Road diets: designing a safer street
Reconfigure the lanes and the traffic will calm.
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Over the course of the 20th century, the car became America’s dominant mode of transportation. As vehicle miles travelled soared well past the rate of population growth, demands on the roadway surged. Congestion became a major issue. So transportation planners made the roads wider and added traffic lanes.
Today, we now know that bigger roads and extra traffic lanes do nothing to solve congestion. In fact, it tends to induce even more traffic. So we didn’t fix the congestion issues, and on top of that, we built wide roads that are relatively unsafe.
Transportation planners in the 21st century recognized that many of the roads that were overbuilt could be redesigned to calm speeding and add space for newer multimodal transportation options. And thus, the road diet was born.
The video above explains why road diets are implemented, and how planners survey the feasibility of a lane reconfiguration. You can learn more about road diets with the following resources:
https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/research/safety/10053/10053.pdf
https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/road_diets/guidance/info_guide/rdig.pdf
https://nacto.org/docs/usdg/conversion_of_four_lane_undivided_urban_roadways.pdf
@lolatiffhur
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
So one middle road where people from both directions try to use to make turns?
@randomcube999
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
2:20 Whyyyy??
Why do you allow cars on tram tracks.
Our law explicitly prohibits it unless absolutely necessary.
@beast9839
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
So question, how do you deal with this in areas that need access for fire trucks and ambulances? How do you make sure that semi-trucks can get through to delivery spots? Also, what do you do when there isn't other transit options to help with limited road access when these changes happen?
@kailashtiwari
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Highly effective intervention, I strongly recommend
@detradearmas
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
People really will swap to bikes if they feel safe. I'm seeing more bikes in our city without the lanes. Our issue is the speeding and so many semi trucks.
@堀岡祐吾
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
????
@jamesfloyd2284
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
So I shouldn’t get a ticket on a road that needs a road diet lol
@mikelherrasti2697
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Why is there a whole lane in the middle dedicated to turning 😭
@chrisnowell2k10
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
There are no accidents.
@5K00O
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Can't really implement road diets in a lot of places if public transit doesn't get any attention first.
@anthonytaylor7607
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Yeah, all good and thoughtful, however those who let left hand turns will definitely cause harm to motorcycle riders, but hey….you ADOT city streets people forget about that
@JulieBall-dg2ci
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
NO ONE VOTED FOR THIS! Stop social engineering and trying to get people out of their cars. No one's going to want to get into your filthy public transportation. Brought to you from the same people who thought that The Projects in the '60s were a good idea.
@R3_frame
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Californian here. It’s not that we don’t need road diets, it’s just going to need to come in a different form.
The number of super wide four lane roads I see with massively oversized lanes, wide parking on both sides, and an oversized median is just staggering. It has been shown time and again that a car lane moves the lowest amount of people compared to dedicated bus, protected bike, tram, etc. we need to restructure our roads so they’re narrower, as the video suggests, and so that they encourage other forms of transit that are not personal combustion engine vehicles.
To really solve traffic in California, we need to make it more convenient and more possible in more places to take public transportation and bike and walk. It will make us all more safe, more sane, more sustainable, and more a part of our own community.
@MichaelSalo
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
I'm all for a balanced view, though I've yet to see a road diet proposition that I'm against. The city streets of America are in need of serious dieting.
@nnnicht
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
All you need to do is make every driver of a car pass a driving test like in Germany. For example, you google California Driver's license is good i Germany the answer is no ? Why
@jasonchow2512
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Here in the UK, we have something called a roundabout and it works. It’s also safer too. Learn from us brits. We know what we’re doing
@00.00-.._-...-._
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
🙌
@glenkohler1291
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
In the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and Berkeley the plethora of obstacles in the roads are not serving any legitimate purpose. Some streets are impassable; congestion is becoming the norm; it is hardere to see (far less safe) when turning onto streets from side streets when cars are parking six or seven feet from the curb. Large swaths of streets are unavailable due to bollards, striping, trees planted in roadways, and other excuses to deny free use of the streets. Most people really don't like these mutilations of perfectly serviceable streets they have been using for decades. And yes, emergency vehicles cannot get through when other vehicles are present on streets limited to one lane of traffic in each direction.
@grassytramtracks
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
However much you embellish and optimize an American stroad, it's still a stroad
@jimmydean4494
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Road diets only work for the broke and jobless
@56independent
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Please, put strong bollards in the lane or put some trees! Bike gutters are unsafe and may get hit by drivers.
@Drawmelikeyourfrenchgirlie
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
How can the biker make a turn safely?
@EdwardLewis-xs5xr
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Bicyclists tend to be very unsafe, riders don't follow the rules of the road, even when in their bike lane. In NY with additional bike lanes the accident and death rates have increased year over year even with the speed limit being reduced by 10 MPH. Roads with the new configuration probably work until you reach a certain number of cars (Traffic) and after that it's just dangerous for everyone.
@jamesh5717
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
To be better they would need, Protected cycling infrastructure wide continuous tree line side walks. Maybe even dedicated transit lane. This will make it better for everyone even drivers
@dude99844
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
American cities are so behind compared to major cities around the world when it comes to this. Dutch cities have mastered the art of making urban and safer roads whilst making their cities more pedestrian friendly and it results in such an amazing experience.
