The Kentucky Transportation Center at the University of Kentucky released guidelines for road diet conversions.  The guidelines consider operational and safety aspects of the conversions to assist in the preliminary determination of whether a road diet conversion is appropriate for a given roadway segment. The guidelines provide suggested cross section designs, transition to and from the road diet section, and a flow chart for determining the appropriate actions.

Road diets typically involve restriping of a four-lane, undivided roadway as a three-lane road with two through lanes and a two-way left-turn lane.  The resulting "extra" roadway width can be converted to create bicycle lanes, supply on-street parking, widen sidewalks, or provide opportunities for landscaped median islands.  Road diets seek to develop multimodal corridors within the original right-of-way and are an innovative solution to address mobility and safety concerns in an environment with budgetary constraints.