Transportation is shaping up to be an area of emphasis for improving Tulsa.
City Planning and Development Director Dawn Warrick said expanding transit will be an important component for future development. The city is moving that way with work on a rapid bus route on Peoria Avenue.
"But also look at what's referred to as the first and last mile," Warrick said. "You're a transit user, but only after you're a walker or a bicyclist or someone who drives to a park-and-ride lot to get on a transit facility."
Transportation was a recurring suggestion in a city council meeting focused on economic development. Warrick said Tulsa’s sidewalks — and lack thereof — deserve a look, especially if city leaders want to reduce pedestrian deaths.
"That's something that we, by addressing our built environment, can move the needle on," Warrick said. "We're not necessarily going to fix that problem completely, but we don't necessarily help it if we don't provide people safe passage."
In 2013, Tulsa had 13 pedestrian deaths, the city’s highest total in at least five years.
And while passenger rail from Tulsa to Oklahoma City hasn’t started yet, Warrick said it’s not too soon to start thinking about light rail connecting downtown Tulsa with the city’s suburbs.
"Long term, we need to be talking about things like that, big projects like that, that are going to be noteworthy for the community and that are going to change the way that we interact as residents but also as visitors," Warrick said.
There isn’t a current cost study for a Tulsa light rail system, but the idea may be considered for funding through a public improvement package that would go to voters.
Those sorts of transportation projects will most likely be funded by capital improvement packages, not through regular city budgets.
