Diet more roads in Wichita
1st and Washington
This is Washington Avenue, just south of 1st Street. On May 24, 2026, at around 1:50 in the morning, a pedestrian was walking on the east sidewalk.
Meanwhile, a driver was heading north on Washington in the right lane. They kept swerving in and out of traffic on the four lane road and, when they got stuck behind a left turning vehicle in the left lane, swerved again to change lanes. They lost control of the vehicle, ran up over the curb, hit the pedestrian on the sidewalk, and killed them.
There is a design decision that could have prevented this crash: road dieting Washington. A road diet is a design change that takes a four lane road such as Washington and narrows it to a three lane road with a shared center turn lane.
In Wichita, road diets have seen to decrease accident rates. Before Lincoln (Woodlawn to Rock) was dieted in 2024, it averaged 1.4 crashes per month. Now it averages .85 crashes per month. Before McLean (Central to 13th) was road dieted in 2022, it averaged .91 crashes per month. Now it averages .64 crashes a month. That’s a decrease of 39 percent and 29 percent, respectively.
Furthermore, this portion of Washington sees traffic volumes below what is required for a four lane roadway. At Douglas and Washington, it sees less than 20,000, which is typically what triggers a road diet. It also sees numbers comparable to East Douglas between Grove and Hydraulic, which sees around 15,000 cars a day. There, a road diet is already in place. Douglas and Washington is higher, at 18,000, but drops to 15,000 just a block north or south. (Although it gets closer to 20,000 the closer you get to Kellogg.)
By creating one travel lane each way, road diets discourage the type of weaving seen in this particular crash. For that reason, it might be a worthwhile consideration on this particular stretch of Washington.
Check back in to hear more about the importance of road diets and as always, Look, See, and Save.
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