I am currently working on a thread showing the little alleyways of New Castle, Delaware. After walking the streets of this colonial city, and then looking at a thread with pictures of some of Pittsburgh's hilly neighborhoods with quirky streets, I got curious as to if cities across the country have streets that are walkable only. They are usually tucked away in secret places, and act as shortcuts or at least routes to places that would be too burdensome for cars.

Walkable-only streets meet these two requirements:
~A named street recognized by the city, state and/or other government entities, to be used by the public.
~Not to be used by motorized vehicles, like cars, buses, motorcycles, trolleys, or light rail.

Are there any walking-only streets in your area? Do you have any pictures of these streets?


Here are my pictures of walkable-only streets:

Annapolis, Maryland, has a few walking-only streets. These streets came about because Annapolis is the only city in the United States that was laid out with just a radial street pattern. This set of radial streets was irregular, and so travelling from one place to another place that were on the same block or within a stone's throw sometimes took a long time because the block was so big. As a result, citizens started cutting across yards and properties for short-cuts. Annapolis eventually bought many of these short-cuts and made them into public streets. One such street is Chancery Court. Chancery Court is named after the Chancery Court of Maryland, which was an old court system that handled business matters only. Chancery Court connects State Circle to Main Street.

Chancery Court (to the right)

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8898/dscf6465wshh0.jpg


New Castle, Delaware, has several walkable-only streets. Some streets, like Church Alley and Read's Alley, provided short-cuts from Front Street (now called The Strand) to the market square at Market Street and Delaware Street. Silsbee's Alley provided a short-cut from the other direction: Fourth Street to Third Street and the town green. Other streets were pathways connecting Front Street to the wharves along the Delaware River. While the most prominent pathway to the wharves, Packet Alley, does allow for cars, Alexander Alley is one of these pathways that still exists and does not allow cars. In fact, Alexander Alley is paved with grass, and looks like no more than a side lawn.

Church Alley

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/9729/dscf7771wsxj7.jpg

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/473/dscf7780wsep7.jpg

Alexander Alley

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/893/dscf7772wsfs9.jpg

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/8525/dscf7881wsmm2.jpg

Read's Alley

http://img511.imageshack.us/img511/8792/dscf7870wspn0.jpg

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/7879/dscf8145wsfa8.jpg

http://img53.imageshack.us/img53/2919/dscf8146wsfq7.jpg

Silsbee's Alley

http://img102.imageshack.us/img102/9751/dscf8144wsud2.jpg

http://img510.imageshack.us/img510/5389/dscf8291wsol6.jpg


Old City and Society Hill in Philadelphia have many streets that are so narrow from the crowding of colonial Philadelphia that there's just not any room for cars. Bladen Court is one such street that is a small side street on a small side street in the middle of a city block.

Bladen Court

http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/1374/dscf3590wsfp1.jpg

Elfreth's Alley (http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/1176/dscf3591wsmz3.jpg) is technically open to traffic, so unfortunately it cannot be included despite the discourageement of cars and encouragement of walkington tourists.

Hmm don't know pedestrian shopping areas count...but if the worlds largest is just around the corner from where I live:

Strøget (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Str%C3%B8get)

We have some walking-only streets, not alleys, but real streets, full of houses.

here's one:
Rua da Junqueira (0.32 km) + 0.09 km 8seperated by a small crossing street
http://www.cm-pvarzim.pt/groups/staff/conteudo/imagens-gerais/turismo/junqueira02.jpg

we have many others

Rua Latino Coelho (0.72km) - crosses some streets, parking area
Rua da Quingosta (14th century street, too small for anything except people)
Rua 31 de Janeiro (cars can park) 0.47 km
Rua dos Cafés 0.08km (continuous with Rua da Junqueira)
Rua da Alegria 0.10 km (continuous with Rua da Junqueira)
Rua da Ponte 0.10 km (continuous with Rua da Junqueira)
few others

Hmm don't know pedestrian shopping areas count...but if the worlds largest is just around the corner from where I live:

Strøget (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Str%C3%B8get)

Is it a real street with addresses and everything? If so, then it definitely counts. As long as it is recognized as a street (as opposed to a park or something like that) by the city or other governments, then it counts.

Practically every european city has pedestrian (shopping) streets.

