This Sunday, May 31st, 2015, the streets from Market Square to Lawrenceville will be closed to traffic and open to people. Don’t panic, this is a good road closure.  Last year Open Streets spanned from Market Square across the Roberto Clemente Bridge.  This year, OpenStreetsPGH will be over 3 miles long from Market Square to Lawrenceville.

Paris, Bogata, Tucson and now Pittsburgh

One of the ideas behind Open Streets is to give people an opportunity to interact with their city in a way that is not centred around cars.  This is an idea that has been taking hold in other cities around the globe.  The Paris Respire, which translates to Paris Breathes, closes certain roads to traffic on Sundays from 9am-5pm.  Cyclovia Tuscon takes place twice a year and has quite a following.  (BTW if you are interested in learning more about cycling in Tucson, check out Bicycle Tucson @BicycleTucson a great blog run by Mike McKisson who was kind enough to give me a tour of Tucson by bike when I was there in January.)

Open Streets PGH Locations & Schedule for May 31, 2015

The streets are closed to traffic and open for fun from 8am to Noon on Sunday.  There are events planned for the following locations along the route:

• Market Sqaure
• 8th & Penn
• 23rd & Penn
• Leslie Park (on Butler Street in Lawrenceville)

You can see the entire OpenStreetsPGH Schedule for Sunday, May 31, 2015 here.

Five Stops to Make at Open Streets PGH

With so many events happening on Sunday, its hard to know where to start.  Here are five events that we think you should check out along the route.

1. Pittsburgh Vintage Mixer Pop Up Shop at Wildcard

Pittsburgh’s most awesome gift shop has invited their vintage selling friends to set up shop on Sunday am.  Stop by and pick up some old and new gifts for an old friend and make some new friends with these vintage lovers.  Visit the Facebook event for more info.

Follow: @pghvintagemixer @wildcardpgh

2. The City Spree 5K & 10K

The City Spree is a unique twist on your road race.  You and your team pick your own course to run. Use the code OPENSTREETSPGH to register for free.  Register online here.  The 5k run is sold out but there is still time to register for the 10k run or the 5k walk

• 9am – 10k Run
• 9:30am 5k Walk
• 10am 5k Run SOLD OUT

Follow: @CityofPlay

3. $5 Coffee + Fresh Cinnamon Roll @ Franktuary

Stop by Frankturary before brunch for coffee and a cinnamon roll from 8am-10am. Regular brunch begins at 10 am.

Follow: @Franktuary

4. Walking Tour of Downtown with PHLF

Learn about this history of downtown Pittsburgh on a walking tour led by Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation. Meet in front of the CLOCK in Market Square 10am.

Follow: @PHLF

5. Try Out the New Pittsburgh Bike Share

You’ve seen the stations popping up.  The bikes are being rolled out today and the brand new Pittsburgh bike share, which is named HealthyRidePGH launches on Sunday. I’ve had the chance to try out bike shares in Denver, Chicago, Milwaukee and New York.  This is great news for the ‘burgh.  If you haven’t had a chance to use a bike share before, the bike share lets you “rent” a bike at one station and return the bike to another station. You can read more about how HealthyRidePGH works here.  A 30 minute ride is $2 or you can sign up for a monthly membership for $12 or $20 a month.

Follow: @HealthyRidePGH

Getting Around Town on Sunday Morning

OpenStreetsPGH has partnered with ZTrip app.  Use code PGHTours to get $15 off.  (If you want to try Uber or Lyft use code IHEARTPGH to get your first ride free.)

OpenStreetsPGH on Pittsburgh Today Live

Kim O’Dell from the Heinz Foundations and Mike Carroll from Bike Pittsburgh were on KDKA’s Pittbsurgh Today Live earlier this week to give a preview of OpenStreetsPGH.

Follow: @Pgh_Today_Live @BikePGH @KimODell412

Read more about OpenStreetsPGH and similar events around the US

• Open Streets PGH festival to bring bundle of energy Downtown (triblive.com)
• For 50th year, Bicycle Sundays kicks off on Lake Washington Blvd this weekend (seattlebikeblog.com)
• Uptown Long Beach to party down the length of Atlantic Avenue on June 6 (oc-breeze.com)