Friends for a Better Boulevard

[Tier2City]

And a lane (or buffer) of parked cars creates a significantly more walkable enviroment. It will also help businesses on the two blocks that will be available for at-grade, mixed-use development on the Boulevard.

[Larry OKC]

For all 8 to 10 blocks (according to info from Mr. Wenger). I am curious, how does that seemingly limited length compare to this grand vision the Mayor is wanting ours to be compared?

[Urban Pioneer]

Plenty of discussion about the Boulevard from the meeting yesterday...

http://soundcloud.com/moderntransitp...maps-3-transit

[Steve]

I'm setting up interviews on this topic. I want to get as many questions and concerns addressed as is possible. So here's the deal: I'm welcoming your questions - with a caveat. If you have questions you want asked, provide them in a language that is simple - no offense, but sometimes the discussions on this topic sound like what's heard among Star Trek fans at a Star Trek convention!

[CaptDave]

Plenty of discussion about the Boulevard from the meeting yesterday...

http://soundcloud.com/moderntransitp...maps-3-transit

I read Steve's re-posted article and had quite a WTH moment after attending yesterday's meeting. The obvious disconnect between OKC Staff and ODOT; public statements and blvd planning meetings; and finally the Mayor / Council's vision for this street vs what city staff, ODOT, and their contractors are planning is quite baffling. I encourage anyone who is aware of this issue to share your knowledge with your friends. Then encourage them to write to Mayor Cornett and their council representative. Otherwise we WILL get stuck with an abomination of a quasi-highway that will once again divide downtown OKC contrary to every plan that has been put forth.

[CuatrodeMayo]

Plenty of discussion about the Boulevard from the meeting yesterday...

http://soundcloud.com/moderntransitp...maps-3-transit

I'm an hour in and this is quite interesting..

[OKCisOK4me]

I'm an hour in and this is quite interesting..

I can't listen to a Thunder game on the radio without going crazy so Im gonna pass.

[Larry OKC]

I'm setting up interviews on this topic. I want to get as many questions and concerns addressed as is possible. So here's the deal: I'm welcoming your questions - with a caveat. If you have questions you want asked, provide them in a language that is simple - no offense, but sometimes the discussions on this topic sound like what's heard among Star Trek fans at a Star Trek convention!

(Click on thumbnail below for larger image)

[betts]

I agree. While we have a big forum here, the majority of people in OKC have no idea. It takes numbers to impress city staff and the Council.

[ljbab728]

I can't listen to a Thunder game on the radio without going crazy so Im gonna pass.

I agree. I just don't have the time or patience to listen to all of that. If someone who does could post the summarize the pertinent issues that would be great.

[BoulderSooner]

I read Steve's re-posted article and had quite a WTH moment after attending yesterday's meeting. The obvious disconnect between OKC Staff and ODOT; public statements and blvd planning meetings; and finally the Mayor / Council's vision for this street vs what city staff, ODOT, and their contractors are planning is quite baffling. I encourage anyone who is aware of this issue to share your knowledge with your friends. Then encourage them to write to Mayor Cornett and their council representative. Otherwise we WILL get stuck with an abomination of a quasi-highway that will once again divide downtown OKC contrary to every plan that has been put forth.

the reality is that even if every one writes/calls the mayor and council ... we Still might get stuck with a badly designed blvd ..

ODOT owns the land and controls the money and design

[OKCisOK4me]

the reality is that even if every one writes/calls the mayor and council ... we Still might get stuck with a badly designed blvd ..

ODOT owns the land and controls the money and design

Well screw it then. Lets just quit while we're behind...is the sentiment Im getting from you. Never know if a difference can be made if we don't try!

[Dubya61]

... and we should try, no doubt. I don't, however, envy BoulderSooner's personal view of reality, created by beating his heart up againg somebody's wall, I'm sure.

