Session No. 7F

Road Diet: Part 2    

This session is a continuation from the 2020 Road Diet presentation. The session includes a national perspective and evolution of Road Diets, further updates to PennDOT Design Manual 2 section on Road Diets, and a review of a successfully implemented road diet project and the before and after studies.

Moderator: Nik Kharva, HNTB Corporation

A National Perspective on the Evolution of Road Diets

• Mark Doctor, Senior Safety & Design Engineer, FHWA Resource Center

Have you tried all the selections from the Road Diet buffet? It may sound odd linking Road Diets with the concept of a buffet, but that is actually a very good analogy. Road Diets may have started with the concept of converting four-lane undivided roadways into three-lane roads, but the concept of roadway lane reconfigurations has evolved and expanded greatly. This presentation will describe how Road Diets have evolved into a literal buffet of options for roadway reconfigurations that can help agencies better balance precious roadway space to meet community goals for safety, livability, and economic health.  

Design Manual 2 Rewrite: Proposed New Road Diet Chapter              

• Keith A Johnson, Senior Project Manager, Gannett Fleming          

Charlotte Street Road Diet — Before and After Studies

• Christy Staudt, P.E., Regional Leader, Traffic Planning and Design, Inc (TPD)

After nearly twenty years of community debate, lack of consensus and traffic studies, the City of Asheville kicked off the Charlotte Street Road Diet Project in 2018. The project set out to provide multimodal connections and safety improvements to a half-mile section of the Charlotte Street corridor that is the spine to an active historical business and residential district. The road diet is a traditional 4-lane to 3-lane conversion with bike lanes and ADA improvements for pedestrians on a vibrant and well-traveled corridor. An accelerated contract pushed the Traffic Planning and Design, Inc (TPD) design team to move from developing a corridor concept to design, and then to construction bidding of the road diet, in just eight months while navigating complex community engagement and consensus building with varying stakeholders. In this session, Christy Staudt, P.E., will review project details, lessons learned, and before and after study results.

Bios

Mark Doctor provides technical assistance and training to advance the application of innovative and performance-based safety and design practices on a national level. Mark began his career with the FHWA in 1988 and gained engineering experience through several positions in the FHWA Florida Division Office and the FHWA Tennessee Division Office. Doctor has served in his current position with the FHWA Resource Center Safety and Design Team since 2005 where he provides technical services in the areas of geometric design, intersection safety, innovative intersections, freeway interchange design, and the Safe System approach. Doctor received a Bachelor of Science in civil engineering from Clemson University and a Master of Science in transportation engineering from the University of Florida. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Georgia.

Keith Johnson is a Senior Project Manager for Gannett Fleming. He has more than 34 years’ consulting and public-sector experience in the management of transportation planning, design and traffic engineering projects. He is currently the Project Manager for the Design Manual 2 Rewrite Project. This project is through the Highway Design and Technology Section of the Bureau of Project Delivery at PennDOT Central Office.

Christy Staudt, P.E., is TPD’s regional practice lead overseeing multimodal transportation projects in the southeastern United States. Staudt lived and worked in Pennsylvania for more than 17 years where she initiated TPD’s multimodal practice before moving to Asheville, North Carolina in 2015. She worked on various complete streets projects across Pennsylvania and continues to work on multimodal projects. She approaches transportation projects with a passion for improving mobility needs for all road users. Her engineering experience ranges from project planning through final design and often includes extensive public involvement outreach. She served on the PA Walks and Bikes Board as well as the Pennsylvania Pedalcycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (PPAC). She currently serves on the National Committee for Uniform Traffic Control Devices (NCUTCD) Bicycle Technical Committee and Pedestrian Task Force.