Go Play in the Street: New York’s Transportation Commissioner Wants to Re-work Los Angeles

Marla Schevker/KPCC

Bikes, lined up against the wall, are set to be ridden in the First Friendship Bike Ride in El Sereno on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2010.

A new line of thinking is emerging in transportation planning. Maybe roads are public spaces that should be for more than just cars. Janette Sadik-Khan is Commissioner of the Department of Transportation in New York City, where officials are closing off sections of streets and turning them into parks, bike paths, and social gathering points.

Her message: For trips less than two miles — which encapsulates a surprising number of our daily errands — put away the car and get out the bike.

“Cycling’s the new golf,” Sadik-Khan told Larry Mantle today on AirTalk.

But can this kind of thinking really apply to Los Angeles, a city built around freeways?

Sadik-Khan thinks so; that’s part of what she’s talking about at the LA Street Summit, Saturday, March 20th at LA Trade Tech College. And she ought to know: she’s a native Californian and graduate of Occidental College.

Listen to her entire interview with Larry Mantle on the AirTalk page.