@frederickpyter9353
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
stop pretending this will help and get us an autonomous vehicle grid already. Just slows everyone down and causes more crashes along the formerly efficient road.
@unfvzedmak
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
the reason there was a road diet in my city is because the lanes were too tight and cars were zooming down the road. causing both unsafe roads and narrow unsafe sidewalks. right now it’s in test state but in a few months they’ll start we the bus bays 12-foot decorative sidewalks with greenery, small median and two lane road shared with bikes. i love the idea. and also makes businesses earn more money and get more customers
@Ghost-dy9sf
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
You won't be traveling as fast but you won't get there slower.
Can someone explain to me how that sentence can make sense. It sounds like something you would say while high.
@Korina42
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Great video, but I winced every time you said "accident". "Crash" or "collision" is more accurate.
@jonathanjacobs6443
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Road diets are a step in the right direction. If it's a cheap thing to do, then we should do it, but bicycle Lanes should be protected. Read The Book "Strong Towns…"
@VoyagerRBLX
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
What a nice cities skylines tutorial.
@TheHeartshapebox
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
I guess so
@qolspony
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
North Carolina has these turning lanes, while New York City doesn't. I had to change the way I drive in New York City. So you force to split lanes when you about to turn. I don't know how they are going to put these turning lanes with these new bike lanes.
Norfolk VA does a good job building indoor parking lots. So the cars don't have to be parked on the street. Bam! That's your turning lane. But there is no space to build indoor parking in NYC.
@bradenhazle4378
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Or…make that median a dedicated bus/tram lane.
@spacedoutorca4550
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
The problem with this is it doesn’t take into account the fundamental problem with these kinds of roads: they’re stroads. The channel Not Just Bikes has some amazing videos on how the distinction between road and street in the US is a massive Frankenstein monster that results in inefficient, unsafe and uninviting spaces. Instead of designing these road diets for these massive 4 lane stroads, we should restrict traffic and significantly lower speeds in the inner and mid city and move all the high speed traffic to only highways and dedicated roads— with minimal points of conflict. In the inner city and mid city, use streets with low speeds, since people live and work there and there is no reason to have high speed traffic there anyways. Ring roads are a great example of how to handle this without sacrificing efficiency or travel time. Not only does this make the city far more human-friendly, but also drastically reduces maintenance costs that were previously being spent on the runway-sized stroads, which could now be put into public transit or other city services.
The shared turn lane is great for cars, but doesn’t solve the unnecessarily wide stroad and high speed problem. I’ve literally seen people trying to cross the street stranded in these things like islands in the midst of a torrential river. Cities should be built for people, not cars.
@newintransportation264
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
awesome
@seancollins5769
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
YES!
@ssssssssssss885
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Wait until the Qtards, Anti-vaxxers, Trumpers hear about this.
@UIGUIguy
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Good intent, but the advice seems decades out of date. Current recommendations are for 30km/h (not mph) max for (mixed use) streets; roads with higher limits would require physically separated cycling and pedestrian infrastructure. Also, planning parking beside a cycle lane is disastrous.
@curtiscarpenter9881
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
I think this is a good idea for UK roads. I think America has some very good ideas for this like bacteria that can eat plastic or a plant based material to replace it. Case in point.🧠
@knightblueyan5682
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Chapel Ave in Cherry Hill New Jersey is on a road diet since it was reconstructed in 2020. I think all streets should have a road diet like that
@teabreakbrewdevilskettle2820
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
15 km ka 3 vilage hai jo ki ek city ke barabar hai
Mai chahta hu mere yaha ke mla sahab mast infrastructure banake ek beautifull city bana de ,
Road ke mediterian me flover palm street light ,palm tree
River ke kinare river front view ,
City bus stop
Bus stand
Stadium
Galla mandi sbji mandi
School collage hospital
Parking
Churahe pe degining ,
Light green and red (signal )
City bus start karwa de ,
Hamare yaha rly industry sab hai but behtar infrasture nahi hai
Etna sab only 10km me hamare MLA sahab karwa de toh ,
Sab badhiya ho jaye aane wale 2 election jit jayenge
3 vilage
( NIgri MAhuagain NIvas )
Short name nimani
Ye 3 vilage judke
Nimani city
Koi mujhe behtar autocad degin de sakta hai kya
Jissem mai apne MLA sahab ko bataunga ayesa infrastucre banaye ,
Plz mere liye degin bana do yaro .
@12eatit
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
I have seen road diet in action, real world results most places increases local commute from Twenty minutes to two hours
@guriausa
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
While the rest of the world's roads go on a diet, metro Atlanta roads head to the all-you-can-eat buffet 😂.
@leonhardpauli5815
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
And still, EU roads are much safer
@dCash117
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
My city just did this and I love it
@jmlinden7
February 9, 2026 at 11:17 am
Road diets are a huge improvement to the roads that go on the diet, the problem is that the extra capacity gets pushed onto other parallel roads that are less well-designed to handle that capacity. It's like the spongebob meme, "let's take this traffic and push it somewhere else". It needs to be combined with high-density transit improvements along the route to reduce the total amount of traffic heading that direction, otherwise you aren't really solving a problem, just hiding it.
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