[Photo courtesy of sabeth718/flickr]

According to Transportation Alternatives, the Williamsburg Walks program doubled foot traffic on Bedford Avenue. The program involves closing a long stretch of Bedford Avenue to cars: “Foot traffic on Bedford Avenue was 96% higher than the average Saturday, based on pedestrian counts. The number of children and seniors using the street also increased. And because so much more space was available for walking and sitting, the street felt open and uncongested.” Streetsblog adds: “The numbers come from pedestrian counts conducted on two Saturdays earlier this summer, which averaged 240 people per 15-minute span, compared to a count of 470 pedestrians during the same interval on the first day of Williamsburg Walks.”