(PROJECT) A Gathering Place For Tulsa

[Red Arrow]

I drove by there today. Hard to envision how a sidewalk would look there. I am also not sure I want any more stops/slow downs on Riverside.

You need to get into the urban mindset.  A stoplight at every intersection.  Kind of like Memorial down here by us.

[davideinstein]

I drove by there today. Hard to envision how a sidewalk would look there. I am also not sure I want any more stops/slow downs on Riverside.

Highway 75 is an option.

[rebound]

You need to get into the urban mindset.  A stoplight at every intersection.  Kind of like Memorial down here by us.

There is definitely an undercurrent to the whole discussion where a lot of people simply don't want to give up Riverside as a de-facto highway to downtown.  But there is no getting around it, if the pedestrian (or generally non-auto) traffic along Riverside is to safely increase, the cars will have to slow down.  It wouldn't take a light at every corner, but a couple of well-placed ones timed at, say, 35 mph would fix most of the issue.

[Conan71]

There is definitely an undercurrent to the whole discussion where a lot of people simply don't want to give up Riverside as a de-facto highway to downtown.  But there is no getting around it, if the pedestrian (or generally non-auto) traffic along Riverside is to safely increase, the cars will have to slow down.  It wouldn't take a light at every corner, but a couple of well-placed ones timed at, say, 35 mph would fix most of the issue.

As it is now, Riverside has a light at every intersection with a major arterial between 101st & 15th with the exception of 21st since there are merge on/off lanes there.  One more stoplight there wouldn't really be a hardship for most commuters.

[guido911]

Highway 75 is an option.

No, its not an option. It's another route that is in perpetual road construction hell. My beef is with why we have to keep messing with what was working just fine. It was such a nice road to cruise down.

But let's add another stop light (then another, etc.), and another "venue", and hey, why not a car dealership just north of 71st so we turn Riverside into freakin Memorial Ave. Real convenient for commuters that work downtown.

[guido911]

You need to get into the urban mindset.  A stoplight at every intersection.  Kind of like Memorial down here by us.

Maybe that is why I would like one, just one, arterial to be NOT like every other one. So now you turn Riverside into a road navigating around a playground.

[dbacksfan 2.0]

Just curious, why is it that most major cities have sidewalks that are next to major thoroughfares that have speed limits at 40 to 45 mph and have a distance of 8' between the curb and privacy walls for homes or open space, don't have the carnage that everyone is afraid of? Maybe they should think of controlling the car traffic along Riverside Drive with the traffic lights to keep the speed at 35mph, much like three main arterials in Phoenix, 7th street, Central Ave, and 7th Ave, were you have four lanes of traffic with a center turn lane, that during the morning there is "No Left Turn" going into town, and in the evening, there is "No Left Turn" going out of town. It works quite well, and if you hit it right (not hard to do) you can drive 7 miles without stopping.

I believe that "A Gathering Place" is a great thing for Tulsa, but there is some common sense ideas for traffic control, and pedestrian safety that it seems that no one has seen on all of the trips to other cities for ideas.

By the way, Tempe Arizona is looking at putting in a street car system, and at the moment the cost is $200 million dollars for 3 miles of street car.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/letters/2014/12/02/tempe-streetcar-buses/19803493/

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2014/11/28/tempe-streetcar-track-cost-million/19640929/

[carltonplace]

Wonder what His Honor thinks about the sidewalk at Denver and Riverside? It sits right on the curb, no buffer and is highly utilized by pedestrians crossing to the park and commuters racing in and out of downtown and has been this way for more than 20 years.

I have never heard of a car jumping onto the sidewalk there.

[Red Arrow]

Wonder what His Honor thinks about the sidewalk at Denver and Riverside? It sits right on the curb, no buffer and is highly utilized by pedestrians crossing to the park and commuters racing in and out of downtown and has been this way for more than 20 years.

I have never heard of a car jumping onto the sidewalk there.

Must be because there is no water fountain.

[Townsend]

But let's add another stop light (then another, etc.), and another "venue", and hey, why not a car dealership just north of 71st so we turn Riverside into freakin Memorial Ave. Real convenient for commuters that work downtown.

Is that what's being built North of Luby's?

[rebound]

No, its not an option. It's another route that is in perpetual road construction hell. My beef is with why we have to keep messing with what was working just fine. It was such a nice road to cruise down.

But let's add another stop light (then another, etc.), and another "venue", and hey, why not a car dealership just north of 71st so we turn Riverside into freakin Memorial Ave. Real convenient for commuters that work downtown.

"My beef is with why we have to keep messing with what was working just fine"

That, in a nutshell, has been the problem with the thinking in Tulsa for the last 20 years and look were we are;  Behind OKC and most other similar cities, at least relative to where Tulsa was in the past.  "Just fine" isn't good enough.

[heironymouspasparagus]

"My beef is with why we have to keep messing with what was working just fine"

That, in a nutshell, has been the problem with the thinking in Tulsa for the last 20 years and look were we are;  Behind OKC and most other similar cities, at least relative to where Tulsa was in the past.  "Just fine" isn't good enough.

guido didn't describe it quite right - it was much more than "just fine".  It was one of those little things that added together with others makes a city an interesting destination point.  Riverside Drive used to be an exceptional, quirky, nice road feature in an otherwise homogenous, boring landscape of roads/traffic lights.  Tulsa screwed the pooch in a BIG way with the unrestrained rush to "development" and ruined it.  OKC has/had nothing like it.  Most cities don't - they sold out to the traffic light mentality decades ago.

It was our version of the Seattle Troll.... but with real value as a transportation lane that actually got people to an fro.   Now,.... well, it's just another road....

[guido911]

Is that what's being built North of Luby's?

Dude, I was kidding. Are you telling me something is going in over there?

[sgrizzle]

Dude, I was kidding. Are you telling me something is going in over there?

Something is under construction. Technically 71st and peoria.

[Bones013]

It's a Taco Bueno.
http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/fortherecord/for-the-record/article_095bbec9-21fb-5b7e-bec3-d052b419d237.html