How’s that Diet Working: Performance of Virginia Road Diets

About the project:

Although the roadway reconfiguration known as a road diet is one of FHWA’s nine Proven Safety Countermeasures, during the planning process, the prospect of removing through travel lanes still raises questions from the public and elected officials. Clear data showing the results from similar recent projects could be helpful in addressing these questions and in making data-driven choices. VDOT has data on the performance of some NoVa road diets conducted 5+ years ago but has not analyzed more recent projects or projects of varying configurations.(In addition to the classic conversion of general-purpose lanes to turn lanes and/or bike lanes, completed projects have included “lane diets” adding bike lanes through narrowing rather than removal of travel lanes.) This study will provide an inventory of road diets and lane diets completed in Virginia since2 010 and a synthesis of studies (if performed) on those projects. It will also examine the operational performance of a subset of recently completed road diets on VDOT roads in Fairfax Co.

Project Team

Co-Principal Investigators