Houston to shut down streets for cyclists and pedestrians

The city of Houston, Texas, has announced how SundayStreetsHTX, a pilot initiative to promote and improve the health of Houstonians, will open the streets of White Oak, Westheimer and Washington/Market Square to cyclists and pedestrians only on the first Sundays in April, May and June 2014, respectively.

“SundayStreetsHTX is an opportunity for families and neighbours to be outside and celebrate the streets of Houston,” said Annise Parker, Mayor of Houston. “This pilot initiative meets many of the goals of my Go Healthy Houston programme, encouraging more recreation and physical activity in Houston, in a family friendly environment.”

SundayStreetsHTX will open a stretch of streets normally reserved for vehicle traffic to allow cycling, walking, dancing, socialising and will provide a family-friendly opportunity to be physically active.

Organisers say that opening streets to pedestrians, cyclists and families will encourage communities to be physically active and consider using alternative transport options in the future. Many Houstonians use city streets every day, either in a personal vehicle or via public transport. But SundayStreetsHTX will help people see the city at a different speed and from a different perspective. The mayor believes that SundayStreetsHTX will not only provide a fun and safe environment for physical activity, but may build community bonds that occur thanks to positive experiences provided at each event.

“The pilot SundayStreetsHTX initiative will provide Houstonians with an actual opportunity to be physically active on the day of the events,” said Dr. Faith Foreman, Chair, Go Healthy Houston Task Force. “More than that, SundayStreetsHTX will encourage regular physical activity as participants realise the many destinations that can be reached by foot or bike and that being outdoors in Houston can be fun for their entire family.”

Open Streets are multi-faceted programmes that promote the use of public streets for recreation and physical activity. Open Streets originated in Bogota, Colombia, over 30 years ago, and have been rapidly spreading to other regions of the world with the largest expansion in the US.  It is estimated there are over 200 large-scale Open Streets initiatives worldwide, with 90 in the US, including San Antonio, Salt Lake City, St. Louis, Portland, San Francisco, New York City and Los Angeles.