Practically every european city has pedestrian (shopping) streets.

yes, but some here, are not shopping streets, but traditional neighbourhood streets (homes)
Nevertheless a big difference from Europe to the US, cause the streets that he should we wouldn't even consider them real streets.

Hmm don't know pedestrian shopping areas count...but if the worlds largest is just around the corner from where I live:

Strøget (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Str%C3%B8get)

how many KM has the "largest" walking street in Europe?

Zagreb old town is full of ''walking only streets''

Bogoviceva and Tkalciceva are probably most famous

Tklaciceva (a.k.a. Tkalcha)

http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n183/goxic/Zagreb/go2.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n183/goxic/Zagreb/go26.jpg

Bogoviceva (a.k.a Spitzza)

http://www.zagreb.hr/FotoGalerija.nsf/0/60261A236F649AC0C125723C003EAE1D/$FILE/slika.jpg:cheers:

yes, but some here, are not shopping streets, but traditional neighbourhood streets (homes)
Nevertheless a big difference from Europe to the US, cause the streets that he should we wouldn't even consider them real streets.

It's not really a big difference between Europe and the USA - I don't think anyone in the US would really concider any of those places in the first pictures "streets". They're pretty, and it looks like a nice city, but those are just cut-throughs and access paths to the water/yards, etc.

There aren't many STREETS in the US that are ped only - not when comparing to Europe where they're in almost every city.

Here's one in my hometown, Iowa City (Iowa). It's a college town of around 85,000 people. The streets are Dubuque Street and College Street. There's a small plaza on the intersection of the two streets. There's a total of 4 blocks of the streets that are pedestrian only. These pictures are mostly of the center intersection of the streets, but there's a lot of shops and bars/restaurants on the other legs of the "ped mall"

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/Candrson/ped.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/Candrson/ped1.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/Candrson/ped2.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/Candrson/ped3.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/Candrson/ped4.jpg

http://i51.photobucket.com/albums/f385/Candrson/ped5.jpg

I took most of those pictures (everything but the night shot) very early on a Sunday morning - after the University had released for the summer. It's normally MUCH more crowded than in these pictures....

European cities seem as though they have built themselves on a walking culture, and as a result have a bunch of pedestrianized areas.

^ definitely.

Many of their old towns are hundreds of years old, when most people could ONLY move by foot or at times horse, etc.

A majority of American cities came into their own in the latter half of the 19th and the early half of the 20th century. (I'm not talking Philly, Boston or NYC)

Is it a real street with addresses and everything? If so, then it definitely counts. As long as it is recognized as a street (as opposed to a park or something like that) by the city or other governments, then it counts.
Yes it's a real street with adresses and everything (actually more street names; Frederiksberggade, Nytorv, Gammeltorv, Nygade, Vimmerskaftet, Amagertorv and Østergade)...:)

how many KM has the "largest" walking street in Europe?

It's ~1,1 km...also the first (shopping) pedestrian street in the world:)

It's not really a big difference between Europe and the USA - I don't think anyone in the US would really concider any of those places in the first pictures "streets". They're pretty, and it looks like a nice city, but those are just cut-throughs and access paths to the water/yards, etc.


While my pictures of the streets are of cut-throughs and alleyways, they are all still official streets maintained by the cities and for public use. It is just that the purposes are different; they are not a location in and of themselves, and are just shortcuts that evolved over the centuries. Still they are interesting to see, and it's nice to see something different than cars driving paved streets once in a while. When was the last time that you saw a street paved with grass?

Here are a few from Melbourne. There are alot of laneways and alleys in Melbourne that are primarily used by foot traffic. Some also are used by the occasional delivery vehicle and so don't fit into your criteria. These that follow are all pedestarian only (I think):

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/198/447938089_75b8b4ac57_b.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/217/483679401_a5feedd98c_b.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/190/483697183_e65e3022eb_b.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/210/494655553_bbcafa493d_b.jpg

For more on streets like these check this thread out, http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=210850

HK has alot of walking-only streets.

