Search title image

Bicycles/Pedestrians

Safety Toolbox: Engineering


  Previous tool  /  Next tool  

Index: alphabetical / cost / crash type / target population

Roadway narrowing



   
Narrow 3-m-wide travel lanes are created by striping residential streets and providing extra-wide left-turn and bike or parking lanes; the street can be physically narrowed by extending sidewalks and landscaped areas, or by adding on-street parking within the former curb lines.
objective To reduce the area of the crosswalk where pedestrians are likely to encounter moving traffic. To reduce vehicle speeds along a roadway section and enhance movement and safety for pedestrians.
applications Streets where marked crosswalks are provided and there is sufficient volume of traffic to narrow travel lanes by striping wider left-turn and/or bike/parking lanes.
target population All Pedestrians, All Bicyclists, Motorists
crash type Excessive Speeds, Improper Passing
advantages
  • Pedestrian exposure to moving traffic is minimized while in the crossing
  • For undivided roadways without turn pockets, the change to fewer through lanes and the addition of turn lanes can reduce rear-end and sideswipe accidents
  • Increase on-street parking and landscaping areas
  • For residential streets, lane reductions with bike lanes can calm traffic and, if bike lanes are provided, can improve driveway accessibility.
disadvantages
  • Requires more use of striping on residential streets where typically there is no striping or just a centerline
  • The reduced number of travel lanes may affect the traffic-carrying capacity of the roadway, and thus may cause traffic to divert onto adjacent residential streets
pointers If the travel lane is narrowed so that parked vehicles are closer to the moving traffic, this can result in bicyclists running into open doors of parked vehicles.
cost Medium to high: minimal if the striping is done as part of street resurfacing projects, $5,000 -$15,000 per kilometer if implemented as a separate striping project, $62,000 or more per kilometer for constructing a raised median or widening a sidewalk.
responsibility Public Works
further reading

Fitzpatrick, K, and A.H. Parham. Handbook of Speed Management Techniques. Report no. TX-98/1770-2. College Station, TX: Texas Transportation Institute, September 1998

Burden, D., and P. Lagerwey. Road Diets: Fixing the Big Roads. Walkable Communities, Inc., March 1999.
examples City of San Francisco, CA; City of Sacramento, CA
related tools Curb Extensions

Index: alphabetical / cost / crash type / target population

  Previous tool  /  Next tool