Shoulder (road) Shoulder (road) A shoulder, or hard shoulder is an emergency stopping lane by the verge of a road or motorway, on the right in countries which drive on the right, or on the left side in India, Japan, the UK, Australia, and other left-side driving countries. Many wider US and Swedish freeways have shoulders on both sides of each directional carriageway, in the median as well as at the outer edges of the road, for additional safety. Shoulders are not intended for use by through traffic, although there are exceptions (see below). Shoulders have multiple uses, including: The shoulder is
Frontage road Minnesota Drive Expressway (from West 100th Ave to Dimond Boulevard) in South Anchorage. Also, the George Parks Highway (Alaska Route 3) has two-way frontage roads running along it from the Trunk Road exit to the Seward Meridian Parkway exit (Fireweed Road on the south side and Blue Lupine Drive on the north side) in Wasilla. Frontage roads are not very common in Arizona but do exist along certain freeways. I-17 Black Canyon Hwy./Maricopa Fwy. is the oldest freeway in the Phoenix Metropolitan area to have a frontage road. Some sections of the frontage road was reduced to a single lane