Evaluating Road Diet (Lane Reduction) Feasibility in Downtown Willow Glen, San Jose, CA

This paper looks at redesigning Lincoln Avenue in the Downtown Willow Glen neighborhood of San Jose, California using complete street principles to enhance themobility for all users and to create a convenient, safe, and aesthetically pleasing commercial corridor. The paper by explaining and visualizing what a Road Diet might offer to both motorized and non-motorized users, provides a clear image of the potential benefits that it would offer to downtown Willow Glen. To identify whether or not lane reduction or Road Diet would be feasible for Lincoln Avenue, a literature review isperformed to explain the effects of Road Diet on various case studies in terms of road operation and safety. Then Lincoln Avenue’s existing traffic operation for all users is explained. The current land use and mobility characteristics of downtown Willow Glen are compared with what the literature review determines to be feasible for candidate roads for lane reduction.

Keywords:

Road Diet , Complete Street , Traffic Impact Study , Downtown Willow Glen