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…