To mark Park(ing) Day — a global event that reclaims parking spots as places for people — three lanes of vehicle traffic and several on-street spaces will close Friday on parts of Broad Street downtown to accommodate a more pedestrian-friendly zone on the roadway.
In their place will be “parklets,” spaces where nearly 50 individual vendors will hold various activities for community members. Residents of all ages can attend free of charge.
Ginger Birnbaum, development and outreach coordinator with the Chattanooga Design Studio, the organization planning the event, said in a phone interview that Park(ing) Day on Friday will be the largest in the city’s history.
“It’s a time when people take what is typically a street parking space and temporarily transform it into a space for art and play and connection,” Birnbaum said.
Park(ing) Day in Chattanooga
— When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday
— Where: Broad Street from Sixth to Eighth streets
Source: Chattanooga Design Studio
On the Sixth through Eighth streets blocks on Broad Street, only one northbound lane will be open for vehicle traffic as a one-way street. Other traffic will be redirected during the event, Birnbaum said.
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The on-street parking spaces for the event will be donated by the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority, which operates the Chattanooga Parking Authority.
Savannah Ward, CARTA’s community outreach coordinator, said two spaces will be hosted by CARTA itself as a mock bus rapid transit, a transportation model where a lane of vehicle traffic is set aside only for public bus routes.
Representatives from CARTA will be in the space with a CARTA bus to take public feedback on the transit concept, which aims to reduce commute times due to decreased traffic.
Ward said there are considerations within CARTA to put a bus rapid transit system on the No. 4 route that goes from downtown eastward through Brainerd.
She said commute times on the length of the route could be reduced by half from 30 to 15 minutes.
CARTA, however, hasn’t determined the cost or viability of such an endeavor. Many plans to improve CARTA services were left out of the authority’s budget this year due to limited funding from local governments in Hamilton County.
“We’re in the beginning process of this,” Ward said.
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Trust for Public Land will also host a parklet Friday. Daniela Peterson, a program director with the nonprofit, said in a phone interview there will be a bench in the space that residents can interact with and paint on.
“It’s a very simple idea,” Peterson said. “It’s an interactive way of bringing people together.”
David Johson, another program director with Trust for Public Land, said in a phone interview that parks should be places where people make social connections.
“It’s the point of Park(ing) Day, right?” Johnson said. “It’s the reimagining of what a community space is. Reenvision it and try to make it feel like it’s for everyone, which we know downtown doesn’t often feel that way.”
Park(ing) Day was started in 2005 in San Francisco as a way to repurpose parking spaces as community park areas.
Since then, the event, held the third Friday of September, has become global.
Birnbaum said it’s meant to show people what a public space typically meant for vehicles can become.
“What people will feel from this,” she said, “is a safer, greener, livelier space.”
Contact Ben Sessoms at bsessoms@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.