Open the Streets
Cities Thrive by Going Footloose and Car-Free
by Jay Walljasper
Imagine diverting traffic from a major street in your neighborhood, then welcoming families on bikes, families on foot, babies in 
strollers, people in wheelchairs, toddlers on training wheels, grade schoolers on skateboards, teenagers on single-speeds, hipsters on fixed gears, grandparents on recumbents, couples arm-in-arm and even yoga classes in the middle of the road. What would happen?
If your neighborhood is anything like mine — which I am sure it is — get ready for a massive outbreak of smiles.
A few Sundays ago, Minneapolis debuted its first “Open Streets Ciclovia†by closing busy Lyndale Avenue for 2.3 miles south of downtown between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Despite relentlessly overcast skies, an estimated 5000-7000 people hit the street to walk, bike, look, talk, giggle, dance, eat, and thoroughly enjoy themselves. (more…)
