The Benefits of a “Road Diet.”

By Aaron Naparstek

2:52 PM EDT on May 3, 2007

As the Department of Transportation’s “Road Diet” plan for Brooklyn’s 9th Street stirs up the ire of a small but well-organized and politically-connected group of home and car owners, it’s worth taking a look at this Parsons Brinckerhoff presentation, “Applying the Road Diet for Livable Communities.” PB’s case studies show that, after properly executed Road Diets, car crashes and speeding are drastically reduced, pedestrians “feel” that streets have become safer and more pleasant, and very little excess traffic is diverted to neighboring streets. Someone want to forward this to State Senator Eric Adams?

Thanks to Streetsblog reader Greg Raisman from Portland for forwarding this along.

Aaron Naparstek

Aaron Naparstek is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Streetsblog. Based in Brooklyn, New York, Naparstek's journalism, advocacy and community organizing work has been instrumental in growing the bicycle network, removing motor vehicles from parks, and developing new public plazas, car-free streets and life-saving traffic-calming measures across all five boroughs. He was also one of the original cast members of the "War on Cars" podcast. You can find more of his work on his website.