Jordan Pascale
D.C. is hosting its second “Open Streets” event this Saturday to again showcase how streets can be used for something other than car traffic. The event will feature exercise classes, outdoor shopping, live music, clinics on bike safety, and skating lessons.
The D.C. Department of Transportation expects more than 30,000 people to attend. The event kicked off in 2019 to positive reviews, but the pandemic derailed the follow-up last year.
“I think people are just really clamoring for the opportunity to get out and gather and congregate with their friends or their family and be just active,” said DDOT Director Everett Lott. “This is also just really about reclaiming our public space.”
Three miles of Georgia Avenue — from Barry Place near Howard University to Missouri Avenue — will be closed to cars. Traffic will be banned from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m. to make way for the event that runs from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Parking will also be cut off in the area and on the side streets ahead of the event. More details can be found here.
The weather should be ideal for walking, biking, running, and more outside: sunny with a high of 77 degrees.
The 2019 event was the first official major DDOT event to use the street differently, but the pandemic prompted a range of other uses — to mixed reviews. Restaurants and diners have embraced enlarged sidewalks and parking lanes as outdoor streateries. Meanwhile, the “Slow Streets” experiment, which used large signs to discourage cars from going down particular streets, largely didn’t achieve its goal of giving people safe space to exercise outdoors.
“Especially in the age of COVID, leveraging the District’s public space – one of its most valuable assets — is critical for ReOpening DC by providing additional outdoor space for residents and drawing people together to support our local businesses,” DDOT wrote in a press release. “Thirty-five businesses along the corridor are participating in Open Streets, and an additional 25 organizations, many of them local businesses, are hosting programming and other interactive activities along the route.”
| Activation Zone | Location | Time Slot | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class Zone Presented by Bird
|
Georgia Avenue & Kenyon Street | 10:00-10:50 | Circuit-Style Fitness Class |
| 11:00-11:50 | Group Aerobic Exercise Class | ||
| 12:00-12:50 | Flow Yoga Fitness Class | ||
| 1:00-1:50 | Beginners Capoeira Exercise Class | ||
| 2:00-2:50 | Kundalini Yoga Fitness Class | ||
| Reduce Energy Use DC Pavilion
|
Georgia Avenue & New Hampshire Avenue | 10:00-10:50 | Kids Indie Music Band Performance |
| 11:00-11:50 | All-Woman Columbian Music Band Performance | ||
| 12:00-12:50 | The HARAMBEE Experience Performance | ||
| 1:00-1:50 | Blues Music Performance | ||
| 2:00-3:00 | Go-Go Music Performance | ||
| Traffic Garden Presented by Lime
|
Georgia Avenue & Kansas Avenue | 10:00-3:00 | Kids Activity |
| Class Zone Presented by Lyft
|
Georgia Avenue & Arkansas Avenue | 10:00-10:50 | Learn to Skate Clinic |
| 11:00-11:50 | Flow Yoga Fitness Class | ||
| 12:00-12:50 | Group Aerobic Exercise Class | ||
| 1:00-1:50 | Mixed Martial Arts Exercise Class | ||
| 2:00-2:50 | Mixed Martial Arts Exercise Class | ||
| Spin Zone
|
Georgia Avenue & Kennedy Street | 10:00-10:50 | Class on how drumming circles create community |
| 11:00-11:50 | Step Routine Performance | ||
| 12:00-12:50 | Double Dutch Exercise Activity | ||
| 1:00-1:50 | Bike Safety Clinic | ||
| 2:00-2:50 | Capoeira Angola Performance | ||
| Howard University Marching Band | 10:00-10:30 |
Here’s an interactive map of the route from DDOT:
Before the first event, business owners expressed some concern that no car traffic would lead to decreased revenues, but a survey after the event found that:
• 56% of attendees said they discovered a new business on the corridor
• 74% of attendees said they viewed Georgia Avenue more positively after the event
• 58% of businesses reported an increase in customer activity and sales for the day
• The average revenue for businesses on the day of the event increased by $156 compared to a typical Saturday
Another large Open Streets event will happen next spring on Seventh Street from Shaw to the Wharf. Several other smaller events will take place in all eight wards throughout the year, DDOT says. The District is spending $9 million on the events.
