Road Diets Improve Safety Without Major Construction

City planners across the United States are finding that road diets—reconfiguring streets to narrow car lanes—improve safety for drivers, pedestrians, and cyclists. These diets repurpose existing space to create protected bike lanes and pedestrian refuges without extensive reconstruction. Federal data shows road diets reduce total crashes by 19% to 47% when converting a four-lane road to a three-lane configuration.

An analysis of sites in California, Iowa, and Washington revealed a 29% reduction in total crashes after implementing road diets. Narrower lanes also encourage calmer traffic and reduce aggressive driving. Cities can install paint and flexible posts quickly and affordably, covering 15 to 500 city blocks with a budget of $50,000 to $1,000,000.

However, concrete barriers offer more durable protection and require more funding. While cities can begin with quick-build methods, fully hardening a network with concrete takes time and resources. Work continues to expand these improvements across more streets.