SAFE TRANSPORTATION FOR EVERY PEDESTRIAN CASE STUDY

High-Volume Road Diet Success in Los 

Angeles

Los Angeles, California 

KEY ELEMENTS:

High-Volume Road Diet

Increased Active Transportation Safety 

& Mobility 

The Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) 

installed a road diet on Rowena Avenue in the Los 

Angeles neighborhood of Silver Lake in 2013. The fourto-three lane conversion along the high-volume corridor 

resulted in fewer overall crashes and increased bicycle 

usage. Since the Rowena Avenue project, LADOT has 

implemented dozens of road reconfiguration aimed at 

enhancing safety along high-volume corridors and has 

148 miles of road diets citywide. 

PROJECT BACKGROUND

Residents and the local Neighborhood 

Council had discussed the half-mile 

road diet on Rowena Avenue since 2006. 

Representatives from the elementary 

school, independent businesses, and 

residents wanted a safer and welcoming 

environment for pedestrians along the 

neighborhood’s primary corridor that saw 

an Annual Average Daily Traffic (AADT) of 

25,000. The death of a pedestrian crossing 

Rowena Avenue in 2012 increased pressure 

to act. The City was in a unique position to 

implement the road diet during scheduled 

utility work. The City converted the four-lane 

road in 2013 to two travel lanes with a twoway left-turn lane, bicycle lanes, and onstreet parking in both directions.

PROJECT PROCESS AND PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

Independent public discussion and 

engagement on the road diet were 

underway prior to LADOT’s involvement. 

The neighborhood was active in promoting 

area safety improvements through 

channels like widely-read online community 

publications and the active Neighborhood 

Council.

A mixed public reaction surfaced after the 

road diet installation, with some residents 

concerned that the project had increased 

cut-through traffic on parallel roads. The 

Neighborhood Council hosted community 

conversations with residents and LADOT. 

Two separate studies--one independent 

and one from LADOT-- confirmed the road 

diet had increased safety while maintaining 

AADT, though some concerns about cutthrough traffic remained. 

For more information, please contact:

DOT_public_info@lacity.org

“Unconventional and high-volume road diets 

have seen repeated success in Los Angeles for 

reducing crashes while maintaining higher levels 

of AADT, upward of 25,000 vehicles per day. 

The Rowena Avenue road diet has demonstrated 

positive safety outcomes in independent studies 

and our team’s own internal analysis. Best of all, 

it came at little cost since it was implemented in 

coordination with planned street resurfacing.” 

– Bhuvan Bajaj, LADOT Hollywood District

Engineer
STEP: https://safety.fhwa.dot.gov/ped_bike/step/

Case Study: High-Volume Road Diet Success in Los Angeles

DATA & EVALUATION 

LADOT performed a five-year pre-and postproject analysis of the Rowena Avenue road 

diet. LADOT reviewed collision, speed, traffic 

volume, and bicycle count data changes 

along Rowena Avenue. Road diet outcomes 

included:

• Crashes decreased in 2017 to the lowest

reported level on record.

• Average annual crashes dropped from

approximately 12 to 8.

• Average annual pedestrian and bicycle

crashes dropped from 9 to 6.

• AADT remained consistent with

approximately 25,000 vehicles per day.

• Peak hour bicycle counts increased

from a pre-road diet high of 14 to an

average of 71.

• Unsafe speed crashes were reduced by

65 percent.

• No crash increases on parallel side

streets.

LESSONS LEARNED 

LADOT recommends anticipating the 

unique factors and data needs that 

are important for candidate road diet 

corridors. These include conducting 

pre-and-post pedestrian counts to 

understand overall pedestrian volumes 

and crossing patterns in commercial 

corridor settings. Additionally, knowing the 

local context and neighborhood needs 

can help address concerns after project 

implementation. For example, each Los 

Angeles neighborhood is unique in the 

best way to reach its residents; Silver Lake 

has a particularly engaged Neighborhood 

Council, and residents partly led the push 

for the road diet installation. Understanding 

the neighborhood’s past discussions 

about Rowena Avenue was essential in 

communicating project outcomes.

Figure 1. Photo. The four-lane Rowena Avenue 

before the road diet. 

Figure 2. Photo. Rowena Avenue after the road 

diet with two-way left-turn lane, bicycle lanes and 

on-street parking. 

  © LADOT.  © LADO