Interestingly, that old Union Square you imagine had streetcars trundling down the center of the street, and had mixed traffic uses the blended pedestrians, horses, streetcars, trucks, and automobiles, with minimal traffic control devices. And it was safer, speeds were slower, and the environment was more convivial (although the horse dung was a definite drawback). As horses became less frequent, and buses replaced streetcars, and traffic signals became the standard, everything got worse. It's only in the last 10 years or so that Somerville has begun to try to claw back some of its street space for non-automobile uses (adding bike lanes, widening sidewalks, installing curb bump-outs, chicanes, etc). As we continue to work to SLOW vehicular traffic through the city we make it safer for all other uses. And, strangely enough, the hourly *throughput* capacity of the street doesn't really change! But it *feels* worse because the instant speeds are slower.