ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A road report in Alexandria, Virginia shows that crashes on Seminary Road between North Howard Street and Quaker Lane went down 41 percent since it was taken from four lanes down to two.
This data comes from a report on the Seminary Road Complete Streets Project. The Alexandria City Council approved a plan to implement a road diet on Seminary Road between North Howard Street and Quaker Lane. This all was in an effort to make Seminary Road "safer and more accessible to roadway users," according to the report.
Although the project on Seminary Road finished in 2019 and the evaluation was intended to occur in early 2021, the report states that the COVID-19 pandemic postponed the evaluation due to the pandemic impacting travel.
The project wrapped up in 2019, and according to the report, the annual average for the number of crashes on that street was 11.2, but since the road diet was completed, the average decreased to 6.6.
In addition to this, the report explains that non-severe injury crashes also decreased by 14 percent and that there have not been any fatal crashes since the implementation of the project.
Bicycle ridership also saw a large increase during the evaluation. The report showed there was a 75 percent increase in bicyclists during peak times on Seminary Road.
Speeding seems to have also decreased on the road. The report identifies that most drivers decreased their speed by about three miles per hour between 2016 and 2019.
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