diff --git a/src/Exception/NotFoundRouteException.php b/src/Exception/NotFoundRouteException.php
deleted file mode 100644
index 7be2eab..0000000
--- a/src/Exception/NotFoundRouteException.php
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-<?php
-
-namespace Atlas\Exception;
-
-/**
- * Exception thrown when no route matches the request for matching or URL generation.
- *
- * @extends \RuntimeException
- */
-class NotFoundRouteException extends \RuntimeException
-{
-}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/src/Exception/RouteNotFoundException.php b/src/Exception/RouteNotFoundException.php
index 7cf7dd6..b128dcb 100644
--- a/src/Exception/RouteNotFoundException.php
+++ b/src/Exception/RouteNotFoundException.php
@@ -5,8 +5,11 @@ namespace Atlas\Exception;
 /**
  * Exception thrown when a requested route is not found.
  *
+ * This may occur during matching if no route corresponds to the request,
+ * or during URL generation if the requested route name is not registered.
+ *
  * @extends \RuntimeException
  */
 class RouteNotFoundException extends \RuntimeException
 {
-}
\ No newline at end of file
+}
diff --git a/src/Router/PathHelper.php b/src/Router/PathHelper.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..78a4a20
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/Router/PathHelper.php
@@ -0,0 +1,45 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Atlas\Router;
+
+/**
+ * Helper trait for path normalization across routing components.
+ */
+trait PathHelper
+{
+    /**
+     * Normalizes a URI path by ensuring it has a leading slash and no trailing slash.
+     *
+     * @param string $path The path to normalize
+     * @return string The normalized path
+     */
+    protected function normalizePath(string $path): string
+    {
+        $normalized = trim($path, '/');
+
+        if (empty($normalized)) {
+            return '/';
+        }
+
+        return '/' . $normalized;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Joins two path segments ensuring proper slash separation.
+     *
+     * @param string $prefix The path prefix
+     * @param string $path The path suffix
+     * @return string The joined and normalized path
+     */
+    protected function joinPaths(string $prefix, string $path): string
+    {
+        $prefix = rtrim($prefix, '/');
+        $path = ltrim($path, '/');
+
+        if (empty($prefix)) {
+            return $this->normalizePath($path);
+        }
+
+        return $this->normalizePath($prefix . '/' . $path);
+    }
+}
diff --git a/tests/Unit/PathHelperTest.php b/tests/Unit/PathHelperTest.php
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5a0f70e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Unit/PathHelperTest.php
@@ -0,0 +1,60 @@
+<?php
+
+namespace Atlas\Tests\Unit;
+
+use Atlas\Router\PathHelper;
+use PHPUnit\Framework\TestCase;
+
+class PathHelperTest extends TestCase
+{
+    private $helper;
+
+    protected function setUp(): void
+    {
+        $this->helper = new class {
+            use PathHelper;
+            
+            public function testNormalize(string $path): string
+            {
+                return $this->normalizePath($path);
+            }
+            
+            public function testJoin(string $prefix, string $path): string
+            {
+                return $this->joinPaths($prefix, $path);
+            }
+        };
+    }
+
+    public function testNormalizePathEnsuresLeadingSlash(): void
+    {
+        $this->assertSame('/test', $this->helper->testNormalize('test'));
+        $this->assertSame('/test', $this->helper->testNormalize('/test'));
+    }
+
+    public function testNormalizePathRemovesTrailingSlash(): void
+    {
+        $this->assertSame('/test', $this->helper->testNormalize('test/'));
+        $this->assertSame('/test', $this->helper->testNormalize('/test/'));
+    }
+
+    public function testNormalizePathHandlesEmptyOrSlash(): void
+    {
+        $this->assertSame('/', $this->helper->testNormalize(''));
+        $this->assertSame('/', $this->helper->testNormalize('/'));
+        $this->assertSame('/', $this->helper->testNormalize('///'));
+    }
+
+    public function testJoinPathsCombinesCorrectly(): void
+    {
+        $this->assertSame('/api/users', $this->helper->testJoin('/api', 'users'));
+        $this->assertSame('/api/users', $this->helper->testJoin('/api/', '/users'));
+        $this->assertSame('/api/users', $this->helper->testJoin('api', 'users'));
+    }
+
+    public function testJoinPathsHandlesRootPrefix(): void
+    {
+        $this->assertSame('/users', $this->helper->testJoin('/', 'users'));
+        $this->assertSame('/users', $this->helper->testJoin('', 'users'));
+    }
+}