Six miles of the historic Arroyo Seco Parkway in the Los Angeles region will open to pedestrians and cyclists — with no cars or trucks — as part of ArroyoFest on Oct. 29.
The Los Angeles Times reports it will be the first time in 20 years that non-motorists will be able to explore one of the nation’s oldest freeways.
The Arroyo Seco Parkway, aka the 110 Freeway, served as Route 66 between Los Angeles and Pasadena from 1940 to 1964.
The Times reports:
After years of planning, the return of ArroyoFest will offer many a new perspective on the freeway — and perhaps a glimpse at the original vision for the Arroyo Seco before it became one of Los Angeles’ most notoriously white-knuckle driving experiences.
The Arroyo Seco Parkway was opened in 1940 and was built with the idea that it would be a meandering, green parkway that could accommodate about 27,000 vehicles a day, with a top speed of 45 mph.
Today, the parkway sees well north of 100,000 trips a day with people driving twice as fast as it was originally designed for. Its narrow lanes, small shoulders, and short entrance and exit ramps can make for a terrifying drive for anyone not used to it.
ArroyoFest, similar to open-streets events like CicLAvia and 626 Golden Streets, will bring a reprieve from all those fast-moving cars, if only for a few hours.
The first ArroyoFest in 2003 allowed thousands of people the chance to tour the freeway as they never had before for about three hours.
ArroyoFest will be from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Oct. 29. People will be free to go onto the freeway from just north of the 5 Freeway to the Arroyo Seco’s terminus in Pasadena only for the first four hours. Part of Mission Street in South Pasadena from the Metro station to Garfield Park will be open during the entirety of the festival.
(Vintage postcard image of the Arroyo Seco Parkway via Illinois Digital Archives)