Kirameki-dori Ave., the street that runs between Iwataya’s main and new buildings in Tenjin, will be closed to traffic on Apr. 6 and 7 from 12:00 to 18:00 as part of a pilot program by local community development group We Love Tenjin. The group will survey traffic volume in an effort to see if they can make the street permanently car-free on weekends. In 2008, We Love Tenjin released its Tenjin Community Development Guidelines which proposed a five to 10-year vision for Tenjin and included “improved walkability” as one of its goals. Based on this, the group also conducted a similar pilot test on Tenjin’s Southern St. Every day over 20,000 pedestrians use Kirameki-dori Ave., which is an important conduit linking Tenjin to Daimyo. We Love Tenjin plans to place benches on the closed road and have passers-by complete surveys. Source: Nishinippon Shimbun, Apr. 4
