Type: Tactical Urbanism Demonstration Project Series
Size: 11 Projects (6 Counties: Imperial, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and Ventura)
Status: Complete
Street Plans, together with Alta Planning + Design, designed and implemented seven Tactical Urbanism projects as part of the Southern California Association of Governments’ (SCAG) Go Human region-wide safety and encouragement campaign. The primary goal of the Tactical Urbanism component of the campaign was to promote region-wide walking and biking, and allow residents to temporarily experience roadways that are designed for people – not just cars. The projects were implemented in 11 cities across the SCAG region during 2016-2017. Project types ranged from open streets events to demonstration projects (such as pop-up bike lanes and temporary traffic circles or curb extensions), depending on each city’s goals.
The first of the eleven projects was completed on October 2016 in Long Beach, CA. Dubbed “Activate Uptown,” the project featured an open streets event as well as a temporary bicycle boulevard. Street Plans led design and materials procurement for the bicycle boulevard, which included art crosswalks, a traffic circle, and other features. These temporary treatments allowed event attendees to experience an enhanced walking and biking boulevard, catalyzing momentum towards permanent change in the future. The second event occurred December 2016 in Cudahy, CA. This event featured a demonstration traffic circle, temporary bikeway markings, as well as a number of pedestrian safety improvements (such as curb extensions) near a local school. The third event in Garden Grove, CA featured demonstrations of protected bike lanes, art crosswalks, and a neighborhood greenway.
On Saturday, December 3rd, 2016 Street Plans implemented the second of seven demonstration projects in Cudahy, California, which featured a temporary protected bike lane, a pop-up traffic circle, and sidewalk extensions. This project also celebrated the kick-off to the LA River Upper Segment Revitalization Plan. The street safety projects not only slowed down traffic, but also created easier access to the LA River Bike Path.
Throughout the spring and summer of 2017, Street Plans helped deliver similar Tactical Urbanism projects in additional locations including the cities of Rialto, Rancho Cucamonga, and Riverside. The project series ended in June of 2017 with an Orange County project, in partnership with OC Parks and the cities of Anaheim and Yorba Linda.
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Strong Towns, the award-winning urban planning media nonprofit, got a chance to interview Street Plans’ Principal Mike Lydon about how Tactical Urbanism can be used to promote bikeability. The article can be found HERE. Mike tells Strong Towns how events like Open Streets and short-term bikeway demonstration projects are affordable…
As a part of BikeNWA, a series of bike infrastructure demonstration projects in Northwest Arkansas to come this month, Street Plans, the Bicycle Coalition of the Ozarks, and the Northwest Arkansas Regional Planning Commission, are leading public meetings in Bella Vista, Bentonville, and Rogers to gather input on project design…
On Friday, October 7th, the Street Plans team worked with local volunteers and colleagues from Sam Schwartz to create a demonstration project that helped re-imagine Market Street in Poughkeepsie, NY’s downtown core. The project used temporary materials, like hay bails, corn starch paint, plants, artificial turf, and movable furniture, to…
On Saturday, October 1st, Street Plans implemented a demonstration project as a part of the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) Go Human region-wide safety and encouragement campaign in North Long Beach, CA. In partnership with the City of Long Beach and Alta Planning + Design, and with the…
“Open Streets is absolutely approaching a tipping point,” says Street Plans Principal Mike Lydon, who was interviewed as part of a recent Vox article highlighting the rapidly expanding Open Streets movement. For cities to really start to change people’s behavior, Open Streets needs to look to Bogotá, Colombia, which hosts…
An article in the Poughkeepsie Journal, the local newspaper in Poughkeepsie, NY, discussed a few small-scale projects happening around the city including a temporary transformation of Market Street. Using temporary materials, the City of Poughkeepsie will partner with Street Plans the weekend of October 7th to test out ideas for…
A recent NPR article highlights Burlington, Vermont’s Tactical Urbanism Policy & Guide, developed by Street Plans with Local Motion and the City of Burlington Public Works Department. The policy and guide provides a platform for the community to create their own Tactical Urbanism projects, expediting the project delivery process…
Street Plans delivered two talks in Vancouver the week of September 12th for the Pro Walk/Pro Bike/Pro Place Conference, the premiere conference in North America for walking and bicycling professionals. Together with the San Francisco Planning Department, Street Plans presented the recently published Public Space Stewardship Guide -a new print…
Street Plans, the founder of the Open Streets Project, is thrilled to announce that we’ve partnered with 8-80 Cities to advance the Open Streets Project. 8 80 Cities is a non-profit urban planning organization based in Toronto, Canada that will bring global experience to our team in the realm of advocacy for and…
From Thursday, August 18th to Sunday, August 21st, Open Streets policymakers, practitioners, health professionals, active transportation activists, and others convened for the 4th International Open Streets Summit in Portland, OR. Co-hosted by Street Plans, along with 8-80 Cities and the City of Portland Bureau of Transportation, the Summit was attended…
