Thousands turn out for Boise’s first Open Streets event, highlighting the appeal of a global car-free movement

Idaho Matters

Cyclists and pedestrians take over Latah near the railroad crossing. (Murphy Woodhouse / Boise State Public Radio )

Right around noon on a bluebird September Sunday in Boise, a pack of cyclists dozens strong turned south onto Latah Street, a chorus of bike bells sounding.

A large group of cyclists cruises south on Latah around noon on Sunday, Sept 22, when Boise held its first Open Streets event.(Murphy Woodhouse / Boise State Public Radio )

They cruised past a barricade, where police and volunteers were turning motorists away. Several hundred yards in, the Boise Good Times Street Band welcomed riders with a jaunty rendition of Give My Regards to Broadway. Wide, business-lined Latah is soon packed with bikers, walkers, roller skaters and at least one person on stilts.

Food trucks and other stands line the one-mile segment of the street, and long lines stretch out of the cafes and restaurants on the route.

Long lines stretched out of the cafes and restaurants on Latah during the event.(Murphy Woodhouse)

Lindsey Lind and her family – husband Eric, their two young children, and two dogs – had walked from their nearby home. They’re standing in line for some birria tacos.

“It's kind of weird,” she said, standing in the middle of the road. “Like, I feel like I keep needing to move over to the side.”

Eric described Latah on a normal day.

“It's busy, and usually people aren't doing 30 miles an hour,” he said. “It's, you know, 35, 40.”

“Or more,” Lindsey interjected.

They loved the vibrant sense of community surrounding them, and the promotion of green alternatives to driving.

“I think it helps people slow down a little bit and see kind of what's out here as far as businesses and, you know, it kind of puts maybe some of these businesses on the map,” Eric said.

Austin Clark, owner of Primal Coffee on Latah, plays fiddle with his friend Matt Hopper's band The Roman Candles in front of his cafe during the Open Streets event. "I think I knew it would be a good coordinated event, so I was happy to be a part of it and see where it goes," he said.(Murphy Woodhouse / Boise State Public Radio )

“I think it's really awesome for Latah’s business, this kind of exposure,” said Austin Clark, owner of Primal Coffee, located on the street. “Maybe a lot of people don't come up onto Latah ever, you know, because there's no reason to. But now they've got a reason to come.”

Sending a message

These are exactly the sorts of sentiments organizers of Boise’s first Open Streets event were hoping to inspire.

“All the chips fell into place. It worked out really well. And here we are today with close to, I would say like 3000 people,” said Nina Pienaar, advocacy director at the Boise Bicycle Project (BBP). Several days after the event, organizers later provided an updated figure of over 6,000.

Bike racks were packed tight on Latah Street during the event.(Murphy Woodhouse / Boise State Public Radio )

BBP worked closely with Ada County, Boise, and other local officials to develop location criteria, then surveyed neighborhoods to find a spot with local buy-in. They ultimately landed on Latah.

Pienaar said the strong turnout “sends the message loud and clear that like, ‘Hey, the Boise community, we're out biking, we're out walking. We want to see more infrastructure. We want to be able to choose to bike and to walk rather than choosing to get into our vehicles.’”

The second Open Streets event is already planned for next year, according to an official with the City of Boise, which sponsored the event. But with thousands in the street for the first event, Pienaar said there’s huge potential for a more regular schedule, perhaps even biweekly during the summer, adding: “The more the better.”

Social animals

“The concept is really, really simple. You open streets to people and you close them to cars. And the magic happens,” said Gil Penalosa. “You get young and old and rich and poor and fat and skinny, and you get everybody.”

Penalosa is an urban planner who now lives in Toronto, where he was the runner-up in the 2022 mayoral election. But as an official in the Colombian capital of Bogotá in the late 1990s, he helped dramatically expand the city’s weekly ciclovía program, credited as the seed of the global Open Streets movement. Every Sunday some 1.5 million Bogotanos cruise around 80 miles of car-free roads.

“Why is it spreading?” he asked. “I think because humans are social animals, and we want to be with other people.”

A winged stilt walker makes their way down Latah. (Murphy Woodhouse / Boise State Public Radio )

The many benefits of Open Streets are best achieved with frequent repetition, especially the health benefits, Penalosa argued. But in a time of often ugly divisiveness, he said anything that brings a diverse swath of a community together is good.

“The possibility of people meeting as equals is really, really, really important,” he said.

He acknowledges that some officials and businesses can blanch at shutting down significant stretches of roadways to cars, but encourages cities that haven’t tried it to be gutsy.

“I've seen it [be] successful … in cities of 50,000 people or 500,000 or 5 million, 20 million. It works everywhere,” Penalosa said. “I've seen it in poor cities, in wealthy cities, and it makes everybody happier and healthier. And also to keep in mind that this is low-risk, this is low-cost and has very high benefits.”

Terra Reed, an organizer of the Albuquerque Open Streets event Ciclovía – now in its 10th year – similarly encouraged other cities to give it a go, saying that it doesn’t have to be huge to be a success. From their experience, she said “having strong ties” with local governments is especially important to start and maintain such efforts.

“Try to build those relationships early,” she advised.

Just keep pedaling

In a parking lot off Latah, young kids are buzzing around a bicycle skills course.

6-and-a-half-year-old Margot Mace makes her way around a bicycle skills course.(Murphy Woodhouse / Boise State Public Radio )

Margot Mace, who’s 6-and-a-half years old, is getting frustrated trying to ride her bike over a teeter-totter obstacle.

“You can do it, keep pedaling,” her mom, Beth Edwards, encouraged.

“It doesn't let me do it,” Margot shouted in frustration after another failed attempt.

Beth said they had ridden to Latah with dozens of others – and got a taste of the danger cyclists face in the city.

“We were trying to get across Orchard (Street) and a car almost ran us down,” she recounted. “We were a big group of bikers, so we weren't just one cycling family or one person. There was 40 of us and a car still almost ran us down.”

Edwards had heard of Open Streets, but didn’t really know much about the idea until that Sunday. She loved its emphasis on safety for all road users.

“We are just kinda constantly living with that ‘Llook out! Look out!’” she said. “Coming here and being free and seeing her just riding safely and freely is a pretty awesome feeling.”

After three failed attempts, Margot backed up to give it one more go. She rolled up and over to the applause of spectators.

“I just love how she never gives up,” Beth said. “That's all it takes.”

This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, Boise State Public Radio in Idaho, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Colorado and KANW in New Mexico, with support from affiliate stations across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.