[BoulderSooner]

Well screw it then. Lets just quit while we're behind...is the sentiment Im getting from you. Never know if a difference can be made if we don't try!

i didn't say we shouldn't try ... we should ... just temper your view of what the outcome will be

[Spartan]

I'm setting up interviews on this topic. I want to get as many questions and concerns addressed as is possible. So here's the deal: I'm welcoming your questions - with a caveat. If you have questions you want asked, provide them in a language that is simple - no offense, but sometimes the discussions on this topic sound like what's heard among Star Trek fans at a Star Trek convention!

The EIS! NEPA! ROW, blah blah..

Ask them if they have updated traffic counts for Western. Everyday I am on Western to go home, and it's bumper-to-bumper all the way from Sheridan to New I-40. It takes 20 minutes to get through that. I'm not complaining, but ask them what kind of plan there is for improving this area (it is sooo blighted, since New I-40 has made Western the new front-door for downtown, we need to address beautifying this area), taking advantage of its very high traffic counts (which may support retail without needing huge incentives), and so on. I seriously think Western MUST have the highest traffic counts in all of downtown. Anyone who takes I-44 (SW OKC, NW OKC) or I-40 (Yukon, et al.) to go home comes in on Western now, it's a gridlocked mess every day - the opportunist in me says this is an opportunity! Why earthen ramp over that opportunity??

What kind of plan do they have for the area around the Farmer's Market? Are they ok with setting back its restoration as more than an event center by cutting it off even more with a newer version of I-240?

Also ask them if the other plan, for an earthen ramp, would generate much return on investment in terms of private development. Also ask if the ramp would have heightened maintenance issues, that if neglected, would cause it to deteriorate just like the Crosstown did.

Ask them just where there is supposed to be anything "great" about this boulevard as ODOT is proposing. Where is development going to happen? Stuff like that. It seems the traffic circle creates an amazing development opportunity, as well as that postcard view that this city desperately wants to create.

[Spartan]

I'm an hour in and this is quite interesting..

Could anyone give us a synopsis? Not trying to be rude, an hour is just quite a bit..wish there were just some minutes that I could speed read through

[CuatrodeMayo]

I haven't finished it yet, but when I do, I will.

[Urban Pioneer]

The synopsis is that we have official representatives from ODOT who do not seem to know as much about the project as our Public Works Director. Or at least, they know very little as to how the Boulevard actually will interact with the city, people, and adjacent near-future adjacent projects that in theory it would be built to serve.

The Public Works Department strategy is to try to help influence ODOT to build essentially the "simplest" design they can get them to build so that the city will be in a better position to essentially tear out and replace what they don't like after it is completed and they receive formal ownership of it. Eric Wenger referred to it directly as comparable to how the completed Project 180 will have to be physically altered by streetcar engineers after the fact via cutting fairly new concrete out and other concerns in the way. The two were said by staff to be incapable of being integrated because of the City's schedule. He says to think of the Boulevard situation the same way. We want them to build the simplest street design that they know how so that we can manipulate it after-the-fact.

If your in construction, project management, or you simply hate waste, that answer is probably pretty irksome. But it is said that both the City and ODOT are "under the gun" by constituents who are tired of wading through traffic on the only three exits/entrances open on the new I-40. Incentives were stated to be given out to contractors ahead of schedule for the demolition of the old I-40.

The problem that some of you may really have with all of this is that the "simple" design is really regarding the 5 blocks where the Boulevard is at grade. It's doubtful that the funds we have put aside in the 2007 GO Bond issue ($15 million) will be used to rectify the elevated sections some of you believe should be at grade with a circle or such.

Really, this debate comes down ODOT's basic unwillingness to build the Boulevard to the design specifications of the City who will ultimately own it and have to maintain it. I still have yet to see anything that gives me complete confidence that the elevated bridge will be designed for transit as prescribed in our studies (partly funded by ODOT ironically) and that they will make even basic accommodations for streetcar.

Tomorrow I'm on the Gwin Faulconer show, 1000 AM KTOK at 7:05. I think Mr. Kemper is on after me.

