Car-Free Streets

This weekend, on the second Saturday of Summer Streets, the first thing my wife Jennifer and I noticed as we ascended the ramp from 42nd Street to Park Avenue was the quiet. I mentioned to Jennifer that I had come across a blog comment likening the scene to the New York portrayed in the post-apocalyptic Will Smith movie "I Am Legend," minus the super-human zombies. Plot holes notwithstanding, that didn't do it justice. The absence of engine noise and incessant honking didn't seem eerie, or even surreal. Just blissful.

Car-free workouts on Cleveland Place will be back tomorrow, but what about the open-toed pumps?

Already a prolific contributor to the Streetsblog Flickr pool, BicyclesOnly has recently put together a StreetsWiki guide to "Urban Bicycling With Children." The entry kicks off with a look at some of the less obvious benefits to biking with kids:

Welcome to the second installment of our Summer Streets photo tour. This pic comes courtesy of BicyclesOnly, who says Park Avenue South is "one of the more dangerous roadways to bicycle on in Manhattan. Without the cars, it's a playground for these two."

We excerpted this essay from reader Jen Petersen to lead off our first Summer Streets photo gallery yesterday afternoon. Her full account follows.

Reader Jen Petersen sends this shot of the intersection of Lafayette and Spring on Saturday, along with her observations of how pedestrians, cyclists, and everyone else shared the road during Summer Streets:

While press coverage of Summer Streets has been generally positive, tales of the miffed muffler shop owner and complaining cabinet maker are bound to continue, as reporters hunt for naysayers to "balance" out their stories. But what will be the economic reality of Summer Streets? Here, Streetsblog Publisher Mark Gorton gives his account of Saturday lunch with the family at an outdoor café on Park Avenue and 51st Street.

This Saturday I took the train into Manhattan with my girlfriend, Jessie, and got out at Broadway-Lafayette. I'm not much of an early riser on weekends, and Jessie had worked late the night before, so we didn't arrive until about 10:30. Summer Streets was already in full swing, but I didn't appreciate right away just how much Lafayette Street had changed from its typical state.