A road diet is what transportation engineers and planners call a lane reconfiguration where a wide road gets narrower. Upper Arlington is planning to put Lane Avenue on a diet, reducing the number of travel lanes from four (two in each direction) to three (one in each direction with a center turn lane) between North Star Road and Northwest Boulevard. On-street parking will be permitted on the north side of the street. This should reduce speeds to aid the street in becoming a new walkable urban business district. Here are some renderings from Upper Arlington’s consultant:
I think the volumes on Lane Avenue should probably be okay for a road diet. It’s notable that three-lane roads are generally much safer than four-lane roads too. Add to that Upper Arlington’s need for a “main street,” and that data indicate this area can support it economically, and I really like the road diet idea. My only concern is that a 25 MPH speed limit seems a little low for a major road, but it is good for pedestrians. More from ThisWeek:
Traffic calming, on-street parking
Upper Arlington to act on Lane Ave.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011 08:41 AM
By LIN RICE
ThisWeek Community Newspapers
If most or all of AECOM’s recommendations are put in place, Lane Avenue will see some significant changes. The company suggests instituting permanent on-street parking on the north side of Lane, with a proposed consistent three-lane restriping design. Intersection crosswalks should be “tightened,” the report suggests, increasing both sight distance for drivers and allowing more on-street parking spaces.
The study suggests reducing the speed limit on Lane to 25 miles per hour between Northwest Boulevard and North Star, and that the city rethink its restriction of three parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of development.
The study supports a revision of Upper Arlington’s 48-foot maximum height restriction on new buildings, adjusting the code to allow for four occupied floors of 10 to 12 feet each. The company also recommends keeping lot sizes to a minimum of one acre, and that the city explore shared parking options and even off-site parking agreements.
It’s not really a road diet if the amount of space for cars remains the same. Real road diets take space from cars and give it to other modes of transportation – typically, dedicated bus lanes, bike lanes, or wider sidewalks. A road engineer with a typical windshield perspective might well endorse the Upper Arlington plan, if he thinks that there’s no need for the capacity of four lanes, and it’s more important to widen the other lanes and add parking.
We (my traffic engineer colleagues and I) usually call anything that reduced the number of through lanes a road diet. Your argument makes sense though. I’ll keep an eye on how this term is used in the future.
A road diet without bike lanes. Sadly, it’s par for the course in Cowtown.