OKC gears up for bike transit plan
This shows how out of touch our city council is when it comes to this sort of matter. Hello, have you people looked at Austin, Portland, Seattle and dozens of other cities and what they've done with bike routes. If you're in doubt, look to your competitors folks.
OKC gears up for bike transit plan
Journal Record
May 1, 2008
OKLAHOMA CITY – City officials are trying to move more bicycles to the streets with dedicated bike routes in an effort to create a culture more conducive to people-powered transportation.
A Bicycle Transportation Plan submitted to City Council for consideration this week would incorporate many of the existing off-road cycling paths that were created in the late 1990s, linking them together with new routes marked by street signs and painted pavement symbols, City Planner Susan Miller said. The purpose is to establish bicycle routes between neighborhoods, work, shopping and entertainment, Miller said. Or according to the plan text itself: “The focus of the Oklahoma City Bicycle Transportation Plan is on bicycling for transportation rather than recreation.”
To that end, about $1.2 million was earmarked for bike routes in the 2007 general obligation bond issue passed by voters to help create more than 220 miles of new routes in the first phase of the plan. Currently there are only 30.3 miles of bikeways in Oklahoma City, officials said.
Miller said matching federal funds also are available to help fund the work.But Councilman Patrick Ryan and others questioned the safety of the routes identified in the plan and the efficiency of funding a system that riders wouldn’t want to use. “I see bicycle riders now on the streets with no more protection than a bicycle (symbol) painted on the pavement. And I wonder about what we’re creating for our citizens to encourage them to ride their bicycles in these areas,” Ryan said.
Councilwoman Ann Simank agreed: “Can signage also maybe encourage people to ride on a street that we shouldn’t be riding on? … I don’t feel comfortable driving down May Avenue,” she said.
Bike routes are identified by three classifications: Class-1 are multiuse trails separate from roads, similar to those used for recreation around Lake Hefner. Class-2 are on-street bike lanes with pavement stripes identifying reserved space for cyclists. Class-3 are referred to as “sign-shared roadway space,” with pavement markings and signs but not dedicated bicycle space. Most of the city’s scattered routes fall within the third class, as would the new routes created by the first phase of the new plan.
But the new transportation plan was created with input from many local cycling enthusiasts who are comfortable with the type of routes proposed, Miller said. And public education is a key element of the plan as well.“It’s really the system that needs to work together for people to understand how to safely move around on the roadways. It takes a lot of education for people to understand that,” she said.
The first phase also focuses on creating cycling routes radiating from downtown, with a second phase expected to extend those routes to outlying areas. Councilman Pete White said he wasn’t sure the city was ready for that emphasis. “Most bike riding is recreational,” he said. “The idea that the whole plan radiates out from downtown Oklahoma City, I find that a little bit troubling. Because I guarantee you that for every mile that’s ridden to work, there’s 10,000 miles ridden recreationally. So that premise troubles me a little bit.”White said it’s unlikely that anyone would ride “a chartreuse, skin-tight suit to work.”
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Originally Posted by metro
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