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UndercoverPages t1_jbgae44 wrote

Reply to comment by MattFantastic in New Haven restaurants facing fines for outdoor dining by YankeeinNCandIhateit

I completely agree with your sentiment. Making streets more friendly to pedestrians does wonders to foster community and create a livable city.

However, unless I'm overlooking something important, even pedestrian streets need to plowed. Often times these streets have an early-hours window for deliveries. More importantly, there may issues related to safety. Emergency vehicles need access in case of fires and other unforeseen situations. I am not an expert in fire codes, but this may have something to do with the need to clear the snow from the road.

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MattFantastic t1_jbgcav7 wrote

I could go into more details on it all but the short is that for the half block in question the traffic study has been done for “permanent” closure (like Broadway in the city) and those issues are satisfactorily addressed. For example, there are no doors beyond the range of to code fire truck access from the ends of the closure.

A hybrid approach is still much cooler than nothing and I’m so happy to have it, but going full closure stops it from being a street in need of any services like plowing so a lot of the issues stop being a thing when it’s treated as a plaza.

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