I, myself will only go out on a limb for transit. That is what I am appointed to do. But it sounds like there are plenty of people upset about the rest of it.

The design of this thing is just now formally beginning. Essentially, if there is to be influence on it, it better be in hand by the end of the year. In my mind, that's still reasonable time (5 months) to incorporate positive changes and still meet their schedule without delaying or inconveniencing people from using it as soon as possible.

One final thing, all of this talk and exposure about what the issues actually are seems to be having some positive effect. Its negligible, but its there.

[SouthwestAviator]

Why yes. I will be on the Gwin Faulconer Show tomorrow. She says around 7:35. And I have very good news! Some of us have found a way to directly influence this process without the City or ODOT.

I know a bunch of you wrote to Eric Wenger, and if you listened to the recording, he noted as such and it has put the circle idea very prominently to the forefront of the City's discussion.

But in terms of influencing ODOT, we have found the exact people who can actually force a public process/hearing about this if they receive enough emails and letters.

How many of you would be up for contacting them directly?

[catch22]

I would, happily.

[SouthwestAviator]

We have finally found a way to get something done through the proper channels.

1. Write to the three Federal Employees who can positively influence this process and request that ODOT hold a formal public hearing.

Use these specific terms in your letter- "I request a public process and for ODOT to provide a range of Alternatives."

Elizabeth Romero
Ivan Marrero

Federal Highway Administration
5801 N. Robinson Ave., Suite 300
Oklahoma City, OK 73118

Elizabeth.romero@dot.gov
Ivan.marrero@dot.gov


Victor Mendez
Federal Highway Administration
1200 SE New Jersey Ave
Washington, DC 20590

Victor.mendez@dot.gov

If you are a merchant or property owner in Bricktown, you might reference that you are concerned that ODOT's suggested Compress Street alignment is in conflict with the information provided to the public for the last decade and that such a difficult entrance into Bricktown "may adversely or potentially negatively impact your property/business in Brictown."

Oklahoma Ave had always been the proposed street with direct access into Bricktown. The new proposal is for Compress instead. Compress will require three turns and undoubtedly will cause major traffic jams as people try to get to Reno going around the U-Haul building.

If your a property owner on the west side of downtown, you might object to "Boulevard in the Air" that will actually ensure that the west side remains entombed as an industrial wasteland.

2. Contact your City councillor and tell them what you think about the new Blvd.

Folks, we need to build the new Boulevard as soon as possible to allow better access to downtown. But since the plans won't be done until December anyways, it is totally reasonable to demand that it be designed and constructed right for us.

[Urban Pioneer]

So pretty funny. Talked to 3 different OKC Talker's who all found my earlier post disheartening. Lol. I said "Didn't you read the last line? That all of this discussion is having some effect?" Guess not. Lol

Either way, it is having positive effect. Bob, I'll be happy to write a letter to your contacts about the Santa-Fe bridge and streetcar integration with the new OKC Boulevard. Willingly or otherwise, we need ODOT to be a partner in building a better city.

I suggest everyone start letter writing and let their City Council rep know what they think.

[Urban Pioneer]

Also, great job on the radio tonight! Totally respectful, but got your points accross.

[Bellaboo]

Traffic circles.............. I believe it is I-76 at East 96th st in the Denver Colorado area, actually East of Thornton, that has a traffic circle on either side of I-76. That is TWO circles now within a block. This allows traffic to move off and on the interstate without lights.....quite impressive.

Go google map it....

[Just the facts]

Traffic circles.............. I believe it is I-76 at East 96th st in the Denver Colorado area, actually East of Thornton, that has a traffic circle on either side of I-76. That is TWO circles now within a block. This allows traffic to move off and on the interstate without lights.....quite impressive.

Go google map it....

Colorado drivers are smarter maybe? These are common in England. Check out the traffic circle on the M23 just outside Gatwick airport which is a much better design.