Across the  country, with few cars on the streets because of COVID-19 “stay at home” orders, several government officials have decided to make room for joggers, walkers, runners, and bikers to have more room for social distancing by closing streets  to most vehicles.

Oakland, California Mayor Libby Schaaf plans to close 74 miles of streets to all but local traffic.  Officials in Berkeley, California, Minneapolis, Denver, and Baltimore are trying or considering the same.

The practice is spreading throughout the country.  But some officials have concerns that doing so would only encourage more people to be out  before it’s safe.  In New York, Mayor Bill de Blasio shut down a few streets in  the burroughs of Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, for a pilot that ran from Friday, March 27, to Monday, March 30.  He then announced he had decided the number  of  police needed to effect the closures were not worth it for the  number of people who took  advantage of the empty streets.

Photo is Ali’i Drive on  a usually busy Saturday morning around 9:30 a.m.