What is a road diet?
A road diet reconfigures an existing roadway – typically by reducing the number of general purpose travel lanes – to improve safety and operations for everyone using the street. On Prater Way, the road diet is achieved trough striping changes, not roadway widening.

What is being proposed for Prater Way?
The proposed road diet converts Prater Way to:

• One travel lane in each direction.
• A center two-way left turn lane.
• Buffered bicycle lanes.
• On-street residential parking on the north side.

Prater way will remain two lanes in each direction near Pyramid Way and transition to the road diet between Seventh Street and Sixth Street.

Why is a road diet being proposed here?
This segment of Prater Way has a history of serious crashes and is part of the region’s High Injury Network. From 2019 – 2023, over 100 crashes occurred, including injury and fatal crashes. The existing wide, five-lane configuration encourages speeding and creates conflicts between vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists and parked cars.

How does a road diet improve safety?
Road diets are a proven safety strategy. On Prater Way, the proposed design:

• Reduces vehicle speeds.
• Lowers the number of conflict points.
• Decreases sideswipe crashes with parked cars.
• Improves visibility and access at driveways.
• Shortens pedestrian crossing distances.
• Creates safer space for people biking and walking.
• Improves access and operations at bus stops.

The project safety analysis estimates a 34% or greater reduction in crashes.

How will this affect traffic and travel time?
Travel time through the corridor is expected to increase by about 35 seconds (roughly 15%) during peak hours. While some side-street delays may increase, intersections will continue to meet acceptable performance standards. Signal timing adjustments can help manage congestion.

Why make this change now?
Prater Way already needs major pavement work. This project allows RTC to fix failing pavement while improving safety, avoid more expensive reconstruction in the future, and implement a proven traffic management approach with built-in flexibility.

What happens if traffic gets worse in the future?
The road diet is installed using striping, not concrete or curb changes. That means lane configurations can be adjusted, signal timing can be modified, and the corridor can revert to five lanes if long-term conditions require it. This approach allows RTC to respond to real-world performance after implementation.

Why not keep all five lanes?
Alternatives that kept five lanes were studied but offered fewer safety benefits. They also removed residential parking or significantly increased project costs. The striped road diet provides the best balance of safety, cost, parking retention and adaptability.

When would the road diet be implemented?
The road diet would be installed as part of construction, currently planned for Spring 2026 through late Fall 2026, subject to change.