On Sunday, July 20 Open Streets PGH will open 6th St. and others so people can Dance, Ride, Walk, Skate and Play

Open Streets is quickly approaching. This Post-Gazette blog article covers all of the basic information about the event and discusses the benefits of giving people an opportunity to experience their streets free of cars.

by Diana Nelson Jones

The Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership is doing a nervy thing on Sunday the 20th — prohibiting motorized vehicles on 6th Street and Market Street from the Clemente Bridge to Market Square. Granted, it‘?s only from 8 a.m. to noon. It would be nervier to do it all day or on a Saturday. That would be beyond nervy, but very cool.

The “Open Streets Pittsburgh” event,– part of an 8-day “Celebrate Downtown” orchestration — is co-sponsored by the PDP, Bike Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. The no-cars space has been programmed with climbing walls, yoga demonstrations, dancing and all those fun things people do in ads on TV. (quick tangent: What is it with climbing walls? Why not a kids’? chamber orchestra?)

This effort is a window for people to see the possibility of a moment in time without cars, a change of scene to create a “place” in the middle of a street. Maybe the everyday, workaday person might expand his idea of what a street is or could be.

Urban designers and planners are emphasizing the importance of creating a strong sense of place on our streets. This in part is an effort to bring balance to the use of streets, to assert the right of walkers, bikers and people climbing walls to be as dominant as drivers of cars.

Click here to read the full article.

Not a member of BikePGH? Join today! We need you to add your voice! Bike Pittsburgh works to protect cyclist’s rights and promote the vision of making Pittsburgh a safer and more enjoyable place to live and to ride. For more info, check out: www.bikepgh.org/membership