Summer Streets is an annual celebration in New York City for people to get out and enjoy our most valuable public space… our streets! For three consecutive Saturdays, August 3, 10 and 17, nearly seven miles of New York City’s streets are opened up for everyone to play, walk, run and bike.
This year two things in particular that stand out “Voice Tunnel” by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer and “CoolStop” by Chat Travieso. Voice Tunnel will be a seven-block-long art installation of lights and sound in the Park Avenue Tunnel open for the first time to pedestrians in history during Summer Streets. The seven-block-long tunnel, running from 33rd Street to 40th Street, which originally carried rail cars when it opened in 1834, will become the basis for a temporary, participatory art installation. See more Here. Cool Stop is a prototype for a water mister that connects to fire hydrants and provides a safe, efficient and fun alternative to cool off by a hydrant. Constructed mostly of recycled PVC piping, the 10′ installation resembles a large splash that Summer Streets participants may stand under for a small reprieve from the hot summer sun.
Summer Streets is modeled on other events from around the world including Ciclovía in Bogotá, Colombia and the Paris Plage. The event is part bike tour, part walking tour, part block party–a great time for exercise, people watching, or just enjoying summer mornings.
Running from 7:00 am to 1:00 pm, Summer Streets extends from the Brooklyn Bridge to Central Park. All activities at Summer Streets are free of charge, and designed for people of all ages and ability levels to share the streets respectfully. On three consecutive Saturdays in the summer, nearly seven miles of NYC’s streets are opened for people to play, walk, bike, and breathe. Summer Streets provides space for healthy recreation and encourages New Yorkers to use more sustainable forms of transportation. In 2012, more than 250,000 people took advantage of the open streets.