Here are some of them

Sai Yeung Choi St. South (Mongkok)
http://22193.vws.magma.ca/images/photos/photo_253.jpg

Jardine's Crecent (Causeway Bay)
http://www.vazyvite.com/photo_div/chine/15hk/Img_1251.jpg

Lan Kwai Fong (Central)
http://www.icmlc.com/hk/sightsee_LanKwa%20Fong_big.jpg

In addition to the tourist traps, here are some pedestrianized wet markets that the locals in Hong Kong go to :

Mongkok Wet Market Photos
http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=272163&highlight=mongkok

Fa Yuen Street - more geared for locals than tourists
http://www.globalphotos.org/hongkong/20050922/SEPT22-S02-0006.jpg

Lan Kwai Fong is not a walking-only street. Cars can still go along that hilly stretch of road.

Other Asian cities also have examples of pedestrianized street markets, such as Seoul's Namdaemun :

http://www.globalphotos.org/southkorea/20050918/SEOUL02-S03-145.jpg

http://www.globalphotos.org/southkorea/20050918/SEOUL02-S03-165.jpg

Nanjing Road, Shanghai

http://www.globalphotos.org/shanghai/20050929/SEPT29-S05-027.jpg

http://www.globalphotos.org/shanghai/20050929/SEPT29-S05-036.jpg

Guilin, China

http://www.globalphotos.org/guilin/20051014/IMG_1470.jpg

A few pics of the Strøget area in Copenhagen

http://i10.tinypic.com/4opc7ed.jpg

http://i17.tinypic.com/4qynhw8.jpg

http://i16.tinypic.com/66xejxw.jpg

http://i8.tinypic.com/6aoyc82.jpg


And here we have another pedestrian area: Nyhavn

http://img337.imageshack.us/img337/7391/billede102la6.jpg

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/1502/billede112sn7.jpg

In addition to the tourist traps, here are some pedestrianized wet markets that the locals in Hong Kong go to :


Nanjing Road, Shanghai



Some of these roads are partly "walking-only". The L-shaped part of Lan Kwai Fong is an example.

Also, in Nanjing Road, trolleys can pass through

http://www.galen-frysinger.ws/china/nanjingroad01.jpg

............

In Manila, The Avenida is walking only ;)

http://static.flickr.com/51/108956514_6551a41778.jpg

Also Third St. in Santa Monica

http://www.inetours.com/Los_Angeles/Images/Snt_Mon/3rd_St_7913.jpg

Some of these roads are partly "walking-only". The L-shaped part of Lan Kwai Fong is an example.

Also, in Nanjing Road, trolleys can pass through
Even some of the streets you mentioned about Hong Kong are not purely walking-only since delivery trucks can pass through (ie. Ladies market). Those trolleys are for tourism purposes and just run up and down the street, and is not part of regular vehicular traffic. I don't think they can even run on the regular streets.

In Vienna there are several pedestrian streets, the most famous one listed below:

Kohlmarkt. From the imperial palace to the beginning of the Graben

http://www.foto-julius.at/wien2/W1840+.jpg

Am Graben. (center of the 1st district)
Whereas its hard to say if its a street or already long square...

http://www.foto-julius.at/wien2/W1502+.jpg

Kärntnerstraße (from the end of the Graben to the border of the 1st district)

http://www.foto-julius.at/wien2/W1820+.jpg

http://www.foto-julius.at/wien2/W1823+.jpg

Those three streets together are often called the "golden U". As they fomr an U together.

A quite large pedestrian street outside the 1st district is a long part of the Favoritenstraße. its in contrast to the streets above, no upper class shops or tourist location. Hard to find pictures of it on the net though

http://www.schulen.wien.at/schulen/910081/favoriten/fuzo.jpg

http://www.wes.at/images/foto/fotos%20aktuell/favoriten01.jpg


PS:
Those night photos above are very lively at day time, at night its calmer as all shops are closed. But you still will find a certain number just strolling around.

Ahh, I forgot about this little gem:

http://coolabah.com/ausblog/sunflower/CIMG0996.JPG

Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA

Ahh, I forgot about this little gem:

http://coolabah.com/ausblog/sunflower/CIMG0996.JPG

Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica, CA

I mentioned that earlier but that's one of my favourite shopping areas in SoCal other than Melrose and Hollywood Blvd.

Hong Kong's Lei Yuen St. W and E in the central business district are 2 alleys that are not paved for car use. Hawkers line the sides selling their wares to office workers who pass along the two streets during their commute and at lunch. Recently, there was a cave-in on one of these streets, swallowing a few hawkers but causing no injuries.

^^ Is that a dirt road, or paved with something else?

