Boulevard Town Hall Meeting Tonight
A panel of experts on roundabouts and urban boulevards will be gathered for a town hall meeting tonight that will be hosted by council members Ed Shadid and Meg Salyer.
The debate at this point is about what is more important – enabling traffic to move into downtown from the west at high volume and high speed by building an elevated roadway from Western Avenue to just short of Walker Avenue, or whether to build it at grade in a manner that engineers have indicated will slow down traffic and won’t be able to handle as many cars as an elevated road.
ODOT plan to build new elevated boulevard from Western Avenue to just short of Walker Avenue.
ODOT’s raised boulevard plan is seen by critics as sure way to kill redevelopment of west downtown, which was blighted by the construction of the original I-40 Crosstown Expressway. These critics include council members Shadid, Salyer, Pat Ryan, Pete White and David Greenwell, several area property owners and Friends for a Better Boulevard, which lists more than 500 followers on Facebook.
As these discussions continue, keep in mind, the boulevard will be owned and maintained by the city. Oklahoma Department of Transportation Secretary Gary Ridley has promised repeatedly his agency will not build a boulevard the city doesn’t want. ODOT engineers also have indicated repeatedly they will only recognize a directive from the city that comes from City Manager Jim Couch, Assistant City Manager Dennis Clowers or City Engineer Eric Wenger – all three of whom are also engineers. Wenger and Clowers answer to Couch. Couch answers to the city council.
Ridley has indicated that unless he receives new instructions from the city, ODOT engineers are committed to finishing the boulevard in 2014.
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Comments
Well it looks like it comes down to one of two choices. Neither of which are good or bad in their totality.
One: Keep it high until Walker and lock out the western fringes of downtown in order to maximize traffic flow.
Two: get it down to grade sooner, HOWEVER the whiners about a six lane or wider boulevard will need to sit down snd shut up here.
Frankly the gripers and carpers will have to accept the wideness issue since it is silly/wasteful to have it narrow/low/slow, as this option is quite frankly stupid. High and fast or wide low and slow. That is pretty much it.
That doesn’t make any sense. How long have you even been following this and how well-informed are you? The boulevard is only going to be 2 lanes in each direction with a lane of parking on each side. It is six lanes if you count the parking, it is only 4 lanes if you count traffic lanes. That is a difference worth noting.
There is NOTHING wrong with the boulevard being narrow, slow, or at-grade. Not all streets have to be carrying cars at 50+ MPH which seems to be the only streets you would like based on your comment. You’re exactly what’s been wrong with our Downtown. You’d rather put emphasis on the automobile in a pedestrian environment rather than the other way around. Well here’s news for you, ALL of Oklahoma City is built around the car, we can have one area (Downtown) that isn’t an automobile mecca. So what if you have to take a couple extra minutes to get through the area? If that’s your problem, then take the highway right passed Downtown and don’t even deal with it at all. Let the rest of us enjoy a world-class urban boulevard, and not another elevated HIGHWAY.
Michael I have forgotten more about this issue than your small minded attitude will ever know. I say put it to a vote of the people. The majority wins. THAT IS THE WAY OF THE WORLD.
However I have no doubt you are incapable on accepting the will of the majority unless they happen to agree with you. If I got to be the ultimate decider it would be at grade 3 lanes each way with a parking lane on each side and speeds of 40mph. Also the traffic lights would be timed to favor traffic flow and not on stop and go traffic.
No matter what is built anybody who thinks business will flock to the area is quite possible brain dead. Heck the fool the owns the Farmers Market cannot even keep it painted and presentable now what makes anybody think he will do so in the future.
It only seems to make sense for the blvd to be wide and slow and even with the park. Wide because we should place a beautiful medium throughout. Increase the walk ability and greenery. Slow because we want this to be like Michigan ave right? I’d love for a large strip mall of high end two-story retailers to accumulate opposite of the park on the other side of the blvd. maybe a pedestrian bridge for patrons to pass over the blvd.
A fast hwy seems useless when we already have so many hwys around the city. Would you like to walk by a street with cars driving 55mph?
MikeN, I think there might be a misconception here.
You wouldn’t want a 6 lane road running through your neighborhood would you? Of course not. It’s the same with urban development. Bricktown wouldn’t be a place to take your family if drivers were going 50 mph right in front of the ballpark.
The goal is to take those empty lots and run down buildings that border the old interstate and turn them into thriving businesses. So the idea is a beautifully landscaped entry into downtown, one that runs right in front of an NBA arena with a cool video board, in front of the new convention center, the movie theater, past several world class parks, past 30 story hotels, midrise apartment complexes, big sculptures and fountains, things like that. It’s for the kind of views you put on a postcard. You don’t get that with a highway.
so, how did it go last night? was there a thoughtful, civil discourse, or was it more like some of the opinions expressed on this board?
David,
From most accounts, it was a call to arms and preaching to the choir. Hoping that it stirs people to attend ODOT’s meeting (and more).
Someone had mentioned that Mr. Wenger, in his presentation to Council, actually suggested an elevated traffic circle/roundabout. How is that even possible? Wouldn’t all of the roads feeding into it have to be elevated as well? Why go to the considerable expense etc to do that and just keep it at grade???
Any chance this will be taped or streamed live?