Lane Width

Study: Bike Lanes, Traffic Calming Don’t Impact First Responders
Despite common concerns that narrower traffic lanes and bike infrastructure can slow emergency response, response times in one study didn’t change.

Report: Narrow Traffic Lanes Improve Safety
Narrowing lanes can improve road safety and reclaim space for other uses.

Untouched Snow Reveals Street Usage
Those who promote safe streets often complain of streets that are too wide, wasting space and promoting reckless speeds. In chilly Calgary, undisturbed snow shows just how much street area is completely unused.

Federal Rule Changes Remove Obstacles to Multi-Modal Streets
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) made official a set of rule changes that overthrow an old way of thinking about street design.

City Liable For Cyclist's Death Due to Poor Road Design
Road diets, whereby the number of traffic lanes are reduced to better accommodate cyclists, can be controversial. But what of the opposite—adding lanes to better accommodate motorists? A cyclist died after such an "improvement." A lawsuit followed.

Feds May Drop 'Highway-Inspired' Rules for Streets
The Federal Highway Administration may put an end to rules mandating wide lanes and "clear zones," making it easier to implement complete streets.

Reaching Vision Zero: Road Diets and Wider Lanes?
Slowing traffic by reducing the width of lanes should not be a one-size fits all approach to reaching Vision Zero.

Another Study Shows That Narrow Is Safer Than Wide for Traffic Lanes
Better Cities & Towns gives its imprimatur to the "narrower is better" approach to lane width for traffic safety thanks to a study by Toronto transportation planner, Dewan Masud Karim, presented at the Canadian ITE annual conference.

Narrower Lanes, Safer Streets
A new study indicates that the safest urban streets have lanes that measure 10-10.5 feet wide. Narrower and wider lanes have higher crash frequencies, and wider lanes have higher crash severity.
Toronto to Narrow its Traffic Lanes
Toronto will begin rolling out a program to narrow traffic lanes on the city's streets. The new lane policy, recently completed, was in the works for the past year.

Traffic Safety Silver Bullet: Prohibit the 12-Foot Traffic Lane
Jeff Speck, author of Walkable City, argues that reducing the width of traffic lanes would be a panacea for the disastrous public health outcomes of traffic safety.
Walkable Streets: Considering Common Issues
Generalist Geoff Dyer delivers his walkability design tactics magnum opus on PlaceShakers. His years of practical experience are conveniently condensed for your consumption.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
City of Albany
UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies
Mpact (formerly Rail~Volution)
Chaddick Institute at DePaul University
City of Piedmont, CA
Great Falls Development Authority, Inc.
HUDs Office of Policy Development and Research