Should Harrison Avenue Be Car Free?

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We’ve been bamboozled.

Our entire lives, we American kids have been taught to worship cars over people. You probably didn’t know this was happening to you. I didn’t until I started doing communication work for the Federal Highway Administration a few years ago. Now I can’t unsee it.

Driving a car is an American rite of passage, something we feel we are owed. And because we start driving at a tender age, we spend most of our adolescence and all our adulthood thinking everywhere we drive should be engineered to make parking as convenient as possible.

Man, that’s a bad idea.

Take Harrison Avenue in historic downtown Panama City. It is currently under re-construction as part of the revitalization of this enchanting vintage district. New context-appropriate landscaping, wider sidewalks. Less room for cars and more room for people.

But what if there were no room for cars on Harrison Avenue?

What if Harrison from 6th Street to Beach Drive was a car-free zone? Bikes and pedestrians only. Just people moving freely. You could wander from cool pub to cool shop to cool restaurant without ever having to find a crosswalk or take your life in your hands darting between parked and moving cars.

And imagine the sightlines. You could sit in The Press and enjoy a view of the Martin without being blocked by a train of generic SUV crossovers. You could sit on that bench in front of House of Henry and wave to your friends making crafty porch signs at Board and Brush. And both these places could offer outdoor, café-style seating in front instead of parking spaces. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Kids could play in the street. Right in the middle of the street.

Public events would be better. Shopping and dining would be better. Life downtown would be better. Without cars, it would be better.

Car-free zones are working all over the world, in places like Barcelona and Helsinki but also in Tempe, Arizona, Alexandria, Virginia, and Boulder, Colorado (as well as 16th Street in Denver). Communities everywhere are realizing that, if done well, people will still come to shops and eateries even if they can’t park five feet away.

If you’ve followed the redevelopment of Panama City after Hurricane Michael, you’re likely familiar with the strategic plan created for us by the amazing town planning company Dover, Kohl & Partners. It’s inspired. Pages 66-71 detail a new vision for 4th and Harrison that includes the “Four Points Plaza,” a roundabout of sorts in which “bollards help delineate where cars should not travel and where pedestrians are out of vehicular paths.”

You may have seen stories about the restored Old Bank Clock that will be the plaza’s centerpiece. That’s great, truly, but do cars really belong there? Should we have to protect people with bollards? Wouldn’t it be better without them? Look at the renderings. Don’t the cars feel wrong?

A common complaint when anyone suggests restricting cars is it will create a disastrous lack of parking near amenities like shopping, dining, and entertainment. Consumers will then boycott these areas and businesses will desiccate. Fair critique and legitimate concern, but there is plenty of parking downtown, even without Harrison Avenue. Yes there is.

Is it too much to ask that you park behind the Martin to shop at Baywitch? Is it such an outrage to walk a few blocks? Surely, we can pull that off. And hey, you might get to see some lovely murals on the way. Maybe bump into a friend. Discover a new eatery.

Life gets richer when you stroll.

Yes, we will have to make Harrison Avenue accessible to users who cannot walk or ride a bike, but that is doable. Sure, it will take some getting used to. But ask yourself, is this the time to underachieve or do we really want our town to be the best in the Panhandle? My vote is cast.

It’s okay if this idea feels weird. You and I have been taught to worship cars, and leaving any religion is tough. But it will be worth it when you see Harrison Avenue bursting with life and color and people walking, well, wherever they want.

Now let’s talk about the Grace District …

Kevin