ABQ: 4th St Ped Mall

ALBUQUERQUE

Fourth Street Pedestrian Mall

Downtown's pedestrian mall was created by closing and bricking over part of 4th Street, which was the original alignment, north and south, of Route 66 running through Albuquerque. By the time the outdoor mall was created Route 66 has been changed to run east and west on what is now Central Ave.

The pedestrian mall hasn't been very successful and the city is considering tearing it apart and reopening the street to road traffic. While some pedestrian malls, such as Denver, have been successful in lining the space with retail shops, restaurants and outdoor vendors, ABQ has not. Only a couple tables are set up regularly for street retailing and the space mostly collects homeless people.

The Hyatt wasn't built yet when the pedestrian mall was created. While the hotel restaurant has some closed-off outdoor seating, pictured above, their building was designed as a fortress against the street and public gathering was expected to take place in the central atrium indoors. In fairness to the hotel, Downtown ABQ was rather rough when the project was built.

Most of the street scape is rather barren, except for the patio seating on the south end of the mall by Central Ave. The best features of the mall are the shade trees that run down the center, which along with the tall buildings, provide welcome shade in the summer.



Pedestrian Malls:

Notes The Atlantic--American urban history is dotted with failed (and occasionally infamous) pedestrian malls. But there are success stories too, which offer lessons in designing walkable, mixed-use districts.

The world's first planned pedestrian mall was built in 1953 in Rotterdam. Six years later, Kalamazoo, Michigan, became the first American city adopt the concept. Austrian-born architect Victor Gruen (most famous for his American shopping malls) envisioned a project that would resemble Vienna's Ringstrasse. Instead, a much scaled-down concept was built in 1959.

The Kalamazoo Mall did well at first, with a fourth block added in the 1970s. But by the 1990s, it had become a sore spot for many residents. The "mall" had less parking, less weather protection, and more vagrants that the traditional shopping center. When the city decided to reopen part of the street in 1998, citizens excitedly competed, via raffle, to drive the first car down the mall.

Others have been more successful. Some of the best pedestrian malls in America are located in college towns like Charlottesville, Ithaca, Iowa City, and Madison.