Why can’t we do this in North America?
When it comes to protecting the lives of people who walk or bike, nothing much ever happens in North America. When it comes to improving transit, New York got a bus lane. Where I live in Toronto, we have had ten years of inaction, wasted millions, changed plans, promises – and nothing.
The Innovative Way Ghent Removed Cars From The City from STREETFILMS on Vimeo.
That’s why watching Clarence Eckerson’s latest video about The Innovative Way Ghent Removed Cars From The City is so crazy, showing how they transformed a city in just a decade.
Streetfilms/Screen capture
The most interesting and shocking part of the exercise is what they did to keep out cars. Basically, if you want to drive from one zone to another, you have to go back out to the Ring Road. You can’t drive across or around town.
Do politicians in North American cities have the will to do this kind of thing? Unfortunately no. In Cleveland, they are spending millions on a Hyperloop. In Hamilton, the province just cancelled an LRT after years of work.
205 years ago, warring North American politicians signed the Treaty of Ghent, which formally ended the war of 1812 without a surrender by either side. Now we need a new Treaty of Ghent to end the so-called war on the car, where we surrender our car-based way of life for one focused on trams and bikes and walkable cities full of canal-side bike cafés. Bring on a Blitzkrieg of Ghent doers and planners. As Clarence notes, “What happened was stunning: almost never has there been such a rapid metamorphosis occurred in such a short time.”
