Ciclovia de Dallas

Downtown

The first annual (hopefully) Ciclovia de Dallas has taken place and we were there.  It was a low-key, laid-back, car-free event that turned the century-old Houston Street Viaduct over to cyclists and pedestrians for six hours on Saturday.  From downtown Dallas on the northeast side to Oak Cliff on the southwest side, people strolled, skated and cycled across the mile-long span over the Trinity River. Among the attractions were assorted booths, occasional live music and entertainment, zumba and yoga sessions and a couple of the now-indispensable food trucks, but mostly everyone seemed to be simply enjoying the chance to have this unusual playground for socializing and getting a bit of fresh air while taking in views of the city.  You can check out more photos here.

I happened to learn about the event through an article in the Dallas Morning News about the city's ambitious but stalled Bike Plan which brought Gil Penalosa, former parks commissioner in Bogota, Colombia to town to give City Hall some pep talks about creating pedestrian- and bike-friendly streets.  Bogota, Columbia and bicycles?  Well, according to Wikipedia, Bogota deserves credit for creating the first ciclovias way back in 1976, and now these temporary street closures take place weekly. The concept has spread to other countries as well as several cities in the United States. Let's hope the trend continues.  

View toward Oak Cliff and the Trinity River