Building off historical events in Boston and an international movement for car-free streets, the City of Boston held three Open Streets events in the summer/fall of 2022. These events were held on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain on July 10, on Blue Hill Avenue on August 6, and on Dorchester Avenue on September 24th. Each event was popular with attendees and attracted large crowds. In previous years, a number of Circle The City open streets events were held from 2012-2014 in the summers and organized by the Emerald Necklace Conservancy in coordination with city departments. Routes were Green Street in Jamaica Plain (2012), State St/Surface Rd in Downtown (2012), Huntington Ave in Fenway (2013) and Blue Hill Ave from Grove Hall to Dudley Common (2013, 2014). The National Association of City Transportation Officials have a presentation on Circle the City 2012 Events . Events were organized by a part time staffer brought on seasonally at the Emerald Necklace Conservancy. Each event was estimated to cost $50,000. Since 2016, the City of Boston has coordinated a number of retail street pedestrian events. Open Newbury Street was first held for one Sunday in 2016 , subsequently for three Sundays (one each month in July, August and September) from 2017-2019. Most cross streets were pedestrianized at intersections as well with major intersections managed by traffic signals and police department staff. In summer 2022, Open Newbury launched on August 21st for six consecutive Sundays.
In 2024, the City of Boston will contract with SB Consulting to carry out six large-scale, car-free events in neighborhoods throughout Boston.
