A hard shoulder or simply shoulder is a reserved area alongside the verge of a road or motorway. Generally the hard shoulder is kept clear of all traffic. In the event of an emergency or breakdown, a motorist can pull into the hard shoulder to get out of the flow of traffic and obtain an element of safety. A hard shoulder also allows some extra flexibility should a motorist need to take evasive action, it is a buffer area between the main thoroughfare and the edge of the road. Emergency vehicles such as ambulances and police cars may also use the shoulder to bypass traffic congestion. These uses lead to the alternate names breakdown lane and emergency lane. A road is a strip of land, smoothed or otherwise prepared to allow easier travel, connecting two or more destinations. ... A motorway (Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth nations) is both a type of road and a classification. ... An emergency is a situation that poses an immediate threat to human life or serious damage to property. ... Breakdown can refer to: Electrical breakdown Chemical breakdown Biological decomposition Nervous breakdown A script breakdown for a play, film, or comic book Breakdown is a 1999 album by Melissa Etheridge. ... An emergency vehicle is any vehicle designed to respond to an emergency. ... Ambulance An ambulance is a vehicle designated for the transport of sick or injured people. ... A London Metropolitan Police car A police car, police cruiser, squad car, or patrol car is a vehicle used by police forces around the world to patrol, temporarily detain and transport individual prisoners. ... Traffic jams are common in heavily populated areas. ...

The shoulder is usually slightly smaller than the width of a full traffic lane. In some cases, particularly on old rural roadways, shoulders do not exist or are made of gravel rather than hard asphalt or concrete. These are known as soft shoulders in comparison. Because the road surface changes at that point, they are less safe if they need to be used for emergency maneuvers, so modern practice is to build a hard shoulder whenever possible. To save money, the hard shoulder is sometimes not paved to the same thickness as the through lanes, so if vehicles were to attempt to use it as a through lane regularly, it would rapidly deteriorate. The shoulder also often collects various bits of debris that can make driving there unsafe. In many parts of the world traffic is generally organized, flowing in lanes of travel for a particular direction, with interchanges, traffic signals, or signage at intersectons to facilitate the orderly and timely flow of traffic. ... The word lane has two meanings: A narrow road, usually lacking a shoulder or a median. ... Gravel Gravel is rock that is of a certain size range. ... Asphalt is a highly viscous liquid that occurs naturally in most crude petroleums. ... This article is about the construction material. ...

Drivers will sometimes drift into the shoulder when being overtaken by passing vehicles, particularly on two-lane roads. However, it is extremely unsafe, as well as illegal, to abuse the hard shoulder by 'undertaking': passing vehicles that are near centre of the road. (Some roads and expressways have a hard shoulder that is of such a narrow width that 'undertaking' is impossible.) In some jurisdictions, buses are allowed to drive on the shoulder to pass traffic jams (some observers call this a crude form of bus rapid transit). Driving in this manner requires an extremely high level of attention, however. For instance, buses are allowed to drive on the shoulder in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region of Minnesota, but in most cases, the shoulder is only one foot (30 cm) wider than the buses themselves. Highway 403 had its shoulders between Hurontario Street and Erin Mills Parkway widened in 2003 so they serve a dual-purpose as bus lanes and accident lanes. The Bus, established by Mayor Frank Fasi, is Honolulus only public transit system. ... Bus rapid transit (BRT) is a relatively new umbrella term for urban mass transportation services utilizing buses to perform premium services on existing roadways or dedicated rights-of-way. ... The Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. ... State nickname: North Star State Other U.S. States Capital Saint Paul Largest city Minneapolis Governor Tim Pawlenty Official languages None Area 225,365 km² (12th)  - Land 206,375 km²  - Water 18,990 km² (8. ... Highway 403 as part of the 400-series network Highway 403 is a 400-Series Highway in Ontario, Canada that extends 126 km (78. ...

On many roads, the shoulder disappears for short periods, particularly near exits and sometimes when going across bridges where the cost savings outweigh the disadvantages of not having the shoulder. However, some roads have a narrow shoulder for significant distances. This makes it difficult for large vehicles to pull into the hard shoulder altogether. The Jingjintang Expressway in northeastern China is an example. Its hard shoulder is 2.4 metres in width—not wide enough for some automobiles. As a result, some motorists are forced to pull out, ending up in a position that occupies half of the carriageway (rightmost lane) and half of the hard shoulder. This often results in traffic jams and sometimes worse incidents. This article is about the edifice. ... Jingjintang Expressway (Beijing segment, taken in July of 2004) Opened in September of 1993, the Jingjintang expressway, also known simply as the Jingtang expressway, links Beijing via central Tianjin to the Tanggu District in eastern Tianjin. ...

In Ireland, the hard shoulder is demarcated by road markings in the form of a single dashed yellow line (solid line on motorways), possibly with the addition of yellow cat's eyes. In the UK there is a solid white line, and on a motorway this will be reinforced by cat's eyes and a rumble strip. In the USA, the right-hand shoulder is separated by a solid white line, and the left-hand shoulder (if the road is a divided highway) is separated from the main road by a solid yellow line. On freeways in California, there is an obvious break in the line of the shoulder before every exit; this is to help drivers find their exits in heavy fog. The orange markers separate opposing traffic lanes. ... Rumble strips are strips of painted, ridged road surfaces to warn drivers when they stray from their lanes. ... Divided Highway is the fourteenth studio album by American rock band The Doobie Brothers, released in 2003. ... A typical rural freeway (Interstate 5 in the Central Valley of California). ... State nickname: The Golden State Other U.S. States Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger Official languages English Area 410,000 km² (3rd)  - Land 404,298 km²  - Water 20,047 km² (4. ... Early morning fog obscures the surface of this lake in Carrollton, Georgia, but the sky remains clear. ...