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Slow, Shared, and Safe: Closing Streets to Thru-Traffic During the Coronavirus

As shelter-in-place orders are extended and social distancing protocols deplete available sidewalk space, cities are grappling with how, or if, they should temporarily limit vehicular traffic on some streets to allow people to safely be outside and make essential trips while remaining at least 6’ apart. Questions abound: how should cities communicate the closures to avoid creating places for people to congregate? What materials and tools work best to close streets without over tasking staff? How are cities deciding which streets to slow or close and how are communities being involved in the process in a time of emergency?

In this live session, we’ll hear from Jay Decker, Transportation Innovation Manager at Denver DOTI, and Nicole Ferrara, Policy & Intergovernmental Affairs Advisor at Oakland DOT about how their cities have limited thru-traffic on some city streets to create space for people to travel by foot and bike. We’ll also hear from Rachel Rosenberg, a Senior Associate at ideas42, about how cities can leverage behavioral psychology concepts to effectively communicate with the public about these temporarily closed and shared spaces.

Wednesday, April 22 | 1 PM ET / 10 AM PT
Jay Decker, Denver DOTI – Temporary Recreation Streets (T-RECS)
Nicole Ferrara, Oakland DOT – Oakland Slow Streets
Rachel Rosenberg, ideas42 – Behavioral Design for Closing Streets to Through Traffic

This webinar is a resource of the NACTO COVID-19 Transportation Response Center, part of Bloomberg Philanthropies COVID-19 Local Response Initiative.