Cities face growing challenges in managing everything that takes place within the public right-of-way — from vehicle activity, construction, micromobility, and pedestrian access. To help cities meet these needs with clarity and control, INRIX released INRIX Road Rules Right-Of-Way Manager.
This latest update marks a major evolution: for the first time, cities can fully map, edit, and govern sidewalk infrastructure, extending the Road Rules platform from curb-to-curb to building-face-to-building-face. By adding sidewalks, sidewalk policies, and curbside objects, Road Rules empowers planners, engineers, and mobility teams with a complete picture.
What Is Right-of-Way Management and Why It Matters
Right-of-way management is how cities govern the public space between buildings, including lanes, curbs, sidewalks, and the policies that shape their use. As streets grow more complex, this has become increasingly important. During construction or events, sidewalks are often closed or rerouted, yet they have not traditionally been managed alongside lanes and curbs, creating coordination challenges. Cities need tools to distinguish sidewalk from lane closures, apply time-based rules, and link changes to permits. Meanwhile, curbside assets like meters, EV chargers, transit stops, and signage are often tracked separately. A “building-face-to-building-face” approach unifies all elements into one coordinated system.
To address these challenges, cities are beginning to modernize how they manage the right‑of‑way by treating sidewalks, curbside objects, and pedestrian policies as first‑class infrastructure, governed alongside lanes and curbs, not separately.
This evolution is reflected in the latest update to Road Rules Right‑Of‑Way Manager, which expands right‑of‑way intelligence beyond the curb and onto the sidewalk, giving cities a more complete, accurate view of how public space is used and regulated.
Key New Features in Road Rules
- Sidewalks Added as a New Asset Class: Cities can now create and edit sidewalk segments directly in Road Rules including geometry, attributes, and policy layers. Planners can split and merge segments to accurately model how sidewalks function on the ground.
- Support for Sidewalk and Roadway Objects: Users can add, view, and reposition physical assets like:
- Parking meters
- EV chargers
- Transit stops
- Signs
- Fire hydrants
- Street furniture and more
This gives cities a single source of truth for the objects that shape mobility and public space.
- Powerful Sidewalk and Lane Closure Management: Construction and events can affect any part of the right of way, from sidewalks, to parking lanes, to travel lanes, yet they’re rarely managed within a unified system. Road Rules introduces tools that let cities:
- Add sidewalk closures and specific lanes tied directly to permits
- Apply “No Travel” policies with configurable dates and times and apply them to specific user classes such as pedestrians, cyclists, or other users of the public right of way
- Provide clear map-based visualization for internal teams and the public in addition to an API for companies using the right of way
- Integrated Document References: Each closure can now include linked documentation, enabling planners to easily verify the source permit, track changes, and maintain compliance
- Purpose-Built for Urban Planners, Street Operations Teams, and Permitting Systems: Every feature in this release was designed with cities in mind to simplify workflows, improve accuracy, and reduce the friction associated with managing complex and dynamic rights-of-way.
Road Rules Right-Of-Way Manager supports the objectives of the Philadelphia Digital Right of Way and Smart Mobility Improvement Project and demonstrates how the platform can scale to meet the needs of modern mobility governance in major cities. By incorporating sidewalks, closure management, and curbside object capabilities, the release provides a comprehensive view of the right-of-way from the travel lane to the building edge. These tools enable cities to manage pedestrian access with the same level of structure applied to vehicle operations, while improving safety, transparency, coordination, and overall operational efficiency.
Learn more here: inrix.com/products/road-rules/.