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posted
03/02/09 07:35 AM
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updated
03/02/09 07:46 AM
Las Ramblas on Capitol Hill
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pedestrian pike
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| Nice photo-shopping! I'd love to see something like this actually happen someday. One thing I noticed in Southern Europe was that all the moter scooters were more of menace to bikes and pedestrians than the cars. Scooter riders here seem very nice though! | |
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Comment by
jonglix
March 02, 2009
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I like it :-)
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But then again I'm Spanish, so I'm bound to like this type of idea. The only thing is that cafes and bars would need to follow suit with the little terraces, and I have not noticed a terrace "culture" over here. It would be nicer just by making the pdestrian-only areas bigger, but part of what makes Las Ramblas special is all the little terraces, which are always full of people. The fact that they are there also means that when you meet up with friends without a definite plan, the idea is to have a caña (beer) there and then decide what to do; or if you're just having a walk around, you'll probably stop there for a drink at some point. And said terraces would have to serve not just coffee but also beer, and ideally even little tapas, and just as long as we're going into fantasy land, said tapas should be complimentary with the beer :-P |
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Comment by
Lu
March 02, 2009
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Love it!
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| That little stretch of Pike has so much possibility for pedestrians. Someday soon hopefully we can do something wonderful to it. | |
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Comment by
JoshMahar
March 02, 2009
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I love it too!
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| That would be a really great addition to the neighborhood. So many people walk anyway, and now they have to sprint across traffic. And that area could really use a few more trees and bushes. | |
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Comment by
k
March 02, 2009
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yes
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| you have my vote | |
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Comment by
Wes
March 02, 2009
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I don't get it
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Are servers from Quinn's and Cafe Vita supposed to jaywalk across traffic to the seating area? Otherwise, I'm all about the idea of taking traffic lanes for more public space. They just announced a big plan to do it on Broadway in NYC. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/nyregion/27broadway.html?_ |
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Comment by
dave
March 02, 2009
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RE: I don't get it
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Seems crazy to us but yes, the restaurants on Las Ramblas have servers that come out of the restaurant and cross the one lane of traffic to serve people, and it works surprisingly well. I don't know if that arrangement would work as well here in the US, cars and peds seems to coexist much better in Europe than here. In this street view, the seating on the right of the traffic lane belongs to the little orange restaurant on the left. This arrangement is duplicated many times on La Rambla. http://maps.google.com/maps?client=safari&q=la+rambla+barcel,2.173791&spn=0.028305,0.045447&t=h&z=15&iwloc=addr&layer=c&cbll=41.380649,2.173865&panoid=enGT3_cky22vcPFIgxR1aw&cbp=12,145.06243566373632,,0,5 If this actually were to happen, you're right, it would make much more sense for a restaurant on the North side of the street to utilize that seating, but there's not one there at the moment, so in my fantasy land it belongs to Vita and Quinns. |
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Comment by
cheesecake
March 02, 2009
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RE: I don't get it
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it's cutting off my link too... But the scene I was talking about is at 68 Rambla dels Caputxins, Barcelona, CT, España |
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Comment by
cheesecake
March 02, 2009
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NYC article again
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| http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/nyregion/27broadway.html?_ | |
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Comment by
dave
March 02, 2009
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NYC plan
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Oh well, it keeps cutting off the url. The point is, they're going to permanently close sections of Broadway and make them public plazas. It will actually improve traffic at certain intersections because Broadway slices across the city at an awkward angle, making traffic signals complicated with so many legs to deal with. "The centerpiece of the mayor’s plan calls for shutting down Broadway to vehicles from 47th Street to 42nd Street in Times Square and from 35th Street to 33rd Street at Herald Square. In those blocks, large new plazas would be created, with a gravelly surface and movable chairs and tables with umbrellas. Crosstown traffic would continue to cross Broadway in both areas, as it does now." |
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Comment by
dave
March 02, 2009
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I've been speaking about this years ago!
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I think it would be a great idea- it's so European so cool, so great for the neighborhood...oh yea, we're in Seattle where good ideas never come to fruition! and another thing, technically, it is called "La Rambla" in Barca |
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Comment by
thesoze
March 02, 2009
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RE: I've been speaking about this years ago!
