Hey, there! Log in / Register

Newbury Street to become pedestrian promenade for three Sundays in August

New commenting turned off as we begin the Great UHub Migration. Back later today.
By adamg on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 10:23am

Newbury Street will be shut to cars between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. on Aug. 15, 22 and 29, BTD announced today.

The return of Open Newbury Street will be between Berkeley Street and Massachusetts Avenue those days.

Neighborhoods: 
Back Bay
Topics: 
Driving
Free tagging: 
Newbury Street
pedestrians


Ad:


Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!

Comments

By Ron Newman on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 10:50am.

 

By KellyJMF on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 11:03am.

Linked article has the correct dates.

By adamg on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 11:10am.

And now so does my post.

By anon on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 11:35am.

But I'm certain we'll be on lockdown by the first date!

By fungwah on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 11:38am.

but barring that, it should at least be more common and obviously scheduled so people and businesses can actually plan for it. How about every Sunday or every weekend in the summer or something similar?

By Ari O on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 11:43am.

How ever will they survive without ample parking on Newbury Street?

By Parkwayne on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 12:08pm.

How much of their traffic depends on people taking the train / walking / biking vs. tourists staying in local hotels vs. (rich) people driving in from Newton or Winchester, etc... It's nice when it is pedestrian only though for sure but I don't actually know what the impacts are on the businesses.

By Anon on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 1:04pm.

It is very hard to get accurate numbers from businesses. When you work with lots of businesses you find that even when it benefits their bottom line to do things a certain way they will generally revert to playing up the way they prefer.

The best way to gauge impact would be people counting. See how many people were on the street on what days. You could even pick a few stores and do pedestrian counts going in and out of those stores. Developers are required to do this all the time with traffic and other studies. Just hire one of those companies and test several days of open and closed. Then adjust for weather impacts and special events.

The cheap and easy version is to use Google data. Google already has a generally decent sense of how busy an area is vs regular traffic. It knows in real time and tell you if stores and large areas are busier now than normal. I imagine there must be some way to harness that info.

By Pete Nice on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 1:05pm.

People who drive will still drive.

By Lee on Sat, 07/31/2021 - 11:05am.

And then they also get the benefit of a pedestrian only stroll.
Doesn’t seem fair but what ya gonna do.

By Ron Newman on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 12:26pm.

There are garages a block away in the Prudential and Copley Place.

By cden4 on Fri, 07/30/2021 - 1:48pm.

Yes! Now please make it permanent!