A method and apparatus for avoiding a collision. A collision may be avoided by allocating a first set of subframes to a backhaul link transmission, and allocating a second set of subframes to an access link transmission. In one example, the second set of subframes may be a non-overlapping set of subframes with respect to the first set of subframes. In a second embodiment, a collision may be avoided by receiving a data transmission from an evolved Node-B (eNB) and transmitting an uplink (UL) grant to a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) and a first acknowledgement (ACK) to the eNB. The transmission may be in response to the received data transmission. The RN may avoid a collision by further transmitting an automatic ACK to the WTRU and transmitting a second UL grant to the WTRU. In a third embodiment, a collision between an access link transmission and a backhaul link transmission may be avoided by detecting a collision and determining an interface priority based on a collision occurrence type.