Here's another radical thought: Protected bike lanes on every main road

[swake]

Maybe people don't drive 35 on the downtown street.  Maybe they only drive 25.  Gosh, that sounds ideal!  So let's have dedicated transit and bike lanes. 

Of course the speed limit is already 20 downtown...

[Bamboo World]

Of course the speed limit is already 20 downtown...

Where in downtown Tulsa is the speed limit 20?

[PonderInc]

Where in downtown Tulsa is the speed limit 20?

If you want to catch all the green lights on a one-way street, the speed limit is about 22 mph... Otherwise, you're going to have to brake.

[Conan71]

A good op-ed piece from Jason Gay via the WSJ:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/america-the-cyclist-is-not-your-enemy-1463073268

[Conan71]

Top 10 bike cities in the U.S.

http://www.active.com/cycling/articles/the-best-bike-cities-in-the-u-s

[PonderInc]

Top 10 bike cities in the U.S.

http://www.active.com/cycling/articles/the-best-bike-cities-in-the-u-s

How interesting that, aside from Long Beach, CA and Washington, DC, all of those cities have harsher climates than we do.  (Well, at least if you're talking about snow, cold, or rain.)  For the most part, Tulsa has a great cycling climate except for June and July which are unbearably hot and humid.  Most of the winter it's pretty nice, and spring and fall are ideal.

One obstacle we need to address is the number of large employers that don't have showers/changing rooms/lockers.  In the summertime, if you have to bike more than a couple miles, you'll be sweaty, and need to change at work. I've changed in a lot of bathrooms over the years, but it's not ideal. 

If you're lucky enough to work downtown, you can get by with a membership at the YMCA, but it's a lot more convenient to change at your destination.  I would like to see downtown employers find ways to share their fitness centers / showers / lockers with other employers who don't have facilities on site.  Often, this appears to be a problem with the leasing companies that manage commercial buildings, and restrict access.

If anyone works in commercial property management, it would be interesting to hear what obstacles stand in the way of providing this service.  I'm sure it's a legal/liability issue (isn't everything?) but could there be a way around it?  Is it really just a lack of imagination and priorities?  It sure seems like some kind of "membership" could be arranged to grant access to the various fitness centers in buildings around downtown.

[Conan71]

When Lee's opened at 2nd & Frankfort, the owner shared with me that he had hopes for being able to provide public shower, changing, and bike storage facilities.  That ran afoul of health regs apparently.  I don't recall the entire conversation now, but he essetially would have to jump through some of the same hoops as operating a fitness center.  I'm assuming with public bath or shower facilities, there's certain sanitation guidelines which must be followed. 

We have an apartment at my office so showering is no issue when I commute.  It's not accessible to all employees so there are no health issues to deal with.  Unfortunately, I don't get to commute very often these days as I've needed my car more in my daily routine.