SAN JOSE — For the second year, the city closed 6 miles of major arterials to automotive traffic for Viva CalleSJ, a sort of rolling block party connecting neighborhoods and promoting health that appears to be gaining traction with San Jose residents.

This year’s theme was “Glen meets Zen,” emphasizing the route from the Willow Glen shopping district to its Japantown mirror across town, with an additional vein siphoning in riders, rollers and strollers from the Burbank neighborhood.

San Jose officials, who were enjoying an order of ribs along with Supervisor Ken Yeager at a parking lot stop in Willow Glen a few hours after the 10 a.m. kickoff, said attendance appeared to be roughly three times last year’s turnout of roughly 35,000.

“We went down to L.A. to see their event, and the route is the same length and the amount of people here looks the same,” said San Jose Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services superintendent Ed Solis. “And they say they get 110,000.”

San Jose’s Viva Calle is part of in international “open streets” movement that goes by various names but the objective is the same. The inaugural event last year was done in conjunction with 8 80 Cities, a Toronto-based group that helps kick-start such activities.

This year, the city partnered with Santa Clara County, the Valley Transportation Authority, the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition and others, with a grant from the Knight Foundation to help cover the costs of closing down streets for half of a late summer Sunday.

Angel Rios, director of the city’s parks department, said the goal is to eventually make the event self-sufficient. While studies are underway for the San Jose event, other cities have seen a 67 percent jump in business for areas along the route, he said.

He also said that for every dollar the city spends on hosting VivaCalle, they see three times that coming from partner sources.

“The return is huge, and it goes beyond that,” he said. “It’s driving a whole new agenda, of connecting people with each other. San Jose is hungry for this sort of thing. Day to day you hear about conflicts and divisions and boundaries, and this transcends that, gets people out to have fun and enjoy life. That’s what it’s all about.”

Jennifer Jana, who grew up in East San Jose in the 1970s and ‘80s riding bikes in the streets, said times have changed. So she appreciates the opportunity to come out with her family, including 7-year-old daughter Mia.

“We used to go out and play on our bikes for hours,” she said. “Now you can’t do that, because you’ll get hit, you’ll get flipped off, people will go all road rage and throw eggs at you. Even with bike lanes I stay on the sidewalks. So this is great, really nice for the kids.”

Scott Hunter, of the Willow Glen Business Association, said he hasn’t heard any gripes from merchants along the commercial corridor about the closed roads. Merideth Lee, who set up a pop-up gift shop along the Japantown route, said it benefits an area in more ways than just on-the-spot sales.

“I’m seeing so many different faces out here today,” Lee said. “They’re coming through and exploring the area, and there’s so many new shops here that people didn’t know about before. So maybe they’ll come back later.”

Maria L. Mendoza, a returning attendee, said she did hear some complaints when she passed a group near Lincoln Avenue and San Carlos Street. They were annoyed that they couldn’t go to the laundry mat because of the street closures.

“I said to myself, ‘You knew when this was going to happen, why don’t you plan ahead next time?’” she said.