Open Streets in Minneapolis by Fibonacci Blue licensed under Creative Commons.

As we reported in August, a three-mile section of Georgia Avenue will be closed to automobile traffic—but open to people!—on Saturday, October 5 between 10 am and 2 pm. This is the District’s inaugural Open Streets event, a global movement with actions in over 130 cities in North America and many more across the world.

Open Streets originated in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, in 1976. Colombia’s Ciclovias—or “bikeway” in Spanish—started small, but by 1996 the event was recognized as the most important recreational activity in the country.

Today, the event frequently attracts more than one million participants each Sunday and public holidays. One hundred and twenty kilometers of main streets in Bogotá, Cali, Medellín, and other municipalities are opened up to pedestrians, cyclists, and other non-motor vehicle users from morning to afternoon. Seattle was the US first city to participate.

“We get it, this is something new,” said Carolina Buitrago at District Bridges, which is helping organize the event. “What we want is to be very clear that this is not a festival, and I know a lot of people are unclear what this is about. The majority of our volunteers reported wanting to help out because they have been to an Open Streets event abroad or in another city in the US and they all loved it. You have to experience it to understand it. I grew up in Bogotá going to Ciclovía every Sunday so once the [request for proposals] for this grant came out, I was very excited to have the opportunity to apply and contribute to this event.”

Ciclovia in Bogotá, Colombia in 2008. Image by Zvi Leve licensed under Creative Commons.

Cities hold open street events for a number of reasons—to combat smog, promote an active lifestyle, reimagine public space, and more. In the United States, the movement toward safer streets for cyclists and pedestrians has really picked up the Open Streets concept and run with it. However, it’s really about more than a specific ‘mode’ of transportation—for organizers of the event, it’s rooted in community and experiencing a different vision of public space.

DC Open Streets is tied to its Vision Zero commitment to “zero out” road deaths by 2024, which is why it was announced during #VisionZeroWeek in 2019. The hope is to get more people out of their cars and into taking active transportation around the city like bike, scooter, or walking. But more than that, the theory is that by engaging with the streetscape outside of a car or bus, people will feel empowered to advocate for a more equitable streetscape—one that prioritizes vulnerable road users.

According to Greg Billing, Executive Director of the Washington Area Bicycle Association (WABA), Open Streets hopes “to capture the imagination of DC resident and business owners to not only envision what can be done to transform DC streets into something different in a single day, but how it can be done permanently.”

Billing hopes “that Open Streets becomes a vehicle for communities to reimagine public space as something fun, active and safe and that it is something that builds a stronger, more resilient neighborhood. Rather than just using streets for exclusive parking and driving of cars—we can actually do something different. It can be a new way of exploring public space.”

Cool! So why didn’t we have one of these before?

Past attempts at Open Streets haven’t been successful. According to Billing, there were two early efforts to permit or understand permitting for Open Streets—one in 2013-2014 and one in 2016. In 2013, Councilmember Mary Cheh set up a working group on Transportation Safety to try to make permitting Open Streets a possibility, but the event didn’t fit any of the permitting categories available. WABA attempted to figure out the rules specifically in relation to the Mayor’s Special Events Task Force, and found this would require a legislative change.

In 2016, WABA received a grant to do a placemaking activation pilot through the Office of Planning and Kresge Foundation. WABA settled on a half-mile stretch of Upshur Street in Petworth. They started community outreach and put together a plan for the pilot. However, the event didn’t take off, again due to permitting issues.

So what changed? Essentially, Bowser announced a Mayoral Order in August that made this event a priority, so it was a priority.

Three other routes were initially proposed: 7th Street south to the Potomac, 14th Street, and a route on Pennsylvania Avenue between Ward 6 and Ward 8. All of these options had serious concerns for the City, including EMS/Fire routing, availability of Metro stops, bus re-routing, and private business concerns. Gas stations felt, well, less open to the concept (the irony is not lost on me).

DDOT and District Bridges chose Georgia Avenue because it is a long stretch that minimizes many concerns that had surfaced prior. There are also a lot of recreation centers, parks, libraries, and businesses along the corridor, which make it ideal for an event like this.

This is the area on Georgia Avenue that will host Open Streets. Image created with Google Maps.

More info about Open Streets

There will be a variety of activities, including two fitness stages, one main stage with music, and various activities sponsored by nonprofits, micromobility companies, DC agencies, fitness clubs, and more. You can learn to bike or get your bike tuned up, you can take a fitness class (including for seniors!), check out the live music, hear from Bowser, or just take a walk on a car-free street.

Metrobus will be offering alternative routes and detours during the event; you can find more information here. Metro Access will be standard.

“This is an opportunity for people to enjoy the streets without cars, instead focusing on fitness, health related activities, the history of Georgia Avenue, and getting to know the businesses and the neighborhood,” said Buitrago. “There will be activities for every single age group from children to seniors, I guarantee there will be something fun for all ages and abilities.”

Robert Gardner is the Government Relations Director at Lime. Over the course of his career, he's worked on a range of issues, including health care, environmental justice issues, and rural poverty. He spends a lot of time thinking about how we define our lives by the cars we own (or don’t own).