We’ve been advocating putting some of West Windsor’s roads on diets, principally Canal Pointe Boulevard and Alexander Road (see our post from May 2010). ?A “road diet” means reducing travel lanes, for example, from four to two with a center turning lane, thus allowing room? for bike lanes and sidewalks. This leads to ?fewer changes in lane by cars and fewer accidents.
A June 2010 study commissioned by the U.S. Department of Transportation shows that road diets still allow for the same number of cars on the roads, with from 19% to 47% fewer crashes (percentages vary depending on whether the road diet is in an urban or suburban area).
Four-lane configuration before road diet
Three-lane configuration after road diet
Source for both photos: Pedestrian Bike Information Center, “Road Diets” training module, 2009.
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