BOK Park Plaza

[Rover]

If you look at their renderings, it shows bike lanes right in front of the building/parking/store fronts.

http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/d...hinesnow18.jpg

[BDP]

If you look at their renderings, it shows bike lanes right in front of the building/parking/store fronts.

http://www.okctalk.com/attachments/d...hinesnow18.jpg

Which is probably more salesmanship than true intent. Basically, they tell us they want to be part of the urban renaissance of downtown OKC and then build something in contradiction to it.

[ourulz2000]

Glad to see the skyline footprint going further west.

[CuatrodeMayo]

Bikes are never supposed to be on sidewalks, but you can get away with it here because the pedestrian traffic is so fragmented. You'd basically be lynched riding a bike on a sidewalk in a more urban pedestrian city.

Not all cities...

Seattle Department of Transportation: Seattle Bike Rules
Section 11.44.120 RIDING ON A SIDEWALK OR PUBLIC PATH. Every person operating a bicycle upon any sidewalk or public path shall operate the same in a careful and prudent manner and a rate of speed no greater than is reasonable and proper under the conditions existing at the point of operation, taking into account the amount and character of pedestrian traffic, grade and width of sidewalk or public path, and condition of surface, and shall obey all traffic control devices. Every person operating a bicycle upon a sidewalk or public path shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian thereon, and shall give an audible signal before overtaking and passing any pedestrian. For more information about the Seattle Bicycle & Pedestrian Program, call (206) 684-7583.

[soonerwilliam]

Just came back from vacation in Texas and we passed by Austin going and coming back. I counted 8 cranes in their skyline (might have been 10) and we can't even get 1 started. What a joke!!!.

[ChrisHayes]

Just came back from vacation in Texas and we passed by Austin going and coming back. I counted 8 cranes in their skyline (might have been 10) and we can't even get 1 started. What a joke!!!.

It'll be started here pretty soon. Demolition is set to begin

[borchard]

It'll be started here pretty soon. Demolition is set to begin

Saw them putting up barricades yesterday morning.

[Laramie]

Just came back from vacation in Texas and we passed by Austin going and coming back. I counted 8 cranes in their skyline (might have been 10) and we can't even get 1 started. What a joke!!!.

We're no Austin. Wouldn't exchange Austin's aggressive growth for Oklahoma City's moderate growth. My relatives in the Austin area have concerns about the influx of people coming into their community. I'll leave it at that.

[Bellaboo]

Just came back from vacation in Texas and we passed by Austin going and coming back. I counted 8 cranes in their skyline (might have been 10) and we can't even get 1 started. What a joke!!!.

Counting OUHSC we have 4 cranes going right now.

Back in 2011 we had 9 going at one time, when the rest of the country was struggling.

[jccouger]

Just came back from vacation in Texas and we passed by Austin going and coming back. I counted 8 cranes in their skyline (might have been 10) and we can't even get 1 started. What a joke!!!.

BChris sock account?

Have you not seen the cranes up at the new GE complex? Or over at OUHSC?

[Pete]

It shouldn't be too long before we have 499 Sheridan, the OG&E Energy Center and the Convention Hotel all going up at once, and all in a row.

[ourulz2000]

...along with cranes going up for the Steelyard plus the couple other hotels going up in Bricktown.

[Bullbear]

I believe there is one up at St Anthonys as well.

[gopokes88]

Yeah about Austin.

"This place has changed so much since I've been here I don't even recognize it anymore. It's like my Austin is gone."

-9 month resident of Austin.

Sounds great.

[dankrutka]

^^^^^^^^
You're right. Bikes are SUPPOSED to be in the street, not the sidewalk. The fact that automobile drivers not only don't understand this but are irritated by bikes in "their" street is the problem, NOT that bikes aren't on the sidewalk "where they belong."

This article seems relevant: It's Safer to Walk and Bike Where More People Walk and Bike - CityLab

I just spent the past few days biking around San Francisco. It was glorious.

[Urbanized]

Yeah, great article. I saw that a few days ago and gave it a RT.

[Just the facts]

Not sure why the results were deemed 'unexpected', because it seems intuitive to me. While it didn't specify about injuries, I'll bet the severity of injuries were a lot less even if more people got hurt.

[UnFrSaKn]

https://twitter.com/OKCNightCourt/st...38987690467329

[BDP]

Not all cities...

Seattle Department of Transportation: Seattle Bike Rules
Section 11.44.120 RIDING ON A SIDEWALK OR PUBLIC PATH. Every person operating a bicycle upon any sidewalk or public path shall operate the same in a careful and prudent manner and a rate of speed no greater than is reasonable and proper under the conditions existing at the point of operation, taking into account the amount and character of pedestrian traffic, grade and width of sidewalk or public path, and condition of surface, and shall obey all traffic control devices. Every person operating a bicycle upon a sidewalk or public path shall yield the right-of-way to any pedestrian thereon, and shall give an audible signal before overtaking and passing any pedestrian. For more information about the Seattle Bicycle & Pedestrian Program, call (206) 684-7583.

