction of the surrounding lanes. Contraflow lanes are often used for bicycles or bus rapid transit on what are otherwise one - way streets. In a sample configuration for buses, a street might have four lanes : the outermost lanes are reserved for buses in both directions, while the center two lanes are available for general traffic in only one direction. Thus, the street functions as two - way for buses, but one - way for all other vehicles. Contraflow lanes can also be used to extend the capacity of separated limited - access roads when there are physical constraints. For example, the Boston I - 93 - Southeast Expressway `` Zipper - Lane '', which provides an HOV lane for the morning rush on the northbound side, and the afternoon rush on the southbound side. In certain situations, reversible lanes will be contraflow for a portion of the day. The Lincoln Tunnel XBL to the Lincoln Tunnel is a contraflow exclusive bus lane for buses during the morning peak period. The XBL lane is fed by the New Jersey Turnpike at Exits 16E and 17, and New Jersey Route 3. The helix, tunnel, and terminal are owned and operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the bi-state agency that also operates the 2.5 - mile ( 4.02 km ) contraflow lane along the left lane of three westbound lanes. The XBL serves over 1,800 buses, which transport more than 65,000 persons, each morning and is a major component of the morning `` inbound '' commutation crossing the Hudson River. When lanes on motorways are closed for repair and maintenance, a contraflow lane may be set up on the other side of the central reservation. Contents 1 Mass transit 2 Bicycle contraflow lanes 3 See also 4 References Mass transit Contraflow bus lanes, areas in which a dedicated lane of an otherwise one way street is reversed for buses and other mass transit, exist in locations such as : Downtown Los Angeles, CA Pittsburgh, PA Belfast, Northern Ireland Through the Lincoln Tunnel between New Jersey and New York City Downtown Minneapolis, MN Leeds, England London, England Edmonton, AB Calgary, AB Downtown Portland, OR Boston, MA ( for the Silver Line bus ) Montreal, QC ( Champlain Bridge ) San Juan, PR Mexico City, Mexico São Paulo, Brazil Houston, TX Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong ( similar lanes are also reserved for trams ) From June 1990 to June 2002, a similar line existed in Montreal, along Pie - IX Boulevard ; this was indefinitely suspended after two fatalities. Government buses use a bus - only contraflow lane on Macquarie St in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Authorised buses, emergency vehicles and taxis use a contraflow lane on Petrie Tce, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Tram lanes are an extension to this system found in cities with curbside streetcar networks. For example, tram lanes in Zagreb can be used only by trams, buses, and taxicabs. Bicycle contraflow lanes Bicycle contraflow lane in Caen, France Contraflow is a common part of decent cycling infrastructure and is often seen on one - way streets. A standard example is that car and other vehicular traffic might have only one lane while on both sides there are bike lanes ; one going in the same direction as the vehicular traffic, the other ( the contraflow bike lane ) allows cyclists to safely go in the opposite direction to the cars. This is allowed as the road may not be wide enough for two lanes of car traffic but there is enough room to allow for the additional bicycle lane ; and without it cyclists may be forced to take a long, and perhaps unsafe, detour. Another example is the same as the above but there is only one bike lane, the contraflow lane, and bicycles travelling in the same direction as the cars share the cars ' lane. This solution would be more suited to very narrow roads or ones with light traffic. Roadsign in Rennes indicating a street which is one - way for motorised vehicles but two - way for bicycles In Belgium since about 2005, and in France since 2010, the default position in towns has been for one - way streets to be available for cycling in either direction, known in French as sens unique limité ( SUL ). In this case, a contraflow cycle lane is often marked in paint, with dotted white lines and ideograms of a bicycle, either all the way along the street if busy, or more commonly just at junctions. In the Netherlands, most one - way streets are two way for cyclists, although this is not always marked by a counterflow lane. This is presented as a ' one - way street, except for cyclists '. One - way streets that do not exclude bicycles are rare and are usually only found as pairs of a single street that are too far apart to be presented as a single street. It is not uncommon for cyclists to fail to notice a one - way street that does include bicycles, because they are too accustomed to all one - way streets excluding bicycles. Contraflow cycling is often assumed to be associated with higher accidents risks, but where it has been properly evaluated, contraflow cycling actually seems to reduce the accidents risk. See also Contraflow lane reversal Reversible lane Single track road References Jump up ^ `` HOV Monitoring - MassDOT Planning ''. www.massdot.state.ma.us. Massachusetts Department of Transportation. Retrieved 6 July 2017. ^ Jump up to : `` The Lincoln Tunnel Exclusive Bus Lane ''. Lincoln Tunnel. Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. December 28, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2013. Jump up ^ `` Route 495 Exclusive Bus Lane : A 20 - year Success Story ''. World Transit Research. Retrieved April 4, 2012. Jump up ^ `` Lincoln Tunnel HOT Lane Feasibility Study '' ( PDF ). Port Authority of New York & New Jersey. 2009. Retrieved April 4, 2012. Jump up ^ Anderson, Steve. `` NJ 495 Freeway ''. Eastern Roads. Retrieved February 11, 2009. Jump up ^ `` Lincoln Tunnel Exclusive Bus Lane Enhancement Study '' ( PDF ). Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Archived from the original ( PDF ) on June 27, 2008. Retrieved February 13, 2009. Jump up ^ `` TriMet : What 's New on the Portland Mall ? ''. TriMet. Retrieved 2009 - 06 - 25. Jump up ^ `` Contra - flow bike lane with separator ''. City of Sydney. Retrieved 27 March 2012. Jump up ^ Vandenbulcke, Grégory ; Thomas, Isabelle ; Int Panis, Luc ( July 2013 ). `` Predicting cycling accident risk in Brussels : an innovative spatial case - control approach. ''. Accident Analysis and Prevention. doi : 10.1016 / j. aap. 2013.07. 001. Streets and roadways Types of road Limited - access Freeway / Motorway Dual carriageway / Divided highway / Expressway By country Brazil Croatia Czech Republic Germany Greece Hong Kong India Ireland Italy Pakistan Portugal Spain United Kingdom United States Main roads Arterial road Collector road County highway Express - collector setup Farm - to - market road Highway Link road Two - lane expressway 2 + 1 road 2 + 2 road Parkway Super two Trunk road Highway systems by country Local roads Alley Backroad Bicycle boulevard Boulevard Country lane Dead end Driveway Frontage road Green lane Main street Primitive road Road Side road Single carriageway Single - track road Street Sunken lane Other terms Channelization Concurrency Detour Hierarchy of roads Private highway Route number Special route Business route Street hierarchy Toll road Road junctions Interchanges ( grade - separated ) Cloverleaf Diamond Free - flow Directional T Diverging diamond Parclo Raindrop Roundabout Single - point urban ( SPUI ) Stack Three - level diamond Trumpet Intersections ( at - grade ) 3 - way junction Bowtie Box junction Continuous flow Hook turn Jughandle Michigan left Offset T - intersection Protected intersection Quadrant roadway Right - in / right - out ( RIRO ) Roundabout Seagull intersection Split intersection Superstreet Texas U-turn Traffic circle Turnaround Surfaces Asphalt concrete Bioasphalt Brick Chipseal Cobblestone Concrete Reinforced concrete Corduroy Crocodile cracking Crushed stone Diamond grinding of pavement Dirt Full depth recycling Glassphalt Gravel Ice Macadam Pavement milling Permeable Plank Rubberized asphalt Sealcoat Sett Stamped asphalt Tarmac Texture Road hazards Aquaplaning Black ice Bleeding Crosswind Dead Man 's Curve Expansion joint Fog Ford Hairpin turn Level crossing Manhole cover Oil spill Oversize load Pothole Road debris Road slipperiness Road train Roadkill Rockfall Rut Speed bump Storm drain Washboarding Washout Whiteout Space and time allocation Barrier transfer machine Bicycle lane Climbing lane Complete streets Contraflow lane Contraflow lane reversal High - occupancy toll lane High - occupancy vehicle lane Lane Living street Managed lane Median / Central reservation Motorcycle lane Passing lane Pedestrian crossing Pedestrian zone Refuge island Reversible lane Road diet Road verge Runaway truck ramp Shared space Sidewalk / Pavement Shoulder Street running railway Traffic calming Traffic directionality Traffic island Traffic lanes Traffic signal preemption Unused highway Wide outside lane Woonerf Demarcation Bollard Botts ' dots Cable barrier Cat 's eye ( road ) Concrete step barrier Constant - slope barrier Curb F - Shape barrier Guard rail Jersey barrier Kassel kerb Noise barrier Raised pavement marker Road surface marking Rumble strip Traffic barrier Traffic cone Structures Bridge Causeway Overpass / Flyover Underpass / Tunnel Glossary of road transport terms Road types by features Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Contraflow_lane&oldid=803920357 '' Categories : Road infrastructure Road traffic management Cycling infrastructure Hidden categories : Articles needing additional references from April 2015 All articles needing additional references All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from October 2017 Talk Contents About Wikipedia Polski Edit links This page was last edited on 5 October 2017, at 14 : 40. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: whats the difference between contraflow and with flow
Answer: contraflow lane is a lane in which traffic flows in the opposite direction of the surrounding lanes