diff --git a/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/topo/util/TrafficLink.java b/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/topo/util/TrafficLink.java
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--- /dev/null
+++ b/web/gui/src/main/java/org/onosproject/ui/impl/topo/util/TrafficLink.java
@@ -0,0 +1,222 @@
+/*
+ *  Copyright 2016 Open Networking Laboratory
+ *
+ *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ *  you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ *  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ *  distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ *  WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ *  See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ *  limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.onosproject.ui.impl.topo.util;
+
+import org.onosproject.net.Link;
+import org.onosproject.net.LinkKey;
+import org.onosproject.net.statistic.Load;
+import org.onosproject.ui.topo.BiLink;
+import org.onosproject.ui.topo.LinkHighlight;
+import org.onosproject.ui.topo.LinkHighlight.Flavor;
+import org.onosproject.ui.topo.TopoUtils;
+
+import static org.onosproject.ui.topo.LinkHighlight.Flavor.NO_HIGHLIGHT;
+import static org.onosproject.ui.topo.LinkHighlight.Flavor.PRIMARY_HIGHLIGHT;
+import static org.onosproject.ui.topo.LinkHighlight.Flavor.SECONDARY_HIGHLIGHT;
+
+/**
+ * Representation of a link and its inverse, and associated traffic data.
+ * This class understands how to generate the appropriate
+ * {@link LinkHighlight}s for showing traffic data on the topology view.
+ */
+public class TrafficLink extends BiLink {
+
+    private static final String EMPTY = "";
+    private static final String QUE = "?";
+
+    private long bytes = 0;
+    private long rate = 0;
+    private long flows = 0;
+    private Flavor taggedFlavor = NO_HIGHLIGHT;
+    private boolean hasTraffic = false;
+    private boolean isOptical = false;
+    private boolean antMarch = false;
+
+    /**
+     * Constructs a traffic link for the given key and initial link.
+     *
+     * @param key  canonical key for this traffic link
+     * @param link first link
+     */
+    public TrafficLink(LinkKey key, Link link) {
+        super(key, link);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Sets the optical flag to the given value.
+     *
+     * @param b true if an optical link
+     * @return self, for chaining
+     */
+    public TrafficLink optical(boolean b) {
+        isOptical = b;
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Sets the ant march flag to the given value.
+     *
+     * @param b true if marching ants required
+     * @return self, for chaining
+     */
+    public TrafficLink antMarch(boolean b) {
+        antMarch = b;
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Tags this traffic link with the flavor to be used in visual rendering.
+     *
+     * @param flavor the flavor to tag
+     * @return self, for chaining
+     */
+    public TrafficLink tagFlavor(Flavor flavor) {
+        this.taggedFlavor = flavor;
+        return this;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Adds load statistics, marks the traffic link as having traffic.
+     *
+     * @param load load to add
+     */
+    public void addLoad(Load load) {
+        addLoad(load, 0);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Adds load statistics, marks the traffic link as having traffic, if the
+     * load {@link Load#rate rate} is greater than the given threshold
+     * (expressed in bytes per second).
+     *
+     * @param load load to add
+     * @param threshold threshold to register traffic
+     */
+    public void addLoad(Load load, double threshold) {
+        if (load != null) {
+            this.hasTraffic = hasTraffic || load.rate() > threshold;
+            this.bytes += load.latest();
+            this.rate += load.rate();
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Adds the given count of flows to this traffic link.
+     *
+     * @param count count of flows
+     */
+    public void addFlows(int count) {
+        this.flows += count;
+    }
+
+    @Override
+    public LinkHighlight highlight(Enum<?> type) {
+        StatsType statsType = (StatsType) type;
+        switch (statsType) {
+            case FLOW_COUNT:
+                return highlightForFlowCount(statsType);
+
+            case FLOW_STATS:
+            case PORT_STATS:
+                return highlightForStats(statsType);
+
+            case TAGGED:
+                return highlightForTagging(statsType);
+
+            default:
+                throw new IllegalStateException("unexpected case: " + statsType);
+        }
+    }
+
+    private LinkHighlight highlightForStats(StatsType type) {
+        return new LinkHighlight(linkId(), SECONDARY_HIGHLIGHT)
+                .setLabel(generateLabel(type));
+    }
+
+    private LinkHighlight highlightForFlowCount(StatsType type) {
+        Flavor flavor = flows > 0 ? PRIMARY_HIGHLIGHT : SECONDARY_HIGHLIGHT;
+        return new LinkHighlight(linkId(), flavor)
+                .setLabel(generateLabel(type));
+    }
+
+    private LinkHighlight highlightForTagging(StatsType type) {
+        LinkHighlight hlite = new LinkHighlight(linkId(), taggedFlavor)
+                .setLabel(generateLabel(type));
+        if (isOptical) {
+            hlite.addMod(LinkHighlight.MOD_OPTICAL);
+        }
+        if (antMarch) {
+            hlite.addMod(LinkHighlight.MOD_ANIMATED);
+        }
+        return hlite;
+    }
+
+    // Generates a string representation of the load, to be used as a label
+    private String generateLabel(StatsType type) {
+        switch (type) {
+            case FLOW_COUNT:
+                return TopoUtils.formatFlows(flows);
+
+            case FLOW_STATS:
+                return TopoUtils.formatBytes(bytes);
+
+            case PORT_STATS:
+                return TopoUtils.formatBitRate(rate);
+
+            case TAGGED:
+                return hasTraffic ? TopoUtils.formatBytes(bytes) : EMPTY;
+
+            default:
+                return QUE;
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Returns true if this link has been deemed to have enough traffic
+     * to register on the topology view in the web UI.
+     *
+     * @return true if this link has displayable traffic
+     */
+    public boolean hasTraffic() {
+        return hasTraffic;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Designates type of traffic statistics to report on a highlighted link.
+     */
+    public enum StatsType {
+        /**
+         * Number of flows.
+         */
+        FLOW_COUNT,
+
+        /**
+         * Number of bytes.
+         */
+        FLOW_STATS,
+
+        /**
+         * Number of bits per second.
+         */
+        PORT_STATS,
+
+        /**
+         * Custom tagged information.
+         */
+        TAGGED
+    }
+}