Westover Drive, a low-volume four-lane road in the City of Danville substandard 9-foot wide travel lanes, serving less than 3,000 vehicles per day.  The City of Danville requested EPR’s assistance to examine options for reconfiguring Westover Drive to provide higher quality facilities for non-auto modes, focusing on bicycle facilities.  Westover Drive was identified as an on-road interim route for part of the statewide Beaches to Bluegrass Trail, and the West Piedmont Regional Bicycle Plan emphasizes this corridor as a priority area for identifying safer bicycle routes.

EPR conducted a road diet feasibility assessment for Westover Drive to assist in the City’s communication and outreach to the public about potential reconfigurations.  EPR conducted a capacity and level of service analysis for both automobile and bicycle modes for the existing configuration, which demonstrated a large imbalance between automobile and bicycle level of service.  EPR also analyzed traffic speeds and conducted a safety analysis using the Highway Safety Manual’s predictive method to compare actual observed crash statistics to the predicted crash frequencies based on roadway characteristics and traffic volumes.

The analysis revealed that despite the extremely narrow lanes, the four lane configuration was conducive to speeding behaviors, and the average crash frequency that accounts for historical crash data is higher than the predicted crash frequency for a roadways with similar characteristics and traffic volumes.

EPR developed and analyzed three alternative configurations and ultimately recommended the option of converting the road to two lanes with on-street buffered bicycle lanes and a speed limit reduction.  EPR analyzed turn lane warrants to determine if left and right turn lanes would be needed and prepared illustrative renderings of the design, including transitions at a high-demand gas station entrance.