D.C. plans inaugural open streets event this fall

Can you imagine 16th Street NW without vehicular traffic for a few hours? Or any D.C. street, for that matter? Soon, residents and visitors could experience what that looks and feels like—outside of parades, street festivals, and marathons, that is—by virtue of funding the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) now has for a possible open streets event in the fall.

DDOT is seeking proposals from nonprofit groups in the region that could help plan and execute a car-free street event as part of the city’s Vision Zero initiative to eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries by 2024. Open streets is a concept that originated in Bogotá, Colombia in 1976, and it encourages pedestrians and cyclists to take to the roads en masse.

U.S. cities such as New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit, Atlanta, and Philadelphia, among others, have hosted open streets events. There are more than 130 such initiatives in 122 American municipalities, according to information from the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Proponents of open streets say these events are more democratic than others that shut down city streets, because they do not cater to specific interest groups.

“The [open streets] concept helps inspire people to think differently about their streets by encouraging physical activity, creating recreational opportunities, and fostering community building and education,” DDOT says in its request for grant applications. The department adds that last October a Vision Zero working group formed by D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser “recommended Open Streets as a strategy to increase transportation safety and awareness.”

Any grant proposals should not request more than $65,000 and are due on April 19, DDOT says. The agency expects to select grantees in early May, and the funds must be spent by the end of the current fiscal year (September 30). DDOT now has a dedicated Vision Zero office.