What is a Road Diet?

Before and after image showing the lane configurations on Circle Boulevard

A road diet is a tool to reallocate the existing roadway space to fit traffic conditions and expected road users. Cities around the country have implemented road diets to adapt to changing transportation trends and to encourage a variety of transportation options on a particular street.  The Federal Highway Administration also promotes road diets as a tool to help achieve a "complete streets" environment to accommodate a variety of transportation modes.

As the name suggests, road diets typically include buffered bike lanes or lane reductions. The end result is a more attractive and safer travel corridor that is accessible to all users.

Benefits of a Road Diet

Road diets offer a variety of benefits for all types of road users, pedestrians, cyclists,  motorists. According to the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), benefits of Road Diets may include:

  • An overall crash reduction of 19 to 47 percent.
  • Reduction of rear-end and left-turn crashes through the use of a dedicated left-turn lane.
  • Fewer lanes for pedestrians to cross.
  • The opportunity to install bicycle lanes and/or buffer and protection features when the cross-section width is reallocated.
  • Reduced right-angle crashes as side street motorists must cross only three lanes of traffic instead of four.
  • Traffic calming and reduced speed, which can decrease the number of crashes and reduce the severity of crashes if they occur.
  • The opportunity to allocate the "leftover" roadway width for other purposes, such as on-street parking or transit stops.
  • Encouraging a more community-focused "complete streets" environment.
  • Simplifying road scanning and gap selection for motorists (especially older and younger drivers) making left turns from or onto the mainline.

Road Diets in Corvallis

In summer 2020, the City of Corvallis embarked on a pilot program to try out a road diet on a segment of Circle Boulevard from Highland west to Dogwood. The pilot project will coincide with a planned repaving and restriping project. The road resurfacing provides the opportunity to explore how to better serve the more vulnerable community members who travel on Circle Boulevard.

The road diet pilot program on Circle Boulevard will help fulfill a component of the neighborhood bikeway system that was identified in the 2018 Transportation System Plan.

Detailed information on the pilot project, including evaluations, criteria, and public feedback that informed the decision, is available to review online.

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