tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17629790.post508575804715917999..comments2024-03-28T06:21:34.602-06:00Comments on twin city sidewalks: Two (More) Open Streets Lessons from Saint PaulBill Lindekehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11373780012930618768noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17629790.post-62181221318525132072013-10-02T09:23:58.781-06:002013-10-02T09:23:58.781-06:00I went, though the weather was probably a factor k...I went, though the weather was probably a factor keeping people away -- that was part of the reason why it took me until relatively late to get there.<br /><br />I'm not sure Sunday is the best day for these events -- many businesses were closed. The street would have been a bit more lively on a Saturday.<br /><br />I'm not sure what to make of this tidbit, but I realized that this was the exact section of the LRT line where the three extra stations were included late in the planning process (Hamline, Victoria, and Western).<br /><br />Anyway, the LRT tracks and barriers definitely put a damper on this too -- though I was amused by the folks walking/biking along the tracks and getting a preview of what the LRT experience will be like.Mike Hickshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15257599090818492294noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17629790.post-50737224875992361422013-09-30T15:41:07.245-06:002013-09-30T15:41:07.245-06:00I was fortunate enough to experience a ciclodia (n...I was fortunate enough to experience a ciclodia (not to be confused with cyclovia, which is a cycletrack)while I was in Peru. It was a much different event with many similarities to University Ave. Avenida Arequipa is a busy divided 4 lane road with a cyclovia (cycletrack) down the middle lined with benches, trees plants, etc. Which provides a similar barrier as the LRT tracks but actually provided a more hospitable place for people to congregate when they weren't rolling or running on the Ave. Another similarity was that the Avenida Arequipa didn't have many places along it that embraced the street, mostly because Ave Arequipa is a monstrosity of traffic the other 6 days of the week. The places that did have something to offer weren't open because almost nothing is open on Sunday morning/afternoons in Lima. (The Spanish had a higher Catholic conversion rate than the Irish did in STP) So if people weren't gathering on the cycletrack down the middle of the street they were hanging out in intersections. <br />The main difference I found with the cyclodia and Open Streets is that the Cyclodia was strictly a public health initiative. There were truckloads of bikes dropped off at intersections for people to use and marshals every few blocks reminding people on wheels to use the left lane and people walking/running to use the right lane, I even had a couple comment on my lack of helmet. There was a main square that was at one end of the route that had a park with a playground that had an aerobics stage and some volleyball nets set up in the street around it.<br />I think the environment there had a lot of similarities as University Ave but I would say Arequipa got way more people at it. Part of that I think is because it's a city of 10 million people but also because their streets are far more inhospitable to cycling than anywhere I have ever been before. And despite the number of pedestrians everywhere during the rest of the week buses, taxis and drivers do not yield to them. So I think the cyclodia affords people an opportunity to experience a street much differently than any other time. Whereas here most neighborhood streets can be played in with relative comfort. There is virtually no such thing as a quiet street in Lima. Perhaps if Open Streets where held on a weekly basis on the same street they would evolve into something similar.Shovelfoothttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10699511165103533087noreply@blogger.com