21 April 2025 : A stylist was just starting her shift at a salon in Kansas City, Missouri, when a car smashed through the storefront window and landed in the waiting area a few feet away.
Such crashes were so common along 31st Street that business owners regularly texted one another photos showing the damage caused by vehicles speeding along the four-lane road lined with shops, bars and restaurants, which drivers used as a shortcut between major highways.
“A wide road makes people think, ‘We’ll just drive as fast as we want on it,’” said Ryan Ferrell, who owns the property housing the salon, a bookstore and apartments above.
When concrete sidewalk barriers didn’t work, Ferrell and other business leaders campaigned to put the street on a “road diet.”
Removing lanes has been a tool numerous cities have used for years to calm traffic, despite resistance from some Republican governors. President Donald Trump‘s administration doesn’t like it either.
Federal transportation officials once heralded road diets for cutting crashes by 19% to 47%, but criteria for an upcoming round of road safety grants say projects aimed at “reducing lane capacity” should be considered “less favorably,” the administration said.
Forcing travelers into more constrained spaces “can lead to crashes, erratic maneuvers, and a false sense of security that puts everyone at risk,” the U.S. Department of Transportation said in an email statement to The Associated Press. “The update reflects the Department’s concerns about the safety hazards associated with congestion.”
Summary: The Trump administration has rolled back support for “road diets,” a traffic safety strategy reducing lanes, potentially discouraging communities from implementing crash-reducing infrastructure changes.