In some states the DOT may show a lack vision in implementation of infrastructure for modes of transportation other than cars. Iowa is different. Check out the Iowa DOT video explaining the benefits of a road diet. Yes, Asbury Park will have a road diet on Main Street when the NJDOT project is completed. And yes, Asbury Park, as it’s been pointed out to us again and again is “unique and different”, and “we’re a city not a town”, etc. Whatever our distinctions, a road diet can work to reduce crashes and improve traffic flow with examples on thoroughfares all over the United States. Even the police and fire chiefs in the video admit that it works. *Our only objection is that the police chief refers to “accidents”, rather than the preferred, and accurate term “crashes”.
Iowa DOT Helps Educate Citizens on the Value of a Road Diet
January 23, 2019
To give credit where credit is due: The Iowa DOT—which we’ve acknowledged before for forward thinking—clearly has some people who get the difference between how a high-speed road should function and how an urban street should function. But not just that: they’re also helping educate Iowans about that difference, with this video illustrating the benefits of a 4-to-3 lane conversion, a common type of road diet which turns a 4-lane street into a 2-lane street with a center turn lane—almost always slowing traffic and improving safety and economic vitality alike.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2019/1/23/iowa-dot-helps-educate