^^ Is that a dirt road, or paved with something else?Just regular sidewalk pavement, not asphalt with lane markings.

I mentioned that earlier but that's one of my favourite shopping areas in SoCal other than Melrose and Hollywood Blvd.

Sorry, Wanch, I guess I missed it. I just thought of it because I went to Santana Row in San Jose yesterday and it reminded me a lot of Santa Monica.

Here is one of Europe's biggest and most beautifull (if not the biggest and the most beautifull) walking streets. It is in Athens, around Acropolis and offers an amazing view to the Acropolis and to other monuments:

http://www.astynet.gr/photos/m_a-paulouB5.jpg

http://www.astynet.gr/photos/m_a-paulouB6.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/163/362762535_e176fe3246_o.jpg

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/223/519200207_f8a3704c48_o.jpg

http://www.astynet.gr/photos/b_apaylou7.jpg

http://www.astynet.gr/photos/b_stdaaft.jpg

http://www.astynet.gr/photos/b_ermou-keram.JPG

http://www.astynet.gr/photos/b_adraft034.jpg

http://www.astynet.gr/photos/b_adrianou6.jpg

http://www.astynet.gr/photos/b_ermou7.JPG

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/30/127504199_a9eea6c488.jpg

My city is a real car-friendly place. We don't have asmuch pedestrians zones as other towns in Europe. I hope that in the 6 years to come this will change cince the council has plans to ban the car out of the city-centre. I have high hopes!:banana:
This is not a street but a walking-only place in Brussels:

http://img71.imageshack.us/img71/4453/hpim9771rv0.jpg

Some pedestrian zones in my city:

http://i18.tinypic.com/67g8ug2.jpg

http://i19.tinypic.com/6eusig4.jpg

http://i10.tinypic.com/5x5ydg8.jpg

http://i16.tinypic.com/6gwxdz7.jpg

http://i17.tinypic.com/63s236h.jpg

http://i13.tinypic.com/521xw11.jpg

http://i10.tinypic.com/53sxxxt.jpg

http://i18.tinypic.com/62pntw8.jpg

http://i14.tinypic.com/6hi9u7b.jpg

If you like these types of pedestrian only street, you'll love to stroll around almost any part of Europe xzmattzx. Here nearly every city, town and village has pedestrian only streets, sometimes large parts of the city center or old town are dedicated to foot transport. Sometimes the entire city like Venice.

Really, it is pretty amazing around these parts if you are impressed by pedestrian zones.

Pirate's Alley in New Orleans...fool of mystery, beauty, history, and quaint shops, artists, and interesting cafes:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/PIRATE3.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/PIRATE1.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/PIRATE4.jpg

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/PIRATE2.jpg

St. Ann St. in the French Quarter in New Orleans...just 50 yards from Pirate's Alley:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/PIRATESTANN.jpg

Chartres & St. Peter St. leading up to Pirate's Alley:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/STPETERST1.jpg

Inside of St. Louis Cathedral---Pirate's Alley is on the side of this Cathedral:

http://i37.photobucket.com/albums/e63/Timothy8474/STPETERST.jpg

If you like these types of pedestrian only street, you'll love to stroll around almost any part of Europe xzmattzx. Here nearly every city, town and village has pedestrian only streets, sometimes large parts of the city center or old town are dedicated to foot transport. Sometimes the entire city like Venice.

Really, it is pretty amazing around these parts if you are impressed by pedestrian zones.

I do want to go to Europe some time. I get the impression that there are countless European cities that are fun to just walk around and explore, and come across hidden areas or secrets or interesting stuff like that.

One city that no one has shown on here that I thought would be a wealth of photos and discussion is London. Aren't there little alleys in neighborhoods or pedestrian enclaves?

Chambers Walk is a street in Princeton, New Jersey (photo thread of Princeton to come later). Chambers Walk cuts through Palmer Square, a public square located in the commercial area of Princeton.

http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/2489/dscf8467wsoc4.jpg

The Nassau Inn is located on Chambers Walk, visible in front of the porch.

http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/1958/dscf8466wswj4.jpg

Chambers Walk actually goes through buildings as it extends outwards from Palmer Square.

http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/7386/dscf8468wsao3.jpg

Just an example in The Causeway Bay area of HK,

http://www.streetsblog.org/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/Causeway_Bay_traffic_reform.jpg

The green ones represent walking only streets. The blue is part time and yellow, traffic calmed.

