Shortest Open Streets ever? Planning and Holding an Open Streets event in a small town

INTRODUCTION: Too often city planning has focused on cars, creating barriers to active transportation and physical activity along the streetscape. Making opportunities to close streets to cars and open them to biking, walking, and other physical activity can have health benefits, but working with city planners who focus their planning around cars can be a challenge.

METHODS: For two years, members of a town transportation advisory board and the local bicycle coalition in a small town adjacent to the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill explored the feasibility of conducting an Open Streets event, such events have been more common in large cities. A formative evaluation of how the event was approved and planned and an process evaluation of the event itself were conducted.

RESULTS: The formative evaluation revealed financial barriers to initiating Open Streets programming. This led the committee to apply for and receive a Better Bicycling Community Grant. Planning of the event and the companion evaluation took nine months. It was estimated that nearly 1,500 participants attended and participated in activities including biking, walking, and yoga. We will present evaluation results on participant perspectives of the event from a sample of participants (n=100). For comparison, similar data was collected the previous Saturday (no event) and during the town’s popular, long-term music festival and will be presented as well.

DISCUSSION: The evaluation showed that an Open Streets event in a small town can be conducted with high participation and satisfaction from city planners and participants alike.