U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
202-366-4000
A Road Diet, or roadway reconfiguration, can improve safety, calm traffic, provide better mobility and access for all road users, and enhance overall quality of life. A Road Diet typically involves converting an existing four-lane undivided roadway to a three-lane roadway consisting of two through lanes and a center two-way left-turn lane (TWLTL).
Before and after example of a Road Diet. Source: FHWA
Benefits of Road Diet installations may include:
A Road Diet can be a low-cost safety solution when planned in conjunction with a simple pavement overlay, and the reconfiguration can be accomplished at no additional cost. Typically, a Road Diet is implemented on a roadway with a current and future average daily traffic of 25,000 or less.
Sources
1. Evaluation of Lane Reduction ”Road Diet“ Measures on Crashes, FHWA-HRT-10-053, (2010).
Filter countermeasures by focus area, crash type, problem identified, and area type.