Rethinking Street Design

September 2015
Recently, I had the pleasure of visiting Provincetown's delightful Commercial Street. While not officially pedestrian-only, the street is built to a human scale, and pedestrians routinely share the street's entire width with cars.
Which street should be pedestrian-only?
Newbury
Hanover
Other
Please Specify:
Poll Maker
Walking along Commercial Street got me thinking: Which Boston streets would benefit from regular open streets events or outright pedestrian-only conversions? I posed the question to Twitter, posting the following tweet:
A variety of responses ensued. I have posted them all below for your consideration:
Suggestions have been made for a variety of streets. I compiled the data into a bar graph:
Picture
Predictably, Newbury Street received the most votes, followed by close second Hanover Street.  These streets, with their high retail density, consistently strong foot traffic and narrower width, are prime candidates for open streets events or all-out pedestrian-only conversion. Other strong showings were Summer and Washington streets in DTX, parts of which are already designated pedestrian-only. Additional DTX streets received votes as well, as did Charles Street in Beacon Hill, Mass Ave, Beach Street in Chinatown and Dot Ave in Southie and Dorchester.
The feedback to this post, as well as other citizen support for pedestrianization, demonstrates the growing movement in cities away from driving and towards walking, public transit, biking and other modes of transit. Mitigating car usage in urban cores calms traffic and frees space for active usages and placemaking efforts.
Accordingly, urban pedestrian street conversions should take into account the needs of public transit users and cyclists. Area bus routes must continue to serve the area; likewise, cyclists must be given safe access. These needs make all-out pedestrianization challenging.
Such requirements could make a stronger case for Newbury Street's pedestrianization. Newbury Street is paralleled by two major roads on either side, Commonwealth Avenue and Boylston Street. Public transit access is provided by the existing Boylston Street Subway and Back Bay Station, in addition to local buses that run on nearby main roads. Both Commonwealth Avenue and Boylston Street are sufficiently wide for reconfiguration to include dedicated cycletracks. Newbury Street's narrower width challenges drivers. Traffic counts show 4,000 vehicles use Newbury Street on average, in contrast to Commonwealth Avenue's average of 17,200 and Boylston' Street's 13,900 (Counts Source: Google Earth). Making Newbury Street pedestrian-only in conjunction with parallel cycletracks and bike parking could improve bike safety and traffic flow by reducing conflicts between modes while still maintaining car traffic flow and preserving virtually direct bike access to Newbury Street. The walker's appeal of a pedestrian-only Newbury Street, in conjunction with improved bike access, would also likely cut a number of car, taxi and rideshare trips through the area.
Not all pedestrian-only streets need be permanent. Open streets events are a great way to bring attention to a neighborhood's business scene, leverage urban space and test the viability of a potential full pedestrian-only conversion. Another street that would benefit from an open streets event would be Congress Street in Fort Point between Sleeper and A streets. A variety of locally-owned art galleries, restaurants, shops and other businesses are located along this stretch of Congress Street. Congress Street's added width could be utilized to provide temporary outdoor seating, pop-up art displays, shipping container cafes/bars, pushcarts and more. A Congress Street open streets event could be coordinated with Fort Point Open Studios, which occur biannually in the Spring and Fall.
Post below your ideas for open streets/pedestrian-only streets in Boston, feedback on ideas posted here, or other thoughts on rethinking street design:
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