Fair share Locals declare Downtown’s weekend Shared Streets experiment a success
BY COLIN MIXSON The city piloted an event called “Shared Streets” in Lower Manhattan on Aug. 13, creating a zone that spanned 60-square blocks where cars were encouraged to slow to a crawl and pedestrians were beckoned off the sidewalks and into the road to play games and explore the area without fear of speeding delivery trucks. The event — the first for a major city — was not without its kinks, as traffic piled up on Broadway and bewildered tourists were hard pressed to leave the sidewalk, but the experiment was an overall success, according to one community leader. “I loved it,” said Financial District Neighborhood Association president Patrick Kennell, who brought his kids out for the day. “We had a good time and thought it was really cool.” The novel approach to the urban
streetscape saw barricades erected at intersections south of Spruce Street, where police and agents from the city’s Department of Transportation were stationed to urge drivers to slow to the snail’s pace of 5 mph while in the “shared” zone. But the leisurely speed limit was more suggestion than law, and drivers couldn’t be ticketed for not obeying it. As a result, many roadsters could be seen revving up once they were clear of the cops, according to one South Bridge resident. “They have no way of enforcing this 5-mph speed limit, and as they got past them the cars can speed up legally to 25 mph, and there’s nothing the police could do about it,” said Paul Hovitz. “So this business of enforcing 5 mph seemed kind of futile.” But that didn’t prevent locals from playing sports in the street. Kennell and his kids setup a game of baseball in the
Photo by Franz Lino
Sweltering temperatures on Aug. 13 couldn’t spoil Downtown’s “Shared Streets” event for these kids, who beat the heat the old-fashioned way — with an open fire hydrant.
road, in a scene that evoked the famous scene from “Wayne’s World,” where Wayne and Garth played hockey in the street outside Garth’s house, occasionally pausing between cries of “car!” followed by “game on!” “My kids and I were playing ball in the street,” said Kennell. “You yell, ‘car!’ and you run to the side. We all
shared and it works.” The event was not especially well attended, likely due to Saturday’s sweltering temperatures, which prompted a heat advisory from city officials suggesting locals stay indoors and keep hydrated. shared streeets Continued on page 15
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