Imagine, for a moment, our city without traffic: Families safe to walk through downtown, cross the street, take their time to look at historic buildings and storefront window displays. No cars in sight. Bikes, skaters, and runners in the middle of the street and people out to play and have a great time.

This is how Sacramento could look thanks to a local bicycle advocacy group, Bikeramento, which wants to create a more bike-able Sacramento. They have already secured the first Sunday of every month for Sac Sunday Streets, an event which closes Capitol Avenue to traffic between 18th and 28th streets, to take place every month from May to September from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The idea is this: take out the cars, add some street vendors performers into the mix, and tap into the seemingly unending possibilies for family-oriented fun and creativity.

The group began over a meal at Dad's Kitchen, when a group of friends got to talking about how great it would be to connect the American River bike trail to Old Sacramento through a "Central City Bikeway."

Sac Sunday Streets is just the beginning said the members of Bikeramento. At their latest Tuesday night meeting at Capsity Offices, a weekly occurrence, they discussed Bikeramento's five year multifaceted plan. One goal is the creation of the Velobahn – the group’s version of the famous German Autobahn expressway. The idea is a highway of interconnected bike paths throughout Sacramento, as well as an improved Sacramento-Davis Causeway bike trail.

Capsity Offices offer rental office space for professionals and entrepreneurs, and Capsity co-founders Jeff Louie and Ricardo Robles also sit in the Bikeramento meetings. Robles coined the term "Bikeramento Velobahn," and both provide moral support. Ed Cox, Sacramento's alternative transportation coordinator, also advises the group.

"We are a bronze [level of bike-ability]; we are not even silver or gold, but the ultimate goal is to have the city reach that platinum level that Boulder or Davis have," said Lorena Beightler, a member of Bikeramento and Sacramento Press employee, who markets the Press by riding a bicycle around Sacramento.

"This all starts off with culture. It's about how you live with the bike," added Linda Khiev, who works at the Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce.

"It's going to take time, but we're trying to get more people involved. We currently have a list of 100 people on our newsletter and we're trying to get more people to sign up on our website," Louie said. "We're really trying to promote bikeramento.org, so you can find us on Facebook, Twitter, and all the social media sites."

Makiko Yamashita, who just moved to Sacramento, loves the concept of Bikeramento. "It's a great idea. I lived in Tokyo and in Japan everyone bikes; it's a very common thing, but here it's very difficult," she said. "One of the things I liked in Chicago, where I lived before I moved here, was that most people were taking the initiative to make the city more bike-able. I found this group and thought it was perfect and wanted to take part in it."

Yamashita became a member of the group after attending every event in Bikeramento Week, which is a week-long event highlighting bicycles that happened last month in Sacramento.

Several members of the group said during their meeting that one potential benefit of the Velobahn is an increased sense of community. Khiev noted that people from the Bay Area tend to simply say they are from the "Bay Area," while people from Sacramento say they are from "Downtown" or "Midtown." Increasing the connections between areas such as East Sacramento, Downtown, Midtown, will give new meaning to the "Sacramento Area".

It will also give businesses a great chance to increase their customer base, members of the Bikeramento group say. "When you're in your car, driving past [a business], you don't know what's there, but when you're biking or walking, you know what's there. That will create a great opportunity for businesses around the area," said Beightler, who blogs at SacCycleChic.com.

Brian Fischer, who works for Midtowngrid.com said, "Beyond business, it's perspective of your own city [that the Velobahn will add]. You look at every building from a different angle, and you see the architecture of the houses."

He added, "Why do we take it for granted? Perspective could be altered during this event, and while we're hoping it drives a friendliness towards bike-ability, it's also about walk-ability. When a city empowers its adults and children to relate to each other in a different way, it creates a sense of creativity and optimism."

The group needs volunteers. Fischer hopes to get over 200 volunteers by Earth Day.

"As much as we are driving it, so to speak, it doesn't belong to us in many ways," Fischer said. "It really is a hope to change the city. As many people from the city and region who can support it, and invest their time and energy into it, that's really what it's going to come down to. If people don't participate, it's not going to matter."

If people are interested in volunteering, they can email the group at their website, and sign up for their newsletter.

Photos credit Anthony Bento, and Bikeramento.