Do The Charleston! A Car-Free King Street!

(copyright: Detroit Publishing Company, Courtesy Library of Congress)

This is a view of King Street, looking north, said to have been taken between 1910 and 1920. Cars are already on the scene, but they don't dominate.

Coming on November 22, the stretch of King Street between Calhoun and Broad is to be closed to auto traffic, creating a streetscape reminiscent of earlier days on the City's "Main Street." It's a plan promoted by a coalition of local groups and individuals, with the blessing of Mayor Joseph Riley, according to Charleston Bicycle Chic's Kristin Walker, one of the organizers.

The coalition is now working furiously on plans to make the occasion as festive as possible. It includes Charleston Bicycle Chic, Charleston Moves, the City of Charleston's Phillip Overcash, Holy City Bicycle Coop, Epic Vu, among many others. It is hoped that the coalition grows as plans materialize.

As you've read here and plenty of other places, many communities are adopting plans like this. Greenville is one of them. From Greenville we hear accounts of a great boost for business, and a great boost for municipal morale. In other cities around the country and around the world, plans such as this have been so successful that the limited-area auto ban has been made permanent creating large zones limited to use by pedestrians, cyclists and other non-automobilists.

There is much work to be done to make this happen, and the coalition is on the job. Watch this space for more details. (And watch local media for other accounts of the plan.)