diff --git a/modules/@angular/router/index.ts b/modules/@angular/router/index.ts
index 07f6108ecf..1e2343aabb 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/router/index.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/router/index.ts
@@ -4,4 +4,6 @@ export { RouterState, ActivatedRoute } from './src/router_state';
 export { RouterOutletMap } from './src/router_outlet_map';
 
 import { RouterOutlet } from './src/directives/router_outlet';
-export const ROUTER_DIRECTIVES = [RouterOutlet];
\ No newline at end of file
+import { RouterLink } from './src/directives/router_link';
+
+export const ROUTER_DIRECTIVES = [RouterOutlet, RouterLink];
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/modules/@angular/router/src/directives/router_link.ts b/modules/@angular/router/src/directives/router_link.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..add7b3a9a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/modules/@angular/router/src/directives/router_link.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+import {
+  Directive,
+  HostListener,
+  HostBinding,
+  Input
+} from '@angular/core';
+import {Router} from '../router';
+
+/**
+ * The RouterLink directive lets you link to specific parts of your app.
+ *
+ * Consider the following route configuration:
+
+ * ```
+ * [{ name: 'user', path: '/user', component: UserCmp }]
+ * ```
+ *
+ * When linking to this `User` route, you can write:
+ *
+ * ```
+ * <a [routerLink]="['/user']">link to user component</a>
+ * ```
+ *
+ * RouterLink expects the value to be an array of path segments, followed by the params
+ * for that level of routing. For instance `['/team', {teamId: 1}, 'user', {userId: 2}]`
+ * means that we want to generate a link to `/team;teamId=1/user;userId=2`.
+ *
+ * The first segment name can be prepended with `/`, `./`, or `../`.
+ * If the segment begins with `/`, the router will look up the route from the root of the app.
+ * If the segment begins with `./`, or doesn't begin with a slash, the router will
+ * instead look in the current component's children for the route.
+ * And if the segment begins with `../`, the router will go up one level.
+ */
+@Directive({selector: '[routerLink]'})
+export class RouterLink {
+  @Input() target: string;
+  private commands: any[]|null = null;
+  private absoluteUrl: string|null = null;
+
+  // the url displayed on the anchor element.
+  @HostBinding() href: string;
+
+  constructor(private router: Router) {}
+
+  @Input()
+  set routerLink(data: any[] | string) {
+    if (Array.isArray(data)) {
+      this.commands = data;
+      this.absoluteUrl = null;
+    } else {
+      this.commands = null;
+      this.absoluteUrl = data;
+    }
+    this.updateTargetUrlAndHref();
+  }
+
+
+  @HostListener("click")
+  onClick(): boolean {
+    // If no target, or if target is _self, prevent default browser behavior
+    if (!(typeof this.target === "string") || this.target == '_self') {
+      this.router.navigateByUrl(this.absoluteUrl);
+      return false;
+    }
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  private updateTargetUrlAndHref(): void {
+    if (this.absoluteUrl) {
+      this.href = this.absoluteUrl;
+    }
+  }
+}
diff --git a/modules/@angular/router/src/router.ts b/modules/@angular/router/src/router.ts
index 856b40ac95..5a931d0056 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/router/src/router.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/router/src/router.ts
@@ -66,6 +66,11 @@ export class Router {
   resetConfig(config: RouterConfig): void {
     this.config = config;
   }
+  
+  /**
+   * @internal
+   */
+  dispose(): void { this.locationSubscription.unsubscribe(); }
 
   private setUpLocationChangeListener(): void {
     this.locationSubscription = <any>this.location.subscribe((change) => {
diff --git a/modules/@angular/router/test/router.spec.ts b/modules/@angular/router/test/router.spec.ts
index 707f9a9564..eef2424212 100644
--- a/modules/@angular/router/test/router.spec.ts
+++ b/modules/@angular/router/test/router.spec.ts
@@ -153,20 +153,53 @@ describe("Integration", () => {
 
       expect(fixture.debugElement.nativeElement).toHaveText('');
     })));
+
+  describe("router links", () => {
+    it("should support string router links",
+      fakeAsync(inject([Router, TestComponentBuilder], (router, tcb) => {
+        router.resetConfig([
+          { name: 'team', path: 'team/:id', component: TeamCmp, children: [
+            { name: 'link', path: 'link', component: StringLinkCmp },
+            { name: 'simple', path: 'simple', component: SimpleCmp }
+          ] }
+        ]);
+
+        const fixture = tcb.createFakeAsync(RootCmp);
+        advance(fixture);
+
+        router.navigateByUrl('/team/22/link');
+        advance(fixture);
+        expect(fixture.debugElement.nativeElement).toHaveText('team 22 { link, right:  }');
+
+        const native = fixture.debugElement.nativeElement.querySelector("a");
+        expect(native.getAttribute("href")).toEqual("/team/33/simple");
+        native.click();
+        advance(fixture);
+
+        expect(fixture.debugElement.nativeElement).toHaveText('team 33 { simple, right:  }');
+      })));
+  });
 });
 
+@Component({
+  selector: 'link-cmp',
+  template: `<a routerLink="/team/33/simple">link</a>`,
+  directives: ROUTER_DIRECTIVES
+})
+class StringLinkCmp {}
 
 @Component({
   selector: 'simple-cmp',
   template: `simple`,
-  directives: [ROUTER_DIRECTIVES]
+  directives: ROUTER_DIRECTIVES
 })
-class SimpleCmp {}
+class SimpleCmp {
+}
 
 @Component({
   selector: 'team-cmp',
   template: `team {{id | async}} { <router-outlet></router-outlet>, right: <router-outlet name="right"></router-outlet> }`,
-  directives: [ROUTER_DIRECTIVES]
+  directives: ROUTER_DIRECTIVES
 })
 class TeamCmp {
   id: Observable<string>;