A system and method for management of a network link includes a switching device that includes a control unit and a port coupled to the control unit. The port couples the switching device to a partner switching device using a network link. The control unit is configured to receive a first packet over the network link from the partner switching device and determine whether the first packet includes a first traffic type state separation (TTSS) field. When the first packet includes the first TTSS field, the control unit is configured to determine a first network link state for the network link for a first traffic type and a second network link state for the network link for a second traffic type. Otherwise, the control unit is configured to determine a combined network link state for the network link that applies to both the first and the second traffic types.