DTM 2030: Will Charlottesville’s Pedestrian Mall Survive in the Long Run?

Hold on now! We all love our DTM, but allow me to indulge in some hypotheticals...

It’s been interesting to note that many of the reasons that business owners on the mall have for insisting that the crossings at 4th and 2nd street remain open to traffic — less congestion around the mall, easy access for deliveries, safe drop off points for people, easier access to parking, more visibility because of drive-by traffic — could be enhanced even more if the pedestrian mall were, well, removed entirely and East Main Street were re-opened to traffic.

Sound far-fetched? In 2016, that’s a big reason why city leaders in Fresno, California closed the Fulton Street Pedestrian Mall, one of the first and most innovative of the main street pedestrian malls that were developed in the 1960s and 1970s, and re-opened Fulton Street to traffic. While the Fulton Street Mall appears to have deteriorated in ways our DTM hasn’t, that doesn’t mean there might not be something to learn from its demise.

Like the DT…