Since March, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way Ohioans live their lives and the way we think about social interactions. Businesses have been closed, restaurants limited to carry-out only options, sporting events ranging from the local charity 5K to professional sports leagues postponed or cancelled, our entire way of life has been upended. There does appear to be light at the end of the tunnel, as Ohio begins to restart our economy.

One aspect that we have been told that will not change however, is the need to socially distance- ensuring that we keep a safe 6 feet or more away from others to help limit the spread of the coronavirus. While it may be easy to do this is some stores and businesses, ironically it is proving to be a greater challenge in the one place we all assume has an abundance of public space – outdoors.

With more people gathering outdoors to free themselves of the often-times burdening sense of isolation that comes from being inside under stay-at-home orders, social distancing can be difficult. While it is easy to keep 6 feet between two people walking up and down a sidewalk, it’s more of a challenge to keep that distance side to side, with most sidewalks only 2-3 feet wide.

Cities across the country and around the globe have sought to address this problem by taking advantage of the evolving urban landscape and expanding options for people to recreate. Oakland, California, New York City, and at least 24 other cities from coast-to-coast  have closed lanes or entire streets to provide more space for people to recreate. For many of these cities, the goal is to ultimately expand this “open streets”, which will include widened sidewalks and permanent bike lanes.

Sadly, no communities in Ohio, are among the cities that have embraced this opportunity in the face of reduced traffic. Even as traffic density has decreased throughout the entire state as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, averaging nearly -47.6% statewide the week ending April 18 (the most recent week with statistics available), few, if any cities, have embraced the decline in traffic by closing either streets traffic lanes. In the city of Columbus, the Public Safety office, justifying its decision not to close streets or reduce lanes, stated with overall vehicle traffic during the time down, there is already enough room for cyclists. “This drop [in traffic] facilities safe biking in most areas of Columbus”.

This ignores the need for pedestrians to be able to adequately social distance, as well as documented evidence which shows that while the lower traffic volumes on roadways that lead to a decrease in the number of traffic crashes, the rate of crashes has actually increased in many cities, as are the injury and fatality rates for both drivers and pedestrians.  

As the weather begins to improve, it becomes more likely that the number of people choosing to recreate outdoors will only increase. Even with the state preparing to restart sectors of the economy as Ohio has successfully “flattened the curve”, businesses continue to be encouraged to allow those workers to can work from home to continue to do so. The Governor has announced that there are no plans to lift the stay-at-home order that has been in place since mid-March. With public gatherings of 10 or more restricted, all this means that there will continue to be major decreases in traffic congestion on Ohio’s roadways for the foreseeable future.

With the announcement in recent days that Ohio will be permitting restaurants to open on May 15 for outdoor dining, what better way to ensure that restaurants in our cities and downtowns can provide open space to diners than by closing streets or parking spaces and permitting them to set tables outside, allowing more diners more space to enjoy and evening out and restaurant operators the chance to serve more customers, even when dine-in options become available on May 21 (further necessitating more social distancing indoors). The City of Cincinnati has already announced plans to do this, closing all or part of 25 streets in the cities Downtown and Over-The-Rhine neighborhoods, and the City of Akron is looking to expand “refreshment zones” within the cities downtown to allow for more social distancing. Many more cities around the country have announced similar plans.

Now is the time for Ohio cities to test how effective street closures and road diets can be in communities by opening-up more public spaces to pedestrians. We have been told this is a once-in-a-hundred years crisis, and the last time we faced a global pandemic of this magnitude was almost exactly 100 years ago during the Spanish Flu pandemic. Cars were a novelty then and our cities were more open spaces where people had greater access to public spaces and opportunities to socially distance. Let us embrace the past and this opportunity and provide all Ohioans with an opportunity to enjoy our outdoor spaces without fear of becoming ill.