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Yeah, because a rambla is a type of street. But since there's quite a few of them in Barcelona, we normally just refer to them all collectively with the plural Las Ramblas. Madrid has something similar, with little terraces in pedestrin only squares, and also in the bulevares that are along some streets. Kind of like this http://k41.pbase.com/u44/maribel/upload/39761046.elbulevarde), with traffic going on both sides of it, and in the Summer little terraces spring up in them - sometimes the terrace is it's own little bar, sometimes they belong to a bar / coffee place (in Spain they are pretty much the same thing, Starbucks and other coffee only places being a new phenomenom) on one of the sides of the street. |
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Comment by
Lu
March 02, 2009
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Great visualization
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I'd love to see this thing occur. In Santa Cruz, CA, the downtown "Pacific Garden Mall" is a street with a one way auto lane that weaves a bit from side to side, so that the wider pedestrian areas alternate sides of the street. I don't know if that has proven as good or better than just a straight auto lane, but it's a design that allows for restaurants and other public seating on both sides. And, it certainly looks more like a pedestrian square than a throughway for cars, although cars can get "through." Also, I've love to see more major streets like Madison lose a parking lane and have a dedicated bus lane, like what's done on Market Street in San Francisco. 2 lanes for cars, 1 for parking, and 1 for bus. Or even better, 2 lanes, bus only, and the parking lanes become wider sidewalks. (And, of course, a train would be better than a bus . . .) |
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Comment by
jayf
March 02, 2009
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Ramblas on Capitol Hill
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As was evident on last night's Rick Steve's re-run about Barcelona, La Ramblas is a big deal in Barcelona. What he didn't explain is that there are a variety of ramblas in Barcelona of varying size and degrees of traffic. The one in the Pobleno district for example is much more modest with a wide seating area in the middle of the street, a single lane of one-way (infrequent and slow) traffic on each side. Restaurant seating is both on the sidewalk and in the center; and servers do indeed cross the one lane to serve the tables in the middle. It all seems so effortless, a testament to the idea that everyone compromises a bit for the benefit of everyone else. My only suggestion for Capitol Hill would be that the street selected shouldn't be a major traffic thoroughfare. So maybe not John, Pike or Pine - but how about Denny? |
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Comment by
Mark Spitzer
March 03, 2009
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Great work!
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| Really nice image work and imagineering. I support your vision! | |
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Comment by
vladcole
March 03, 2009
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like a Woonerf
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A Woonerf is a Dutch street shared with pedestrians - there are a few in Seattle, most notably down on Terry in South Lake Union near the SLUT - it's not quite fully realized. Low curbs and paving allow pedestrians and bikers to spill out into the "street" portion.. traffic is reduced as it has to weave through the crowds. Obviously, a certain density of non-vehicular traffic is needed to make it all work. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woonerf |
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Comment by
elMano
March 03, 2009
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RE: like a Woonerf
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yeah, I just saw this 'The Southlake' article on the woonerf that's part of the coming Yale Street Campus http://www.thesouthlake.com/2008/05/whats-woonerf.html Looks cool, I just hope these get used enough to make them work. I also hope they don't actually try to call them woonerfs (or Mews's). If we want these to be more than a fad or oddity... just call them streets! |
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Comment by
cheesecake
March 04, 2009
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Let's make this happen!
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Anyone who's interested in working to make a project like this happen on the hill should join this group: http://seattlegreatcitynetwork.ning.com/group/capitolhillstr I'm going to try to arrange an initial meeting next week to get a conversation started. |
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Comment by
EricButler
March 04, 2009
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It's a great idea, but....
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| Closing a main arterial streets like pike or pike would cause congestion elsewhere (e.g. Madison, Denny, or John). They are just too integral to people commuting from the top of the hill. I would suggest a North/South street, such as Harvard or 10th. These streets have less car traffic and are more pedestrian friendly. The only downside is that storefront may need to be added to make a plan like that work. | |
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Comment by
oiseau
March 05, 2009
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RE: It's a great idea, but....
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"It's a great idea, but.... Closing a main arterial streets like pike or pike would cause congestion elsewhere (e.g. Madison, Denny, or John). They are just too integral to people commuting from the top of the hill. I would suggest a North/South street, such as Harvard or 10th. These streets have less car traffic and are more pedestrian friendly. The only downside is that storefront may need to be added to make a plan like that work. Comment by oiseau 5 hours ago " Way to go negative nelly. Way to perpetuate the notion that our neighborhood retail district needs to facilitate fast movement of cars from other neighborhoods. |
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Comment by
Wes Kirkman
March 05, 2009
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