These 6 U.S. streets will become scenic pedestrian zones in 2026

2026 will be a good year for people who love to walk where cars once drove.

As climate change accelerates—and cities continue to grapple with congestion and air pollution—urban priorities have been shifting. In May this year, Parisians voted to close 500 streets to traffic across all 20 arrondissements. London is moving forward with plans to pedestrianize sections of the world-famous Oxford Street, as well as Regent Street, and Piccadilly Circus. Meanwhile, Barcelona’s centuries-old promenade, La Rambla, is in the last stretches of a long-term redesign that will be completed in 2027, widening the pedestrian promenade and limiting access to residents’ vehicles and public transport.

The U.S. isn’t exempt from the trend. Next year alone, half a dozen cities, from Bentonville, AR, to Houston, TX, will reduce or remove car traffic on some of their streets—not for a weekend pilot or a seasonal experiment, but for good.

These projects matter in a country that still funnels tens of billions of federal dollars every year into new roads and highways. And they are particularly notable after the The President administration recently withdrew previously awarded grants for some bike, trail, and pedestrian projects.

Ever since cars became dominant in the 1950s, urban thinkers like Jane Jacobs and Jan Gehl have argued for cities designed around people, not vehicles. The conversation is still timely. According to several experts interviewed for this story, the tides are shifting. “I think we are certainly seeing momentum in the car-free or car-lite movement,” says Ben Crowther, policy director for the nonprofit America Walks. 

Here are six streets pedestrians can reclaim next year—no cars, or fewer cars, allowed.

1. Main Street in Houston, TX

Houston’s Main Street, long a transit corridor, is being reinvented as a seven-block pedestrian promenade through the heart of downtown. The Main Street Promenade will feature shaded walkways, plazas, outdoor dining, and a series of flexible public spaces designed for lingering, not just passing through.

Led by Downtown Houston+ in partnership with the City of Houston, and designed by Workshop, the project builds on the success of the “More Space: Main Street” initiative, a temporary program launched in 2021 to test reduced vehicle access. Its permanent transformation is timed to welcome visitors for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup, but the redesign is meant to serve residents long after the crowds leave.

The street’s physical makeover is substantial. Pedestrian space will be expanded across seven blocks, creating a continuous, safer corridor through downtown. Tree canopy will increase by more than 150%, with new trees added alongside shade structures and storefront awnings—critical infrastructure in a city defined by heat. A series of “outdoor rooms” will support activities like casual dining and small events, while murals and public art installations will reinforce Main Street’s identity. A raised street design and improved crossings aim to make the promenade accessible to people of all ages and abilities.

The new promenade is a fitting evolution for a street that has carried Houston through multiple transportation eras, from horse-drawn carriages to trolleys, cars, light rail—and now, pedestrians.

2. 18^th Street in Kansas City, MO

Kansas City’s 18th Street, the cultural backbone of the historic Jazz District, isn’t becoming fully car-free—but its redesign marks a significant shift toward people-first planning. Like Houston’s Main Street, the 18th Street Pedestrian Mall project has been years in the making before accelerating toward completion ahead of the 2026 World Cup.

Rather than banning vehicles outright, the project will remove curbs, gutters, and on-street parking to create a seamless corridor that is more akin to a shared street. Vehicular traffic will still be allowed at the center, but its dominance will be dramatically reduced. Replacement parking is being relocated to a new garage just south of the street, freeing up space for wider sidewalks, traffic calming measures, and safer, more accessible crossings.

The redesign also lays the groundwork for expanded programming like farmers’ markets and live concerts. A City spokesperson said it will also make it easier for the Jazz District to close three blocks of 18th Street for major events like Juneteenth, First Fridays, and Halloween celebrations—something that was logistically difficult under the old street design.

The nuance matters here. Patricia Brown—who helped lead the pedestrianization of Trafalgar Square in London in the early 2000s—argues that framing projects as “car-free” versus “car-lite” can be counterproductive. “We’re never going to have a car-free city, and we shouldn’t,” she told me. “The real question is how you put people front and center and reduce vehicle dominance.”

Kansas City’s 18th Street offers a case study in exactly that approach.

3. A Street Promenade, in Bentonville, AR

In Bentonville, Arkansas, pedestrianization is less about reclaiming a single block and more about stitching an entire downtown together. At the center of that effort is “A Street Promenade“—a linear, pedestrian-only plaza that is part of the city’s broader “Quilt of Parks” initiative.

 “A Street Promenade,” which just opened in November, has been remade from a vehicle corridor into a pedestrian promenade that links the town square with parks, local businesses, and civic spaces through a sequence of “garden rooms” and parklets. The promenade is designed for everyday use, but flexible enough to support markets, parades, and citywide events.

