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Car-free Sunday to return in March after four-year hiatus with games, workout and fashion show SINGAPORE – Come March 17, people will be able to walk, run and cycle on some roads in the Civic District and Central Business District (CBD), as Car-Free Sunday returns after a four-year hiatus. The event will run from 8am till 2pm, with designated roads closed to traffic from 8am to 11am. Visitors can try out inline skating and aeromodelling at two event spaces along St Andrew’s Road and Esplanade Drive. Other activities include an immersive installation, educational games, a mass piloxing workout and a guided walk of the Civic District Tree Trail. The Singapore Fashion Runway (SFR), a social enterprise that supports people with special needs or from disadvantaged groups, will launch a special Active Mobility collection at the event. The collection will include T-shirts, bucket hats, sling bags and zip pouches to be modelled by SFR youth, and can be bought off the SFR website. Bicycles can also be rented at the event. This is the first Car-Free Sunday since 2019, when a full 5.5km-long stretch of road from the Civic District to the CBD across the Esplanade Bridge was closed off on Oct 27. Then, the event was held from Friday to Sunday. Car-Free Sunday 2024 is a collaboration between the Land Transport Authority (LTA), Health Promotion Board, Housing Board, National Parks Board, Sport Singapore and the Urban Redevelopment Authority, LTA said in a statement on Feb 23. Car-Free Sunday was piloted in 2016 over a six-month period, with the last Sunday of each month designated as a car-free day. The 2024 event is aimed at creating greater public awareness of the benefits of walking, cycling and riding public transport as sustainable ways to travel. LTA’s chief executive Ng Lang said: “Besides promoting our car-lite goal and encouraging active mobility, we hope this edition of Car-Free Sunday can give the public a glimpse of what is possible when we reimagine our road spaces to be more Walk-Cycle-Ride-friendly.” More information about road closures and activities will be available on the Car-Free Sunday 2024 website closer to the event’s date. https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/car-free-sunday-returns-on-march-17-after-four-year-hiatus-with-games-workout-and-fashion-show helping friend ask where to park car when going car free sunday ...

Roads in vicinity of Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, Asian Civilisation Museum to close to vehicular traffic in phases Street level connectivity will be improved with the pedestrianisation of some roads, such as Empress Place, within the Civic District. The move is aimed at creating bigger civic open spaces and allowing pedestrians to stroll freely in a car-free environment. This was announced by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) this morning (Nov 22) as part of their Draft Master Plan 2013. First on the list to be pedestrianised is Empress Place, a road that sits between the Asian Civilisation Museum and the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall. The aim of the move is to integrate the buildings in the vicinity into a seamless park-like setting. Other roads in the area such as St Andrew’s Road, Connaught Drive, Fullerton Road and Parliament Place, which sit between the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall and the Singapore Cricket Club, could soon follow suit. URA said they would be exploring the options of closing these roads to cars on a temporary basis for activities and events. They will also study the possibility of permitting only tour buses, public buses and pedestrians on these roads in the future. The agency also said that it would take a “phased approach” to the implementation of the car-free zones and the opinions of local stakeholders and the public will be taken into consideration before the roads are permanently pedestrianised in the long-term. Parks in the Civic District will also get a make-over to include more public seating, night lighting and better signage to help the public navigate the area. To allow people to get closer to the waterfront, the bollards along the promenade of Esplanade Park will be removed and replaced with stepped plazas and “an urban beach”. The enhancement of these parks are expected to be completed by 2015. Source: http://www.todayonline.com/singapore/car-free-zones-within-civic-district-mulled-ura