A bound mode mechanism and technique efficiently accommodates high-bandwidth data traffic flow within an intermediate node of a computer network. The bound mode mechanism combines two half-slot line card connectors of a backplane in an aggregation router into a single full-slot line card arrangement to thereby increase the bandwidth provided to a high-speed, full-height line card of the router. The technique is also capable of accommodating generic half-slot (i.e., subslot) connectors, each of which is capable of supporting a variety of data formats. The bound mode mechanism further allows use of a high-speed trunk card without the penalty of supporting high trunk level bandwidth on all of the slot connectors of the router. The mechanism enables use of a simple backplane, while also maintaining a low pin count on a backplane logic circuit of the router.