'Sunday Streets' concept to get road test
Roland Park will be the site Sunday of the first field test of a concept known as "Sunday Streets," in which a main drag is given over to pedestrians, bicyclists, skateboarders and other non-motorized traffic for a few hours on the weekend.
The Roland Park Civic League is working with other sponsors, including One Less Car and the Inn at the Colonnade, to test a concept that has its origins in Colombia.
There it is known as "ciclovia," Spanish for "bike path." Each Sunday miles of roads in the capital, Bogota, are turned into a sprawling street fair. Vehicular traffic isn't banned, but some streets are closed to all but local traffic and cars and trucks are required to drive slowly and wiith their blinkers on. The event has become a popular civic celebration.
"It basically turns the streets into a park," said M. Gregory Cantori, president of One Less Car.
Baltimore's event will be a much-modified, much smaller version of Bogota's.
Sunday's test will close the southbound lanes of Roland Avenue from Northern Parkway to Cold Spring Lane between 8 a.m and 1 p.m. The avenue will remain open to northbound traffic but southbound vehicles will be detoured.
If the test is a success, proponents of the concept hope to stage a larger Sunday Streets event next March connecting Roland Park, Lake Montebello and Druid Hill Park.
