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Streets Without Cars: The Urban Experiment of State Street

TEXT OF VIDEO CLIP: "Streets Witout Cars: The Urban Experiment of State Street"

(University of Wisconsin Badger fans cheering)
(University of Wisconsin Marching Band playing)

Badger Fans (singing): When you say Wisconsin, you've said it all!

Narrator: Between 1947 and 1953, America's suburban population increased by 43 percent. In 1946, there were only eight shopping centers in the United States. By 1970, there were over 15,000.

Man: You had a tremendous movement of middle class households. They took with them their buying power.

Woman: Our downtown does not look very good-- Lots of empty spaces.

Narrator: To help save downtown areas, many cities experimented with the idea of removing cars from downtown streets. Sacremento, Portland, Denver, Madison and Philadelphia were among over 200 cities that experimented with car-less pedestrian malls.

(car screaching)

Man: Car-less malls, which were formally city streets, have failed almost everywhere.

Narrator: One of the few of these experiments that did not fail was a place called State Street, in a city called Madison, Wisconsin.

Old Television/News/Talk Program: ...Preliminary studies show that when this is completed, Madison will clearly be one of the most beautiful cities in the country...

Man on Street: There's an energy on the street.

Woman on Street: It's kind of European.

Man: A public square.

Police Officer on Street: It's a dynamic street that's always changing.

Narrator: Madison's downtown is changing. New condominiums are sprouting up. A host of national chains have recently opened their doors. And real estate prices are skyrocketing. City government is investing over $15 million in a major effort to redesign this public space. A five-block Arts District is being constructed around State Street, with its core a new $100 million arts complex.

Woman: A really big part.

Man: Monumental.

Man on street: I hope that they don't try to clean up State Street to the point that they clean up the people.

Woman on street: Throwing every original-looking person off this street.

Narrator: Will the new changes create an improved and more vibrant street, or will they stifle and bury the boisterous charm that defines this exceptional eight blocks of American's heartland. Those are the questions we'll examine in this program.

Man on street: And I thought there was a law against how many girls you can get married to. But nope, not in Wisconsin.