Changes to how roadways are configured across Greater Akron are leading to fewer crashes, calmer and slower traffic and room for bicycles and other modes of transportation.
Called road diets, these new layouts typically reduce the number of travel lanes and add in a center turn lane. One example of a road diet currently under construction is the North Main Street project in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood.
The Akron Metropolitan Transportation Study’s recent road diet report analyzed crash data from 16 of the area’s 28 existing road diets that are completed or have completed portions in 2020 or before. Fifteen are in Akron.
What did AMATS’ analysis show overall?
- Property damage-only crashes were reduced in 10 out of 16 road diets, ranging from a 56 percent decrease to a 180 percent increase (along East Market Street between Buchtel Avenue and Canton Road).
- Injury crashes were reduced in 13 of the 16 road diets.
- Serious injury crashes did not see any reductions, but many of the road segments stayed the same on crash numbers.
- Fatal crashes decreased in two of the 16 segments, with many seeing no changes in the numbers.
- Overall crashes were reduced in nine of the 16 segments.
Despite the overall numbers, road diets don’t always reduce the number of crashes. For example, at seven locations in the analysis, the total number of crashes increased, with East Market Street from Case Avenue to Cook Street in Middlebury showing the highest rise of more than 147 percent.
The road diet in Akron with the greatest decrease in total crashes was West Exchange Street from Rhodes Avenue to South Broadway Street downtown, which decreased more than 50 percent.
Cedar Street, Vernon Odom Boulevard, Tallmadge Avenue (from Cuyahoga Street) and Wilbeth Road also experienced significant reductions in crashes post-road diet.
What does a road diet look like?
The most common type of road diet converts a four-lane roadway into three lanes, with two through lanes and a middle lane that serves as a two-way left-turn lane. Any leftover space can then be used for bicycle lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, bus stops or on-street parking.
Road diets tend to reduce vehicle speeds and can also reduce the number of overall crashes on four-lane roadways that were previously undivided, according to data from the Federal Highway Administration.
AMATS distributes federal funds and works to plan an efficient transportation system for the future in the Akron metropolitan area that includes Summit and Portage counties and a portion of Wayne County. It published its first road diet analysis report in 2015. At the time, there were four dieted roadways — today there are 28 road diets in the Akron area.
Where are road diets located in Akron?
Of the 28 dieted roadways in the Greater Akron area, 24 are located in Akron.
Two of the analyzed road diets are in Ward 2, but only part of the Tallmadge Avenue (from Cuyahoga Street) road diet is located there.
Phil Lombardo, the Ward 2 Akron City Council member, said he hasn’t received any feedback from residents about the road diets in his ward. He said the road diets have helped, but said he thinks there are other factors to consider or tactics that could be more effective.
“When you’re talking about what contributed to the decrease [in crashes], I mean, I think there are several factors — maybe the road diet, or people just found a way to go around [it].”
Lombardo said speeding is one of the top complaints he receives from residents. He thinks bringing back radar speed enforcement would reduce speeding and ultimately lead to fewer crashes, although he realizes the Akron Police don’t currently have the resources to do speed enforcement.
Crash percentage changes may appear high for some categories due to small, underlying sample sizes. AMATS says that as time goes on and more crash data from road diets is collected, the data will become more comprehensive.
