Friends for a Better Boulevard

[warreng88]

You could easily cut ten feet or so out of that by narrowing the bike lanes to four or five feet at the most. Since it appears they are going to be one way on each side, I don't think that is too out of the question.

[Spartan]

This kind of how I would like to see the BLVD.

Streetmix

I think we could all not just live with this, but live on this boulevard.

[ljbab728]

It looks like spartan and plupan have kissed and made up.

[Spartan]

I think it's important to support this urbanization process that plupan is going through. I was a huge sprawl advocate, worse than Joel Kotner, when I was a kid. The outlook we all have is changing and we're all learning more all the time.

[kevinpate]

It looks like spartan and plupan have kissed and made up.

Wait. If Plu Pan had been hoping to be hunted by a cougar, and Plu Pan and Spartan have kissed and made up, ... never mind. wrong thread.

[CuatrodeMayo]

[Spartan]

Wait. If Plu Pan had been hoping to be hunted by a cougar, and Plu Pan and Spartan have kissed and made up, ... never mind. wrong thread.

Creepy post is creepy

[warreng88]

From today's chat with Steve:

Gary T 10:10 a.m. When will we have final renderings of the Classen/Western/Reno/Blvd interchange?

Steve Lackmeyer 10:11 a.m. I'm surprised we've not seen anything new on this topic yet - I was told earlier this year we would see some meetings announced in April. I'll check into this next week.

[Just the facts]

I think the delay is caused by a request from the Feds for ODOT to do something they have never done before - design a road for something other than cars that will increase adjacent property values. They simply don't know how to do that.

[Urbanized]

You know, you make a good point. It is standard for state DOTs to employ environmental specialists and to do environmental impact studies before/during projects, and especially those involving federal funding. It should be a requirement that the same approach be applied to highway projects that traverse urban environments. Meaning, a state DOT should employ urban planners on-staff and hire urban planning consultants on any job going through a city or town to make sure it enhances or at the very least does not adversely affect a community.

It would actually be most important when a project goes throughout a smaller community that doesn't have a planning department, city attorneys, etc., and that lives and dies with the successes or failures of its main street. But even having all of those things, a city like OKC is in obvious danger of being run over, for lack of a better term, by a state/federal highway project. We have no further to look than this project to understand this.

[Just the facts]

Different mode of transportation have an oddity about them. Freeways lowers adjacent property values and no one wants to live near one. Rail raises adjacent property values and people want to live as close to the station as possible. It makes you wonder how much wealth we left on the table when we spent a trillion dollars on highways and hardly anything on rail. You can clearly see this in OKC where the area along the old I-40 represented the lowest value and land-use in the city and the further away you got from I-40 the higher the land value went. Now with the streetcar we see increased development along lines that haven't even been finalized yet and the new I-40 has been done 2 years (route announced 8 years ago) and narry a related development.

[Plutonic Panda]

Freeways lowers adjacent property values and no one wants to live near one.

That is not true. Weird how all the property values I've seen are higher along freeways than similar properties a mile away from the freeway.

[Just the facts]

That is not true. Weird how all the property values I've seen are higher along freeways than similar properties a mile away from the freeway.

Not sure about your research methods but there are countless studies showing decreased residential property values adjacent to freeways (or any high-traffic road for that matter). Of course, it is the opposite for auto-based commercial property because it is dependent of drive-by traffic. However, if you compare auto-based commercial to walkable-based commercial the walkable wins in value every time.

[Plutonic Panda]

My comment was just referring to declining property values. Most large developments are located along or very close to freeways. I also checked Zillow and while it is not always the case, it seems more than not, values are highest along or near freeways.

[Buffalo Bill]

Looks like this is finally moving forward:

http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/newsm..._boulevard.pdf

[LakeEffect]

Providing the public one week's notice...

[kevinpate]

They are learning that ample notice equals (for them) ample headaches. Perhaps they are hoping to hold it to a mere brain wracking migraine this time.

[Urban Pioneer]

Thanks for the heads up.

[Rover]

Not sure about your research methods but there are countless studies showing decreased residential property values adjacent to freeways (or any high-traffic road for that matter). Of course, it is the opposite for auto-based commercial property because it is dependent of drive-by traffic. However, if you compare auto-based commercial to walkable-based commercial the walkable wins in value every time.

Yes, if you add enough filters, the argument is true. Of course people don't want to live on a high traffic road. But businesses tend to. And it would stand to be true they favor car access to allow lots of out of area shoppers access to them.

[Snowman]

They are learning that ample notice equals (for them) ample headaches. Perhaps they are hoping to hold it to a mere brain wracking migraine this time.

Which could ironically lead to a more organized opposition for either this or future projects

[Urban Pioneer]

I shouldn't be surprised. What I would honestly have hoped for is more notice and for those who attended previous meetings to be contacted directly by mail or email inviting them back for final input into this project. I mean, they took names, addresses, emails, and numbers down at all of these meetings.

To not contact these folks who have given up time to participate just continues to reek of the shell game that is already public perception. ODOT has the opportunity to change and become a better agency. A weeks public notice to those who are on their media/PR list is simply not sufficient outreach on a project of this scale.

[Just the facts]

I shouldn't be surprised. What I would honestly have hoped for is more notice and for those who attended previous meetings to be contacted directly by mail or email inviting them back for final input into this project. I mean, they took names, addresses, emails, and numbers down at all of these meetings.

To not contact these folks who have given up time to participate just continues to reek of the shell game that is already public perception. ODOT has the opportunity to change and become a better agency. A weeks public notice to those who are on their media/PR list is simply not sufficient outreach on a project of this scale.

Not unlike Donald Sterling, we are going to just have to wait for a whole generation to die off/retire before we can right this ship.

[catch22]

I shouldn't be surprised. What I would honestly have hoped for is more notice and for those who attended previous meetings to be contacted directly by mail or email inviting them back for final input into this project. I mean, they took names, addresses, emails, and numbers down at all of these meetings.

To not contact these folks who have given up time to participate just continues to reek of the shell game that is already public perception. ODOT has the opportunity to change and become a better agency. A weeks public notice to those who are on their media/PR list is simply not sufficient outreach on a project of this scale.

If I had more notice I would be able to attend, but getting off work that night will be difficult without enough time to recruit someone to cover my shift.

Hope others will be able to make it.

[Rover]

Not unlike Donald Sterling, we are going to just have to wait for a whole generation to die off/retire before we can right this ship.

And just like Donald Sterling you want to lump everyone together. This is a problem of some individuals, not a generation. Attack the people responsible and don't just cheap shot whole groups you don't happen to like. There are plenty of that generation who are providing all kinds of leadership and capital to make great and progressive things happen in this city. The fact there are some individuals in leadership in the city who don't think like you doesn't make it a truism for the whole generation.

[TheTravellers]

And just like Donald Sterling you want to lump everyone together. This is a problem of some individuals, not a generation. Attack the people responsible and don't just cheap shot whole groups you don't happen to like. There are plenty of that generation who are providing all kinds of leadership and capital to make great and progressive things happen in this city. The fact there are some individuals in leadership in the city who don't think like you doesn't make it a truism for the whole generation.

I read his reply as "We're going to have to wait for all the folks that are in power at the local/state governments/agencies here in Oklahoma, which most likely are a generation above us, to die off/retire before we can right this ship". I don't think he tarred/feathered every single person of that generation. Correct me if I'm wrong, JTF...