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Last Saturday, Long Beach hosted another iteration of its popular Beach Streets open streets festival. Beach Streets Downtown opened more than five miles of city streets - primarily Broadway and Pine Avenue.
The event drew tens of thousands of people who biked/skated/ambled/ran/scootered in car-free streets. Car-free travel to the event was fairly easy via the Metro A Line train. Metro was an event sponsor, providing funding via the agency's Open Streets Grant Program.
Beach Streets was chock full full of activities: live music, drag performers, Long Beach Proud! Fest, kids zone, skating zone, outdoor dining, flea markets, drag queen story hours, art, a new walk/bike path opening, and lots more. Streetsblog didn't have enough time there to experience it all. Find plenty more photos and great commentary at LongBeachIze and lots of great photos and more commentary at the Long Beach Post.
Year after year, this event brings safe, recreational fun for all ages. It's a perfect way to promote traffic safety, sustainability, support our local businesses, and embrace active transportation.🚴♀️
L.A. County needs to embrace physically-protected bikeways, robust traffic calming around schools, and similarly transformative, safety-focused projects