San Francisco’s busiest street considers going car-free

Fitting with the previous entry, ‘People over cars’ begins to hit mainstream media, the City of San Francisco revealed that they’re considering closing the busiest street in the city to cars.

Why?

Perhaps it has something to do with the success of its summer Sunday Streets where miles of downtown streets were opened only for pedestrians and bicyclists, which were all the rage in major cities last year.

Perhaps it’s a realization that U.S. cities need to better compete with transportation systems around the world, which according to this graphic, are a lot more efficient than those in the U.S.

Perhaps it has something to do with the shift in the economy away from local auto production, or maybe global warming, or the rediscovery of the joy of walking or biking to destinations rather than the frustration of sitting at traffic light after traffic light.

Maybe we’re just more informed globally, learning about places either physically or virtually. One such destination could be a grand boulevard in a major city that’s primarily for pedestrians, cafe patrons, restaurant diners, cart vendors, street entertainers, spontaneous art and not to mention an enviable urban forest, like La Rambla in Barcelona, Spain (photo to the left). Perhaps the City of S.F. is considering prioritizing people over cars because they realize life would simply be better with such places?

Read more in the San Francisco Chronicle article, S.F. to study restricting cars on Market Street.

About The Author

neilkt