Pedestrianization in Causeway Bay has been discussed for many years. Here is a 2004 government document related to the pedestrianization vision :
http://www.legco.gov.hk/yr03-04/english/panels/plw/papers/plw0629cb1-2221-4e.pdf

Major points include turning Hennessy Road / Yee Wo Street into a bus and tram only corridor.

Document also includes brochure and renderings.

"La Peatonal" - Central Ave. Pedestrianized Shopping Strip
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b374/panamaproject/Panama%20City%20Photos/a6e789d8.jpg
[/B]

When I visited Bratislava, Slovakia I walked many pedestrian only streets in the "old town" or something like that. I visited many European cities and they all had ped-only steets, but I didn't spend two weeks in any of those (Venice, Vienna, Rome, etc.) cities except Bratislava.

My city Larissa, has a pedestrian road network with more than 8km length, being the 3rd biggest in Europe.And of course those are pedestrian only roads.

The best walkway till now at this thread:cheers:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1352/673896262_94e7b6dd22_b.jpg

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1258/673961280_bcc68b6aff_b.jpg

The intresting thing about pedrestian areas are that they form comercial hotspots with lots of shops and restaurants, almost like malls. Despite that, shopowners always complain when the local government decides to turn an area into a pedestrian only.

One example is when my city decided to change a street to pedestrian only, all the shopowners complained that commerce would slump, instead the result was an increase of some 50%.

Another example is the city where my dad lives (pop 40000), there the local government decided to kick out all the cars from the city center. The result was unbelivable, before the pedestrian area was created there were about 5 shops and one cafe but afterwards the area has become the main shopping district and has now some 70+ shops and around 15 establishments and always flooded with people, a place where you ten years earlier at most used to see a stray dog.

Yes thats right, same happened to my city's center, which is dominated by pedestrian roads, and its full of shops and coffee shops, and when that happened the center did actually moved where the pedestrian roads were constructed.

The always popular 3rd St Promenade in Los Angeles(Santa Moncia) which is a street that has been converted to a pedestrian only zone. It goes on for 4 blocks and sits just 2-3 blocks from the beach:

http://i135.photobucket.com/albums/q138/tmaxx6/3rdstreetpromenade.jpg

^^ looks pretty cool.

here in nicosia we have a whole area which is only for pedestrians.
its called "laiki geitonia",its part of the old city
i couldnt find many pics online but here are the ones i found ,plus a map from google earth where i put placemarks at the borders of the "laiki geitonia".

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/spy78/laiki.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/spy78/laiki2.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/spy78/laiki1.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e132/spy78/laiki3.jpg

Waterfront Promenade
http://www.visitusa.com/california/images/beach-photos/los-angeles/venice-beach/venicebeach-shops.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/96/222542454_12cae6f6ca_b.jpg

Waterfront Promenade
http://www.visitusa.com/california/images/beach-photos/los-angeles/venice-beach/venicebeach-shops.jpg

http://static.flickr.com/96/222542454_12cae6f6ca_b.jpg
So LA!!!

In Bogotá is some called "Eje ambiental":

http://www.ciudadviva.gov.co/diciembre06/magazine/3/4big.jpg
http://fotografiacolombia.com/galeria/albums/userpics/10002/normal_bogota_1150.JPG
http://fotografiacolombia.com/galeria/albums/userpics/10002/bogota_1147.JPG

Also another called "zona T", but not many pics:

http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/6404/zonarosadebogot007s4pz.jpg
http://static.flickr.com/6/68684426_bb957286e4_m.jpg

In Japan, roofed-over pedestrian shopping streets, shotengai, are the norm, not just in the city centre but out in the suburbs as well.

Motomachi in Kobe, shown here: http://www.pbase.com/bmcmorrow/image/56971623 is typical. Note that while it looks like a mall it is in fact an ordinary street that has been roofed in.

There's a 1910-20 photo here: http://ikjeld.com/stock/details.php?image_id=1237&sessionid=fcb036330b988cd9830c7e0c7ee35094

These shotengai are suffering competition from purpose-built malls and retail-residential developments, as well as out-of-town retail parks beside the expressways, but they still make up the typical shopping experience for most Japanese