Madison’s 2024 State Street Pedestrian Mall project was popular and led to increased activity on that stretch of State Street during the summer months, according to a report on the experiment adopted by the Common Council during its March 25 meeting. The first year of this experiment is leading city staff to evaluate a longer-term program while bringing back some of the elements of last year’s experiment.
Using anonymized mobile device location data from Placer.ai provided by Madison’s Central Business Improvement District (BID), the report found that the experiment area on the 400-600 blocks of State Street saw greater levels of activity in the summer of 2024 compared to the previous year, and 57% more activity overall when compared to 2019.
Activity was lower in the fall of 2024 compared to 2023, but that may have been the result of other factors, like fewer Wisconsin Badgers football home games in September and October. Compared to 2022, 17% more people visited that portion of State Street in September and October 2024.
Surveys found most visitors (84%) liked or loved having the pedestrian mall, and 81% said they would be more likely to come to State Street more because of it. Visitors also said the area felt safer and more vibrant during the pedestrian mall hours.
Business feedback was more mixed, with 40% saying they liked or loved the pedestrian mall, 40% saying it was okay, and 20% saying they didn’t like it. Additionally, a total of 44% of responding businesses said they liked the street closure hours, while 19% said the street should have been closed to vehicular traffic even more than it was. A total of 37% said the street closure hours should have been shorter.
Other key takeaways and recommendations for future experiments are available here.
