With the official start of summer comes a summertime experiment to a part of downtown Traverse City.
Two blocks of the downtown district are now closed to cars – and open to pedestrians only. It’s taking people here a little while to adjust to this idea of walking down the middle of the street – we’ve even seen people diligently crossing at the crosswalk and looking for oncoming traffic. But as of Monday, two blocks of Front Street are closed to traffic between Park and Union.
Amy LaGuire grew up in Traverse City, and even worked two jobs in this stretch of Front Street. On Monday she came back to the area with her son Carter. “I love it. I think it’s fantastic. Just to have it closed off and let people wander around, will be great.”
It may go down as a great “summer experiment of 2020” – a plan to change this part of the downtown district – and keep cars -out. Carter LaGuire wasn’t too excited about a trip downtown at first. “I was like, yeah I guess so. And when I noticed we were able to walk in the street it was weird, but at the same time kind of good.” Carter says he feels a bit like a rule-breaker, but thinks walking in the street is pretty cool.
The opening hours Monday started a little slow, with a downpour of rainfall leading to a trickle of foot traffic. But by noon the sky started to clear and people began to emerge. Traverse City DDA Chief Operating Officer Harry Burkholder says, “We’ve closed Front Street to cars, opened to pedestrians. And really starting to see more and more people walking in the middle of the street as well as the sidewalk.”
The goal is to help restaurants hurt by social distancing and limited-capacity rules, by allowing them to add more seating in the parking spaces along the curb. Lauren Fraser-Lee is the Mama Lu’s General Manager. “This means we can have a lot more seating outside. We’ve added four four-tops and a few two-top tables. So this is a chance we can basically triple our size and get everyone tacos.”
Burkholder adds, “All the restaurants are allowed to come in the street if they get a permit from the city. At this time retail is not coming in to the street, but we’re looking at an extended street sale in August, which is a big tradition for our downtown and we’re looking forward to doing that too.”
There’s still some additional painting and signage to be done, and the DDA is hoping for a formal Grand Opening in Friday. And businesses on neighboring streets will be getting some support too, says Burkholder. “Front street is our most densely full part of our downtown, but we have lots of other businesses in others parts of downtown. So we’re looking at ways to drive customers to those areas. The Warehouse District, East (and West) Front, Cass and Union.”
Fraser-Lee says, “It’s amazing we can all socially distance this way, you don’t have to wade around people. And I just got out here and saw this and was like, ‘this is amazing. I want to sit out here and eat out here.’”
This experiment is only temporary. The two block closure will last through the summer and things go back to normal right after Labor Day.
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June 23, 2020 at 03:24AM
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Traverse City's Front Street Sees Partial Move for Pedestrians-Only - 9&10 News
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