Midtown

[Pete]

The re-working of Western between 18th & 23rd is almost complete.

[Urbanized]

As of yesterday they had all of the spray-painted markings down showing where the permanent crosswalk and bike lane markings will be, so I’d suspect those will be put down next week. Other than buttoning up the median beds immediately in front of the old AF buildings with landscaping (and I believe some minor infrastructure) this project will be substantially complete at that point.

[turnpup]

I frequently travel this particular area. While the improvements are nice, I've found that for me, all the extra visual stimulation (light posts, trees, flashing signs) makes me *less* able to quickly spot pedestrians who may be crossing. Now it's more of a challenge to look out for them than it was previously.

[Pete]

Looks like they are done with this project.

Pedestrians can hit a crossing button and the lights you see on the yellow signs will flash.

[warreng88]

Looks like they are done with this project.

Pedestrians can hit a crossing button and the lights you see on the yellow signs will flash.

But it doesn't necessarily mean cars will see them and stop, at least not at first...

[PhiAlpha]

But it doesn't necessarily mean cars will see them and stop, at least not at first...

I mean the bright, flashing signs are pretty obvious. I think they will definitely help see people crossing. No sure how much more they could do to help visability.

[anb]

Looks like they are done with this project.

Pedestrians can hit a crossing button and the lights you see on the yellow signs will flash.

They need something like this on Broadway on 7th and 9th.

[Pete]

They need something like this on Broadway on 7th and 9th.

And Shartel between 10th and Main, NW 4th, 5th and 6th Streets in SoSa and a bunch of other places.

None of those streets carry nearly enough traffic to warrant 4 lanes and all are big pedestrian barriers in areas of increased housing, with a lot more to come.

I'd also like to see them do this with Classen all the way along, going from 6 to 4 lanes. It would be an awesome bike connector from NW OKC to the core.

[Martin]

the king of deficient crosswalks is ne 14th & lincoln... the pedestrian technically has the right of way across lincoln but you're crossing six lanes of traffic that is often going around 50mph.

[Pete]

^

And there is no reason Lincoln is 6 lanes.

[Martin]

And there is no reason Lincoln is 6 lanes.

i can see justification for keeping lincoln at 6+ lanes from i-235 to 10th or maybe even to 13th due to all of the medical center traffic... anything north of that all the way to i-44 doesn't need to be designed as if it still carried highway 77.

[LakeEffect]

^

And there is no reason Lincoln is 6 lanes.

It could easily go down to 2 lanes each way, based on ACOG's traffic counts.

[SEMIweather]

And Shartel between 10th and Main, NW 4th, 5th and 6th Streets in SoSa and a bunch of other places.

None of those streets carry nearly enough traffic to warrant 4 lanes and all are big pedestrian barriers in areas of increased housing, with a lot more to come.

I'd also like to see them do this with Classen all the way along, going from 6 to 4 lanes. It would be an awesome bike connector from NW OKC to the core.

Classen desperately needs to go down to 4 lanes with dedicated left turn lanes. I've seen so many car accidents due to people stopping in the left lane to make a left turn onto one of the streets, attempting to pull out into the tiny median to make a left turn onto Classen from one of the side streets, or a combination of the two.

[HOT ROD]

Nice crossing, but one thing's missing are the lights in the street itself. This would surely provide full-visibility - I've seen them up here.

As for Lincoln "Boulevard"; I'd really like to see the city/state really turn it into a true boulevard the entire way with a park-like median throughout. I know we have this very near to the capitol building itself, creating a capitol campus, but I'd like to see the middle median parkland extend all the way up and down with turnouts while the street itself would have 4-lanes (and maybe even street parking if possible). Include key monuments and placards throughout the median along with a few fountains, statues, and wayfinding signage; accentuate it all with great lighting on the pedestrian scale and the ever important SIDEWALKS, CROSSWALKS (including scrambles at key intersections), and bike lanes. .. then maybe also have pods on the side of the roadway for food trucks, cart vendors, and/or buskers.

BTW, all of this could/should be done for the new OKC boulevard, Classen Boulevard, GRAND Boulevard, and perhaps Shields Boulevard too. .. No reason why OKC can't have several very grand boulevards that are REAL "boulevards" providing a huge asset to the city and its neighbourhoods.

[rte66man]

What I would like to see is the streetcar restored to the Classen median with reduction to 4 traffic lanes.

[mugofbeer]

Lincoln, too.

[warreng88]

Midtown OKC tenants see lots of parking

By: Brian Brus The Journal Record May 11, 2018

OKLAHOMA CITY – As the Midtown district grows, so does concern for an important component of more growth: parking.

Midtown is just northwest of the downtown business district where new parking spaces are likely to be built in stacked floors. Midtown still relies heavily on ground-level parking, however, and rumor of a new Jimmy’s Egg restaurant at NW Eighth Street and Hudson Avenue had neighboring Elemental Coffee customers recently wondering where more automobiles will fit.

Elemental owner Laura Massenat was nonplussed, however.

“I’m not particularly concerned about parking,” Massenat said. “We might be short for a couple of years, but then we’ll move beyond being a culture that needs so much parking space because each person drives an individual vehicle. People are more alarmed than they need to be. It’s a temporary inconvenience.”

Aaron Johnson, president of the newly opened Farmers Bank at NW 12th Street and Walker Avenue, said he looked carefully at the parking environment before picking the branch site. Farmers is an all-purpose, boutique bank, which means a lot of customer traffic across from the Edge Apartments, Johnson said, but it does not have a drive-thru window. The bank could not afford to rely on curbside street space.

“We absolutely love this location,” Johnson said. “Parking won’t be much of a problem for us, because the building was designed with some covered parking and a lot in the back. We also arranged a long-term lease with the owner of the lot on the north side.”

Chris Fleming, a partner in the Midtown Renaissance Group, said that when his company develops a property, he’s always mindful of providing parking for tenants – Fassler Hall and Plaza Court, for example.

Fleming said it’s difficult to predict how cultural trends will shape Midtown – as Massenat said, ridesharing and the MAPS 3 streetcar could play an important part in how parking demand is met.

“The message I want to convey is that parking is not a problem,” Fleming said. “You might have to walk a block, but there’s interesting stuff to see along the way. You might stop at a retail shop to buy something or visit another business.”

[Plutonic Panda]

What I would like to see is the streetcar restored to the Classen median with reduction to 4 traffic lanes.

In my plan, Classen will be widened to 10 lanes and upgraded to a controlled access facility with a five stack at NW 23rd.

[rte66man]

In my plan, Classen will be widened to 10 lanes and upgraded to a controlled access facility with a five stack at NW 23rd.

You've been in LA too long

[Scott5114]

i can see justification for keeping lincoln at 6+ lanes from i-235 to 10th or maybe even to 13th due to all of the medical center traffic... anything north of that all the way to i-44 doesn't need to be designed as if it still carried highway 77.

Lincoln actually still carries a state highway designation, but it's not signed as such and is currently carried on the books as Highway 0. (For a while it was SH-107.)

[Plutonic Panda]

you've been in la too long

lol

[Bits_Of_Real_Panther]

Remind me what is going on at NE corner of 13th and Walker, some dirt work going on there currently.

[T. Jamison]

They are just removing some trees, resurfacing / re-striping the parking lot, and adding new landscaping.

[okatty]

KFOR reporting a car jacking/robbery/beating Saturday afternoon in Midtown. They didn’t give a specific location but it showed the area around The Garage on video.

[PaddyShack]

Does anybody know what this building is going to be after the renovation? I saw it from Downtown Development's twitter feed:

https://goo.gl/maps/ZqB5RzNJoCT2