That's interesting. I've never been to Seattle, but I imagine that it's virtually impossible to ride a bike on the sidewalks in the urban areas. I mean, if you actually tried to follow these guidelines in an area where there are lots of people on the sidewalk, that is, if you yielded to pedestrians and gave audible signals, it would pretty much render riding a bike on a sidewalk impossible. This wouldn't even be possible on Park Ave in downtown OKC on most days.

That being said, I also imagine that Seattle has a lot of bike / pedestrian trails within the city or trails that are separate from the urban infrastructure, just like the ones by the Oklahoma river and the ones we are building around the city. In those cases, it seems the above guidelines would be universal and functional.

What I find interesting about this suggestion that bike lanes be removed from Walker is that it doesn't remove bikes from the road, it just forces them into the regular flow of traffic where lanes are shared by bikes and cars. Now, I don't have any statistical analysis at my fingertips, but I'm not sure how that "fixes" anything. Wouldn't you just have the same traffic problems, but those problems would be compounded by bikes slowing down the flow in the very lanes this study wants to "speed up"? The bikes have a right to be there whether there is a bike lane or not. By taking them out, we're still going to have the same (but very brief) traffic created by the parking structures, but now you have a less safe environment for everyone who is allowed to use the roads.

Of course, the net effect could just be that less people ride their bikes downtown. But then I don't get this whole exercise of trying to create a viable and vibrant urban district in downtown. Isn't that the whole point? Why even have a bike share program if we can't make it safer for those bikes to be on the road? I think this revelation that this project could force another step backwards in the effort to making downtown competitive with other urban environments in the country just reinforces how un-urban the whole thing is.

[jccouger]

If you've ever walked on a college campus you know pedestrians & bikers can coexist on the same path to a pretty decent extent. Sometimes you see collisions, but its rare, though very hilarious.

I think it causes way less of a disruption than bikers on roads, honestly. Not to mention the results of crashes are way less severe.

[BDP]

If you've ever walked on a college campus you know pedestrians & bikers can coexist on the same path to a pretty decent extent. Sometimes you see collisions, but its rare, though very hilarious.

I think it causes way less of a disruption than bikers on roads, honestly. Not to mention the results of crashes are way less severe.

On college campuses where bikes lanes are not present, bikers generally have way more room and the option of going around pedestrians. This is similar to the trails example above. I get that and the guidelines make sense.

In an urban environment, when there is pedestrian congestion, the biker has the option of getting off the bike or detouring into parked cars or a storefront window. Having biked both on a college campus and in San Francisco and Denver, I honestly think it's completely different.

But all that being said, bike lanes are still the only thing that addresses all these issues. Honestly, I'm not talking from a bike nazi point of view either. I have ridden in cities and on campuses only recreational a few times. If anything, I am speaking from a driver and pedestrian point of view. I don't want them on sidewalks at all and I love it when they have their own lanes. Granted OKC does not have a lot of bike traffic, but we don't get a lot of car traffic either, even downtown, even at rush hours. I just think it would be extremely short sighted to remove bike lanes that have caused little problems to date just because this developer wants to use half of this block for parking. Giving up on urban principles to secure development in the urban district seems counter productive to me.

[sooner88]

If you've ever walked on a college campus you know pedestrians & bikers can coexist on the same path to a pretty decent extent. Sometimes you see collisions, but its rare, though very hilarious.

I think it causes way less of a disruption than bikers on roads, honestly. Not to mention the results of crashes are way less severe.

Some colleges also have bike lanes on the main paths through campus. On a busy day they really help the flow of traffic.... you think the same thing would apply to bike lanes on streets...

[Urbanized]

College campuses are not apples-to-apples comparisons. On most campuses sidewalks are 12' to 20' wide, and large portions of most campuses have no motorized vehicular traffic whatsoever. A college campus is more akin to a park, where in fact you will also see walkers and bikers co-exist. When it comes to urban streets, however, the sidewalks are narrower and more congested, and often not safe at all for bikes and walkers at the same time. That is why riding a bike on a city sidewalk is generally illegal.

[OkieNate]

Driving south on 235 today I couldn't help but be excited to see this building fill out the west side of our skyline a little more! It should fill the space between Regency and Devon from that view! I know a lot of people aren't excited about "499" but this will be a nice addition once the bad taste leaves most peoples mouths. I know some people wont get over it and they have their respected reasons not too.

[baralheia]

I'm excited for another new addition to our skyline as well! It's awesome to watch this city grow like it is right now. I just sorely wish that this growth wasn't coming at the expense of our history. But what's done is done and it's time to move forward.

One thing that gives me hope: the parking garages could always be demolished in the future for a higher and better use