On October 10, a few eager Broward MPO staff a part of the mobility and public outreach teams attended CicLAvia in Los Angeles, California. Inspired by Bogotá’s weekly ciclovía, CicLAvia temporarily closes streets to car traffic and opens them for the community to use as a public space. Imagine your busiest street, not havings cars, and see what people do! Free for all, CicLAvia connects communities across an expansive city, creating a safe place to bike, walk, skate, roll, and dance through Los Angeles County. This event was particularly notable because it marked the 10th anniversary of the Open Streets event. The 6-mile route looped through the heart of downtown Los Angeles and various neighboring communities, including Little Tokyo, Chinatown, the Boyle Heights District, and Westlake.
Our team members Stephanie Garcia, Benjamin Restrepo, Kerrie MacNeil, Hannah Bourgeois, and Khyra Everette had a unique opportunity to meet with CicLAvia and the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) staff days before the event to get a behind-the-scenes look into the planning process. Those meetings were super beneficial for MPO staff because Los Angeles hosts one of the few Open Streets events in the nation with a demographic and density similar to Broward. The vital information gathered from the event will help MPO staff gain support from municipalities within Broward and local sponsors by showing the potential of Open Streets in Broward. We are on track to host our inaugural Open Streets event in Spring 2022.
On Wednesday, November 3, at 3:00 p.m., we will host a webinar to introduce this concept to the Broward region by presenting successful Open Streets events and special guests, including the City of Los Angeles CicLAvia and Open Streets Minneapolis. This webinar is an opportunity to learn from experts about the impacts of this initiative in the communities adopting it.
To register for the webinar, CLICK HERE.
To learn more about Open Streets and Broward Ciclovia, CLICK HERE.