Does your 2015 New Year's resolution involve going on a diet and engaging in a more active lifestyle? If so, you have something in common with Route 302 in Berlin, better known as the Barre-Montpelier Road.
The Vermont Agency of Transportation is putting the Berlin section of the Barre-Montpelier Road on a "road diet." In the spring the road will be reconfigured, with motor vehicle travel slimmed down from two to one lane in each direction; the center turn lane will remain in place. The elimination of two motor vehicle lanes will allow space for buffered bike lanes on each side of the road.
Jon Kaplan, the Bicycle and Pedestrian Program Manager at VTrans, explains the concept in a YouTube video. He says the road was simply overbuilt, and the new configuration should improve safety for motorists as well as cyclists. He says about half the crashes on that section of roadway are sideswipe, rear-end or left-turning conflict crashes. Kaplan says road-diets typically reduce those types of crashes by about 30 percent.
Kaplan says the new traffic configuration will go through a trial period of at least 60 days before VTrans determines whether to make the change permanent.