As one who remembers cruising K Street back in the day when it was the cruise street, the idea of returning cars to K Street is probably a good idea, if for nothing else than to get people on K Street—even if just driving through—who won’t go down there now for any reason other than absolute necessity…yours truly being one.
And as Sacramento considers returning cars to the main street of downtown, New York is restricting them on Times Square, and the results have been interesting, as reported by the New York Times.
An excerpt.
“The difference between the old, frenetic Times Square and the newly reconfigured, still frenetic Times Square became clear on Tuesday: now you can pull up a chair to watch the show.
“Traffic still flowed on Seventh Avenue, without any obvious bottlenecks, two days after the city shut Broadway to traffic between 47th and 42nd Streets.
“The electronic billboards still flashed, the news zippers zipped and the giant video screens played on.
“And thousands of people bustled by, as always, on what was the first workday test of the city’s new Times Square configuration.
“But hundreds of people also took the opportunity to pause, linger or even take up temporary residence at the Crossroads of the World — a previously inconceivable idea.
“This is like a sanctuary,” said Yesim Bilgic, 36, a Swedish novelist who was sitting in one of hundreds of lawn chairs set out in the center of Broadway, where vehicular traffic is no longer allowed. She had her laptop open and was trying to find a free Wi-Fi connection. “It is chaos and you have your oasis in the middle of it,” she said. “I love it.”
“On Sunday, the city sealed off Broadway to traffic at Times Square and at Herald Square, from 35th to 33rd Streets, where it intersects with the Avenue of Americas. On Monday, which was Memorial Day, the Times Square Alliance, a group that represents local businesses, set out 350 lawn chairs and 26 chaise longues where cars had previously held sway.”
