Seattle's Next Infrastructure Downgrade?
Seattle will soon close part of three streets for a few hours, for exactly one day per street this summer. This is not a big deal for many cities, and the town where I went to college would do this once a month on their main street throughout the summer. But can this be the beginning of a positive change?
I've long thought that a great idea for a city of any size is to have a few car-free streets. If you build narrow streets this allows for Europe-style density, and if you leave them wide then you have potential for public meeting areas. Noise is dramatically reduced, safety is increased, and the neighborhood becomes much more walkable.
Car-free streets generally have tables set up for outside dining, served by nearby restaurants. You'll see children playing, and people promenading - window shopping, people watching, eating ice cream. The street becomes a destination, not something in your way to a destination.
But how does car-fixated Seattle react to this small step toward something beautiful? Well, read the comments yourself.
- Matt the Engineer's blog
- Login or register to post comments
Thanks so much for posting this Matt. I have been following the whole street closure thing for a while now and ever since the popularity of Bogota's Ciclovia about a year ago each city that's done it has had great exposure and turn out.
And yet! For some reason no one understands this in Seattle. I mean, the P-I interviewed business owners there that claimed closing the street would HINDER their revenues, this is absurd. Have any of them talked to the business around the U-District during street fair? What about the businesses downtown during the parade or Cap. Hill business during block party? Sure those are a little different but with the right attitude and exposure this thing could be really great. It would be like quadrupling the already awesome Alki boardwalk.
All smart cities in Cascadia have already experimented with this and found success, its about time we stop whining and jump on board.
What is wrong with people in this city? Road closures are a common occurrence, especially during the summer months. A quick look at Metro's re-route page shows at least 6 road closures in Seattle, this weekend alone. They may be more, but these are the ones causing bus re-routes.
If I owned a business effected by this I would be doing everything in my power to advertise the event, get as many people as possible to show up, and find out how much expanded street seating I could set up. It seems more sensible to support this type of event and encourage locals to use your business, than to complain and continue to rely on people that need to drive from the other end of town.
While I think the idea of having "car free" zones sounds cool, I wonder how practical it really will be in places like Alki. The times I've driven there on weekends it's packed, and parking is almost impossible. Will there be expanded bus services or maybe temporary park-in-ride parking areas? If not, how will non-local visitors be able to access the area? Isn't that a big part of the people who patronize this area? I can see why the business owners are concerned.
On the other hand it would dramatically improve the overall look and feel of the area. I just think you shouldn't make it so difficult for people to get there.
I wish there was a streetcar running through it. Then it would make much more sense.
It would be more useful to close roads that are in dense areas. Alki is almost impossible to get to on a Sunday with public transit as it is. Im all about car-free areas but I really do think the businesses will suffer with this one.
The water taxi will be running from 8:30am to 7:00pm with possible service additions. Then there will be the water taxi shuttle running into Alki which means potentially people could park in the numerous parking lots along the route before the point. You can also bike there, along the beautiful waterfront trail which only takes about an hour from Eastlake, Queen Anne, Capitol Hill, CD and even less from Downtown, Delridge, Georgetown, or South Park. West Seattlites will have the 128 and you can take the 55 from downtown and walk down the hill. The only real problem is the lack of 56 service on Sunday (only until noon). And I agree they should increase that.
Although I don't necessarily disagree with the Jim and Jessee - businesses seem to be doing fine with the car traffic they have, I personally have never driven to Alki. The many times I've been there have been on bike or ferry. It's the one West Seattle destination that's very easy to bike to from about anywhere else in Seattle (no major hills), and it has a fast and frequent ferry from downtown.
Of course, maybe everyone else there is from out of town and this will be a failure. But again, it's for exactly one day.
Speaking of how nice the ferry is, I've often thought a funicular from near the ferry up the hill to West Seattle would be a good idea.
jesus christ... i'd never want to think that that comment thread was the seattle pi. its embarrassing and kind of insulting that people would go so far as to compare nickels to hitler because he's trying to get people to stop their dependence on cars...