Pedestrian Plazas and Street Closures All the Rage in SF & NY
Two new urban planning documents in two major American cities -- our own and New York City -- are being released this week that reflect a growing a trend toward creating pedestrian-friendly environments and pushing private automobiles out of downtown congestion. A San Francisco Transportation Authority study released yesterday recommends phasing in an all-out ban of auto traffic on Market Street east of Van Ness, beginning by forcing motorists to turn right onto Eighth Street off of Market and outlawing left turns off of Hyde (the full ban, they're saying, is "shelved" for now). SFist previously noted the pilot-program street closure and temporary plaza at Castro and 17th Street, which we didn't think would move forward quite as quickly as it has.
A new manual of guidelines by the New York City Transportation Authority has just been released today, which intends to create a "single playbook" for urban planners and designers that re-emphasizes pedestrian-friendliness on city streets. The New York Times website has a fancy interactive graphic showing Carlton Avenue in Brooklyn being transformed by a tree-lined median. Also in New York, beginning this weekend, a semi-radical plan is moving forward which will close portions of Broadway at Times Square and Herald Square to car traffic altogether, creating pedestrian-only plazas and diverting traffic onto Seventh Avenue.
We think they should just start charging a $10 toll to get into both cities and cut down on the we-don't-know-where-we're-going-is-this-a-one-way-street? bullshit once and for all.