The city of Oakland is shutting down 74 miles of city streets to give bicyclists and pedestrians more room to spread out and get exercise.
The emergency measure, which will officially be announced Friday, will help reallocate the city’s land to meet the needs of a city under shelter in place orders.
“Because of the reduction in car traffic, we will be closing off a number of streets so that bicyclists and pedestrians can spread out and exercise and take in fresh air safely,” said Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, previewing the measure in a Thursday virtual town hall meeting.
The measure is called “Oakland Slow Streets” and will shut down 10% of the city’s streets, mainly residential roads.
“We know that our parks are crowded. We also know that our parks are one of the few places where Oaklanders like to walk,” said city official Alexandria McBride, who added that roadways and sidewalks make up about 20-30% of the city’s land.
Schaaf previewed a map of the closures, which cover much of the city’s communities. Officials said equitable distribution of the closures was an important factor.
