Extra Post: This Utrecht street is finally car free

In 2018, a street in the heart of Utrecht city centre was reconstructed. However, the result was slightly disappointing. This was mostly due to the fact that private cars were still allowed in this narrow street. The parked cars, in particular, detracted from the atmosphere of the newly designed street. However, when COVID-19 struck, the cars were temporarily removed from the street to provide pedestrians in the city centre with more space. This measure proved to be such a success that it became a permanent arrangement in 2022.

Map of the expanded pedestrian zone in the Utrecht city centre. In yellow the area where cycling is also banned from 12:00h to 18:00h. Outside those hours you may also cycle there. In red (to the right) there are a few streets where cars are banned, but cycling is not. This includes the street of this post, Oudkerkhof.

This is an extra post on the 5th Wednesday of November, so that you do not have a three-week gap between posts. For this short post, I went back to the Utrecht Oudkerkhof. It had been reconstructed in 2018. When I filmed the “after situation” that year, you could still see 13 parked vehicles, which was 5 more than were allowed to be parked. These wrongly parked cars made the redesign less successful than other examples in the Utrecht centre. The before and after situations were not all that different because of it. The desired “open space” had not really been created yet.

That was even noted by some of the entrepreneurs. One of whom – a bar owner – said in an interview: “Sometimes you can see a white van occupying a parking space for an entire day, while customers at the liquor store cannot find a place to park their cars. We are trying to address this issue with the municipality.”

He would go even further “I don’t say this on behalf of all shopkeepers, but I personally would have liked to see all cars gone. Not that I am anti-car. Not at all. But if you want to make this a beautiful area, then it would be best to include the Oudkerkhof in the pedestrian zone of the city centre.”

Oudkerkhof in September 2023, finally completely car free. Note the pedal powered delivery “van” in the distance. Cycling is allowed all hours of the day in this street.

Oudkerkhof in September 2018, shortly after the reconstruction was finished. To prevent car drivers from parking where that was not allowed the city placed some concrete blocks. Still there were too many cars to make this a really pleasant area to stay in for a bit longer.

Oudkerkhof in 1976. The banner says it is “young and very much alive” but it had parking on both sides and really narrow areas for walking at the time. Not at all what the Dutch perceive as livable today. Picture Utrechts Archief.

In 2022, the street did become car free. During the COVID-19 crisis, the area had been temporarily pedestrianised in 2020, so that people shopping in the Utrecht city center could observe the rules of social distancing. To keep at 1.5 meters from each other, they simply needed more space where they were walking. This felt so right for this particular street (and some others) that the council decided to make this arrangement permanent. A news site wrote:

The municipal council has decided to expand the pedestrian zone and make some streets in the city centre car-free. This allows for shopping, walking, and pleasant stays in the city centre. Deputy mayor Lot van Hooijdonk says, “During the busiest times, the shopping area becomes too crowded for pedestrians and cyclists to use the area in a good way. At the same time, people don’t want to cycle too far during quiet moments in the morning or evening. It is also important to provide clarity for all road users in the city centre about what is allowed and not allowed, and within which hours.”

The second part of what she said was about a ban on cycling in the pedestrian zone that was somewhat relaxed. In a number of streets (like the one of this post) cycling was again allowed all day while in all other streets the hours of the cycling ban were harmonised and shortened.

The article continues: “The pedestrian zone will be expanded, and it will be possible to cycle in the city centre for longer. In the new situation, cyclists are welcome in the area until 12:00 PM and from 6:00 PM onwards. The pedestrian zone will be expanded to include the streets Hollandse Toren, Vlaamse Toren, Vredenburgkade, Rijnkade, and Buurkerkhof. The new measures will take effect from August 1, 2022.”

Traffic sign at the beginning of the street. A no entry sign for all traffic with the exception of cycling and deliveries from 6 to 11:30. “Clean” delivery vehicles may enter the street even longer: from 6 to 12 in the morning and also from 7 to 9 in the evenings, but for Thursdays (when shops close at 9 and not at 6) then it is from 9 to 11 in the evening.

The city wanted to work towards a car free street all along. The redesign of 2018 created some parking spaces on the area for walking. That meant taking those parking spaces away could be done without the need for any physical reconstruction work. Car parking was officially removed in August 2022.

In September 2023, I cycled in Oudkerkhof again to compare the pre-2018 situation to the post-2022 situation. Now the difference is considerable! The street finally got the friendly pedestrian atmosphere it should have gotten in the 2018 reconstruction. Once again it became perfectly clear: private cars really have no business in city centre streets!