The project emerged from a Design Excellence partnership launched in 2018 between the city’s Parks and Recreation Department, the Walton Family Foundation, and Design Workshop (the same studio behind Houston’s Main Street transformation.)  

“The goal was never just to remove cars,” says Conners Ladner, a principal at Design Workshop. “It was about strengthening how people move through and gather within the city center.”  

4. Post Street in San Jose, CA

In downtown San Jose, Post Street has become a template for how temporary street experiments can turn into permanent change. Once a conventional downtown roadway, the street was permanently closed to cars this spring following years of pandemic-era pilots. It now functions as a pedestrian-only corridor at the heart of the city’s LGBTQ+ district, known as Qmunity. (It’s the city’s second major pedestrianization effort—following San Pedro Square, which closed in 2024.)

Earlier this year, the city unveiled a permanent street mural by local artist Danny Feliz Hanson and community volunteers. Next year, the city is planning further upgrades, including an artist-led initiative to transform the safety barricades at each end of the street into reflective, neighborhood-branded design features.

When the World Cup rolls around, Post Street will be a designated Entertainment Zone, but a spokesperson from the San Jose Downtown Association emphasized that the decision to pedestrianize Post Street wasn’t driven by FIFA. San Jose began experimenting with temporary closures during the pandemic, and after tracking their impacts, the City Council voted unanimously in February 2025 to make the change permanent. Recent data shows consistent increases in foot traffic and visitor dwell time in the area since the closure.

5. Monroe Street in Detroit, MI

In Detroit’s Greektown, Monroe Street is being reimagined as a civic space. The Monroe Streetscape Improvement Project, led by the Greektown Neighborhood Partnership and designed by SmithGroup, is transforming a four-block stretch into a safer, more walkable corridor that can flex between everyday use and large-scale events.

Backed by $20 million in funding from the state of Michigan, the project is branded as “A New Greektown,” and prioritizes pedestrians without eliminating access altogether. Wider sidewalks, curbless lanes, and designated pick-up and drop-off zones reduce barriers between street and sidewalk, while still accommodating transit and essential vehicles. More than 50 new trees, enhanced lighting, and signature district signage aim to improve both comfort and safety, especially during evening hours.

The redesign also leans into Greektown’s role as one of Detroit’s most active entertainment districts. Eighty thousand square feet of granite pavers—making it the largest granite-paved street in Michigan—will create a unified surface for outdoor dining, festivals, and markets.

Integrated art and heritage installations will celebrate the neighborhood’s history, while removable bollards will allow Monroe Street to become fully pedestrianized during programmed events. A spokesperson from the Greektown Neighborhood Partnership said that current plans envision pedestrian-only weekends, with flexibility to adjust based on what works.

Construction is unfolding in phases: the first segment is already complete, while the second phase is scheduled to wrap up in late 2026.

6. Sunset Dunes in San Francisco, CA

San Francisco’s Sunset Dunes marks a different scale of ambition altogether. Stretching across two miles, the 50-acre coastal park is billed as the largest pedestrianization project in California’s history—transforming a former highway into a public park.

The shift began with a ballot measure passed by voters, asking whether a long-debated stretch of the Great Highway should stop functioning as a road and start functioning as a park. The answer was yes. The city officially opened Sunset Dunes as a park in April 2025, rolling out initial activations like bike infrastructure, public art, and wayfinding. Since then, the space has continued to evolve, with picnic tables overlooking the ocean, a rotating outdoor art gallery, and free weekly programming.

What’s notable is how explicitly the city is treating Sunset Dunes as a living experiment. A first round of community engagement wrapped up this year, focused on understanding how residents want to use the space and what’s currently missing. The results will be published by the end of 2025, with a second phase of engagement launching in 2026 to shape a long-term vision plan, supported by landscape architecture firm CMG Landscape Architecture. The goal: to move from a repurposed roadway to a purpose-built coastal park, much like Crissy Field, a former military airfield that was transformed into a coastal park two decades ago.

A spokesperson from local nonprofit, Friends of Sunset Dunes, told me design priorities will center on access and restoration. Since the park runs alongside a sensitive dune system, planned improvements will aim to restore dune ecology, improve beach access for people with mobility challenges, and create a continuous promenade that feels like one park.

In the meantime, the programming will keep testing what works. In January next year, the nonprofit will launch weekly traditional Chinese dance classes designed for the neighborhood’s large senior population. More temporary installations and pilot uses will follow as an intentional strategy to learn from the public before locking in permanent design decisions.

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