Road Diet Handbook: Setting Trends for Livable Streets.

• Authored by:  J. Rosales

Rosales, J., Road Diet Handbook: Setting Trends for Livable Streets. Parsons Brinckerhoff Monograph 20, New York, New York (2006)

      A recent trend is the application of a “road diet” which is typically a conversion from a four-lane road to a three-lane road where one lane serves as a TWLTL. This technique removes left-turning vehicles from a through travel lane and, as a result, reduces the number of through travel lanes. Though there may be additional delay for congested locations, the repeated blockage of a through lane (in each direction of travel) will be removed. This publication reviews recent road diet projects and indicates that, in general, road diets significantly reduce travel speeds, improve the pedestrian environment (by narrowing crossing distances and lowering the speed of vehicles the pedestrians are exposed to), and appear to have associated economic benefits. Often a road diet uses the existing pavement surface and adds on-street parking or bicycle lanes in lieu of the extra motor vehicle lane.