BOISE, Idaho — The Boise bench is gearing up for a great ride.
"The streets are a public space, and we can close them and use them as a public space that works for us," Devin McComas, executive director for Boise Bicycle Project, told KTVB.
The Boise Bicycle Project, with support from the city and others, is hosting an "Open Streets" event to crank up the fun.
"There's about five hubs of activity, mobility, youth, our open street sub-community, and our Boise goat head fest zone," McCommas said.
The mile of Latah Street from Cassia Street to Morris Hill Road will be closed off to cars, but not pedestrians, Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. You can walk through the whole thing, stopping for a bite or entertainment.
"It, you know, gives people that don't usually come up to the bench or Latah a good reason, excuse, to come up here and see what's going on," Austin Clark, owner of Primal Coffee, told KTVB.
Open streets aren't a new thing in Boise.
So, what if the city closed more streets to cars, like 13th Street in Hyde Park, which has narrow roads?
"I worked in Hyde Park for ten years," Clark said. "A little scary going into Hyde Park when there's a bunch of people and some cars are moving fast."
KTVB asked Bench president Val Hellmann about closing Latah Street. She responded, "I would prefer it to stay open."
If it closed for good, it would affect her commute, she said.
"To close the street, I think it would take away a lot of options for people," Hellmann said.
Others in the area are intrigued.
"I don't think the traffic is that busy to justify it," Clark said. "Once it gets as busy as like, vista, then, maybe I could see that."
So maybe in the future, but not right now.
"It's (Latah St.) is definitely gaining popularity and becoming a cool spot," Clark said. "But not Latah, Latah is not ready for that a permanent open street)."
But a day event is more to their liking.
"I'm a cyclist, so I ride my bike to work or to play every single day," McComas said. "The whole point of open streets is that you're demonstrating that any street in the city has a lot of possibilities that's not just vehicular transit. We're not anti-car, but we are pro pedestrian, pro cyclists, pro-public transport."
The city isn't pedaling fast to close down more streets.
"Right now, we're really focused on Eighth Street," said Tessa Greegor, Boise's mobility and public space manager.
They're considering improvements to that one fully closed corridor but aren't closed off to the idea of closing more.
"We are excited to look at that as a model for where spaces like this might be appropriate in other neighborhoods in the future." Greegor said "Events like Open Streets and NENA Mobility Summit, those are great ways for us to test that out and to really think about, are there other ways in which we can use these public spaces for people."