Increasing physical activity and active transportation in an arid city: Slow Streets and the COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT Slow Streets promote walkability and provide safe spaces for active travel and recreation by minimizing vehicle traffic on roads. Their effectiveness was tested when the City of Tucson implemented Slow Streets by temporarily closing certain neighbourhood streets to all but local traffic, giving people more space to safely walk, run, and bicycle. Using a quasi-experimental research design, it was possible to measure differences in walking and bicycling between Slow Streets and control streets. Results show Slow Streets are effective in increasing the number of people walking and bicycling on neighbourhood streets, especially while the temporary traffic barriers were in place.